In this engaging episode of What the Health, we are joined by certified dog trainer Heather Mishefske, owner of Embark, a dog training school. Heather shares her expertise and passion in dog training and pet ownership, shedding light on the emotional, financial, and personal benefits of owning a dog.

Whether you are a prospective pet owner, a dog lover, or simply someone interested in understanding canine behavior, this episode offers valuable insights. It encourages listeners to appreciate the profound bond we share with our four-legged companions and provides practical tips on nurturing this bond.

Take advantage of other health and wellness insights. Join our WellWell-Being community at WellWellUSA.com for exclusive discounts on a wide range of health products and services.

Chapter Summaries;

0:00:03 Introduction to the Episode: The Benefits of Dog Ownership

0:02:52 Interview with Heather Mishefske

0:10:51Animal Emotions and Benefits of Pets

0:14:02 Choosing the Right Dog Breed

0:20:45 Choose the Right Dog Breed

0:33:59 Building Confidence and Training for Dogs

0:41:56 Wrapping up the discussion with Health Hacks

0:43:51 Closing Remarks and Call to Action

Don't miss an episode of What the Health. Subscribe now on your favorite podcast app to get the latest news and insights on health and wellness issues delivered right to your device.

Connect with Heather Mishefske;

• Website: https://www.embarkdog.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/embarkdog/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/embark_dog/?hl=en
• Heather’s Personal Instagram Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-artuso-563a4469

Connect with WellWell USA;

Website: https://wellwellusa.com/

Join WellWell-Being: https://wellwellusa.com/register/

All Things WellWell USA: https://linkin.bio/wellwellusa

Tips For Picking The Perfect Pooch with Heather Mishefske

John Salak: Pets. Americans just love them. In fact, about 70 percent of U. [00:00:36] S. households have at least one pet and about a third of homes have more than one furry or feathered friend. Okay, so what's the most popular pet? Come on, you probably already know. It's dogs, whether they are purebred, engineered, think doodles, or the common mutt.

And a cherished one at that, according to the Pew Research Center. But love, as many of us know, comes at a cost. Last year alone, Americans spent more than 135 billion on their pets, which was up more than 10 percent over the previous year. More specifically, vet expenses on average run about 300 annually for a healthy dog.

That can be more difficult than it seems at first, especially for inexperienced dog owners. The challenge is that every person and every dog is unique. Too often, dogs are picked on their looks alone, or perhaps because it's a trendy selection. Well, there's nothing wrong with connecting to a dog because of its looks, but a deep seated pooch person relationship has to be built on more.

And they also have to do some homework to understand what dog is best for them. Thankfully, our upcoming guest is going to lay out exactly what a furry friend can do for your life and how to ID the perfect pooch for you.

Heather is incredibly qualified and experienced when it comes to dogs. She's a certified dog trainer. She is also the owner of Embark, which is a dog training school.

And she also has several other qualifications on the dog field, and I'm sure in a personal people field as well. But I want to welcome Heather and have her describe a little bit of her background. So Heather, welcome to our podcast.

Heather Mishefske: Thank you so much.

Licensing requirements. And so anyone can kind of call themselves a dog trainer and so , I think it's important to seek out someone that's credentialed just because there's a lot of information out there and sometimes it's hard to kind of wade through what the internet tells you and so I think seeking out someone who is credentialed and has a certification of some sort behind their name is going to be really important when you're seeking out a dog trainer.[00:04:12]

The other thing that brings me here is I am one of the directors of the association of professional dog trainers, which is our trade organization in our profession and the association of professional dog trainers. We seek to educate dog trainers that are out there, bring them together. We are the trade organization.

And so, I'm also here representing the APDT as well.

John Salak: I want to get into some of the dog training issues a little later. And we definitely are. Where is Embark located? And just for background, where's the association located?

Heather Mishefske: So Embark is my own dog training school.

So that was a really long time ago. And then the association is located in Kentucky. We have about 4, 000 members that are in the APDT. And so, we kind of span the United States really, because it is our trade organization for dog training.

