Pro Tips on Changing the Conversation from Ian Lynch

Ian Lynch with his newest Dawin Poodle, Portia.

Canadian Kennel Club spokesperson Ian Lynch joins host Laura Reeves to talk about changing the conversation on purebred dogs with the general public.

Lynch, a broadcaster in his day job, brings his passion for purebred dogs to the CKC as their public spokesman. He describes his lifelong obsession with the sport, obtaining the Dogs in Canada Annual magazine and creating a “vision board” with pages from the book taped to his wall.

His first dog as an adult was a Dawin standard poodle.

“I used to get “Dogs in Canada” annuals and I used to put all the pictures on my walls because I love these dogs. And I had a picture on my wall in 1995. It was an Allison Alexander in a red dress, holding Dawin High Falutin, who was the number one dog and has all these records to this day. His name was Lutin, I believe his call name. And it’s funny because as I get older, I realized that I was making a vision board because now I have a Dawin dog.

Ian Lynch and Allison Alexander, from vision board to friends.

“And I’m friends with Allison Alexander and she’s the greatest person alive. So, it’s so funny that like, you know, that you hear almost like manifestation stuff and I didn’t know what I was doing. But as a kid, I used to always have the picture of the Dawin dog and I used to tell my parents, ‘I’m gonna have a dog just like that one day.’

Don’t just talk. Listen!

Lynch recommends we just talk to people about dogs. And not just talk, listen also! On topics from training to doodles, listening to what people say gives you a chance to address their actual concerns and increase buy in to the information you do have to share.

“The easiest way for me, I think, to start talking to people about purebred dogs is to talk to everyone who has a dog.

“For example, there’s this lady on my street. She has this pitbull mix. And this dog was so reactive to my dogs all the time. I mean jumping in midair. And then, I noticed that from a distance, she taught the dog the look at me, you know, the treat out. And I stopped her and I said, ‘Sorry to bother you, I just want to congratulate you and let you know that I’ve noticed how good you’re doing with this dog and how far your dog has come.’ And she says to me, ‘Oh my God, thank you. I’ve always admired your dogs. What kind of dogs are they? Are they show dogs? Where are dog shows? Where can I learn more about these dogs?’ Simply talking to people about dogs.

“The way I think a lot of times, I’m lucky I have a radio show. I can infuse dogs. I got the mic. I got the platform. But we can all infuse dogs into our life at all times. When you have people over, my dogs are generally always well-groomed and bathed, basically weekly, but you want to make sure your dogs will look good if people are coming over.

“They smell good, they’re cuddly. I’m a big proponent of best self and make sure your dogs are their best self when people come over and, you know, people ask questions. Another thing we have to do is when we talk to people about dogs is we have to let people talk as well.

“We know a lot about dogs. We want to voice our opinions, but we have to let people talk.”