639 – Puppy Brain: How Our Dogs Learn, Think and Love
Puppy Brain: How Our Dogs Learn, Think and Love
Author Kerry Nichols joins host Laura Reeves for a review of her new book, “Puppy Brain: How Our Dogs Learn, Think and Love.”
Nichols’ book is written for the dog buying public to help them understand how to find a breeder, what a responsible breeder looks like, how puppies learn, and how breeders and buyers can work together to raise well-adjusted dogs.
“We all know you have to prepare your families,” Nichols said. “Like the more prepared your families are the better your puppies’ lives will be. So from litter number one, I started to joke around ‘hey, you know you’re enrolling in Nicholberry boot camp. If you’re not ready to read and watch and listen I’m not the breeder for you, because I really want you to be ready.
“That actually evolved into requiring that our families take a training course, you know, I really want them to be prepared because we’ve all seen it go badly when they’re not and you send home this lovely puppy who very quickly gets into trouble and that’s heart -wrenching to see.
“I had this whole backlog of a private blog that I was keeping for our families and basically they needed to read a pretty hefty article or watch a video every day for the eight weeks that their puppy was growing.”
As a content creator, Nichols has proven suggestions for breeders also about how to grow their educational social media outreach about their breed and their breeding programs.
- It’s a marathon not a sprint … don’t think that you’re going to post 10, 50, 100 posts and you’re going to get this following. It is consistency, consistency, consistency.
- Authenticity, which is why I think it doesn’t work to hire a social media manager.I’ve had arguments with people on this topic, but there’s no way I could have never hired anybody to do what I do because, it’s all in my DMs. I’m responding, it’s in my comments, I’m interacting. And that’s fantastic because the questions will inform your content.
- I think it’s super important that breeders allow people to see what they’re actually doing on a daily basis.Yesterday, someone asked me to vet a breeder for them of a different breed, and I went on the website and it said that they followed puppy culture protocols. And they have a big following on Instagram, but I couldn’t find a single video that demonstrated puppy culture protocols.So that’s fine to say it, but I don’t just trust that they’re doing it. I want to see them doing a barrier challenge, right? So I’d say that, show what you’re actually doing.
317 – New Resources for Purebred Dog Enthusiasts
New Resources for Purebred Dog Enthusiasts
Host Laura Reeves visits with two exhibitors, Cara Ryckman and Michelle Conroy, who have each taken huge steps to create resources to benefit purebred dogs and their people. These three 50something women with passion, dedication and a desire to “*do* something, not just complain” encompass close to 120 years of combined experience in purebred dogs.
Both Ryckman and Conroy saw voids in the world of purebred dogs and created ingenious ways to fill them. Spending their own time and resources, they have created a brand new social media ap (Ryckman) and a certification of breeders/rescues for the general public’s use (Conroy).
Cara Ryckman – Social media gone to the dogs
Cara Ryckman with her heart dog, GCH-S CH Hi-C Chanel Pearls and Ice at Terlingua.
“Dogs are our life!
This page and our site brought to you by Cara Ryckman of Terlingua Chihuahuas. I strive to create a friendly, positive, free social experience for people who love purebred dogs!
This site was created as a positive step in uniting the dog fancy and the general public in the hopes of preserving our heritage breeds for the future and bringing awareness to the predictability and dependability of purposefully-bred dogs and the fun of the purebred dog world. All are welcome!”
Michelle Conroy – Applying a lifetime of knowledge to certify breeders
“After more than 30 years working with animals, we have seen a lot and we haven’t always liked what we saw. Bad breeding practices and low-quality rescue operations are gaining ground. Many buyers and adopters hold negative views of breeders, and that’s largely due to a lack of quality control across the industry.
Here’s the truth: There are many quality breeders and fantastic rescues out there.
The problem is that it’s almost impossible for buyers and adopters to identify them. From mountains of misinformation to practically zero credible resources for finding ethical breeders or rescues, the public struggles to figure out what’s what.
We think it’s time for that to stop.”
https://breedercertification.org/
Listen now to hear their stories. Then check out these amazing new resources. Join Laura in her ongoing initiative to build up and showcase other innovative folks in the sport. You, too, can support MORE dog people helping dog people.
Listen to our previous episodes with OTHER great resources.
79 – Valerie Nunes-Atkinson Handling Seminars: Ready to Handle Like a Pro?
60 – National Purebred Dog Day: Susi Szeremy
91 – Dog Show Grooming, Poodle University, Online Handling and Allison Foley
201 – Exhibitor Education Courses Come Online | Pure Dog Talk