John Salak: I grew up with dogs and my daughter loves dogs. She's, gotten several rescue dogs. We've gotten both rescue dogs and bought from breeders over the years.

Heather Mishefske: Gosh, that's interesting question because we actually have had staff that have come in with no dog experience, which kind of blows my mind and they're just a natural with dogs. So I always credit myself to my genetics because both of my grandmothers who have since been passed away, but they are both huge animal lovers.

have never had a dog and then maybe cautiously bring one into their lives and then kind of become dog people. I mean, we've had a lot of people in classes that are, retired and they've maybe said, gosh, I've never had a dog, but I feel like now is the time I can really commit. to the training and the walking and all of those pieces.

And so they bring a dog into their home and then they think, I've had a lot of people say, holy cow, I can't believe I've never done this before. It's so fantastic to share your life with a creature. So that's hard to say. I do think there are some people that are just not animal people in general.

John Salak: Certainly there's been a lot written about the benefit of pets in general.

What are the benefits in sort of either on a physical or emotional level?

And we're talking about not necessarily therapy pets, although dogs. Could be a therapy dog without meaning to.

There are emotional benefits. There are physical benefits. there's just a host of things that kind of go for caring for an animal. And so, the dogs get you out, they get you moving. They, oftentimes have to go for walks during the day, whether it's for exercise or for enrichment or just for a potty break [00:08:24] which.

For some people kind of forces them to get up in the morning where they have an animal in their house and they have to go outside. So I think that's one that I think a lot of people look at. And then I think you kind of hit on the second piece of that the emotional piece of it. Years ago, I saw some kind of meme.

Like if you took your significant other and your dog and. , put them in your trunk and then when you open the door, who would be happy to see you? Well, I guarantee you it's probably not your significant other

John Salak: Right. Exactly. Exactly

And that's something we don't get from our friends or our children. Oftentimes, maybe we get a quick hug and like, Hey, welcome home. But not, 10 minutes of just, , exuberant happiness that you were missing for a full hour and you've just returned to the house. And I think,

Well, we know that exercise is a good stress reducer. So. That ties into we're walking our dogs. We've had a stressful day Maybe our walk out in nature is a way for us to reduce stress. It's helping our dog which Decreases our anxiety depression and loneliness [00:10:12] just kind of overall health really So I think there's so many pieces that just having a dog is Good for your health in general .

John Salak: You have probably dealt with a range of animals in your lifetime.

I mean, from dairy cows to other horses and do you think dogs are more emotional than other animals or it's just that we perceive them to be more emotional because you're not going to come home over the door and a cow is going to be in your dining room.

Heather Mishefske: Yeah. I mean, that would be a problem, but it would

John Salak: be a problem.

Yes. It would be a very big problem. I

Heather Mishefske: mean, when we talk about the tasks of cleaning up after them, that's

Heather Mishefske: All right. That's an interesting question. I do think that, there's a lot of really cool research coming out in a lot of the big universities have canine cognition labs.

And we're really kind of, I think just at the cusp of diving into the emotional lives of animals and what they really feel. And I think like any of us that have had an animal anecdotally know that, they do have really intense feelings and that emotions are so at play when they interact with us.

So, I think that it's one of those things where animals kind of will mimic our emotions a lot of the times, too. And I think that is how we build relationships with any creature. And so having that where they're kind of coming back and supporting our emotions, I guess is something. And some interesting research that's coming out in that world too.

And I think it's anecdotally things that we've already known, but now we're seeing it. Which is. Quite fantastic.

Yeah. Because we've done research on this and it's everything from, well, it's a nervous tick to it's affection to know it's not affection. So what do you think that means? Cause some dogs are big lickers.

Heather Mishefske: Yeah. I think you're right with all those things. I mean, the hard part about body language is that we look at the bigger picture, so maybe they're licking, but then what's going on with the rest of their body.

So They're trying to appease you in some sort whether they're worried about something or they're happy, I guess that would depend oftentimes on what the rest of their body is doing. Okay. And some of the dogs will do it as like a self soothing behavior, so they will lick part of you, like legs or feet, a lot of dogs do that, as like an appeasing kind of a gesture for dogs.

Heather Mishefske: Gosh, I think so. I think, we get pets for a multitude of reasons throughout our lifetime. So, we have anything from , a lot of people are, maybe they're in their 20s, they're moving out of home, this is their first pet they're going to get, and maybe they're getting a pet so they can hike, and they can go to the brewery, and they can hang, and they can have someone to walk, or, a lot of...

So I think the reasons for getting them can probably vary quite a bit. And what goes with that is the age as well. I mean, we know that, younger dogs, especially those first three years, because dogs aren't really fully developed physically, emotionally, until they're about three years old.

And then maybe an older set of dogs, maybe resources in terms of time isn't maybe as important, perhaps, because they're sleeping more. They don't have maybe the exercise requirements that a young dog might. So I think those are all pieces to really consider. And there's always the dog outside of the curve, right?

John Salak: I want to get into now, like picking dogs or choosing a dog or sometimes a dog chooses you to if someone isn't super familiar with a dog, but they recognize the benefits, maybe they're older, or maybe it could be a young woman or young man who really is in an apartment or a flat by themselves and they want it for company or whatever.

Heather Mishefske: I do behavior consulting all day, every day, and oftentimes the reason that I'm sought out is because there is some particular behavior that's going on within that family that they need help with problem solving.

So what kind of coat does it have? How cute is it? And , what color is it? That's soothing, I guess, visually but I think it's so important to consider the dog's history, to consider the dog's breed if you're looking at dog in a shelter I think breeders that know their dogs well, I mean, you can tell a lot of characteristics from birth. I mean, I look at my own dogs and I can tell you that the characteristics they had at three weeks old, four [00:16:48] weeks old, five weeks old are still consistent now that they're five. And so, I think one important part That we have really looked at in the dog training world and behavior consulting world is, And this I think is something that everyone really needs to consider because we used to kind of say well a dog is a dog Like breed isn't really that important, but holy cow Do we know that breed is really important to who what your choice is and the reason for that is because Any breed that you have comes to you looking a certain way because they have a certain set of genetics.

My God, there's amazing healers out there but let's

John Salak: Can you define a healer? You mean a hunting dog or is that a healer? Like I'm fixing you dog.

Heather Mishefske: Oh, gosh, that's true. Healer. H E L E R. So it would be an Australian cattle dog.

And so they're really good at spotting motion in the environment and. I think if we look at a dog and we know that's what they were bred to do, we have to look at what environment is that dog going to be in because let's say that you acquire a herding dog because they're really cute and they're at the shelter perhaps [00:18:36] and you live on a corner by a grade school and you have really big windows in the front of your house.

That dog most likely, and not all of them, right? We always have the dogs that land on the outside of the curve, but those dogs are going to be hypervigilant about motion. They oftentimes, what we see in herding breeds is they have a little bit of micromanagement. So that motion out that front window, you could see maladaptive behaviors come out in their behavioral repertoire, which means they could be barking at the window because things are moving past and they need to let someone know because things should not be moving because what were they bred to do?

So I have retrievers for an example. And so Ridge tries to take my shoes out the door every single [00:19:48] morning that I let them out to go potty. I don't get mad at him because he is a retriever. We have genetically selected to be really good at retrieving and putting things in their mouth and carrying them for hundreds of years.

And so we simply just trade at the door for like a squeaky toy or something, and he can take that outside. And so I think that's such a good point of looking at what was the breed bred to do and what could you see come out in their repertoire Based on what they were bred to do that maybe you might not appreciate so we look at the guardian type dogs, right?

But if you think about it, we humans have genetically selected for them to be really good at that. Now, in the day and age we live in, we don't need a lot of those jobs. Most people don't have border collies to move livestock. Most people don't have, Rottweilers to guard, a certain section of their property.

Well, maybe a terrier isn't the best choice, because terriers, they have been really bred well to kill vermin. And so I think a lot of those pieces are really important to consider. And I think sometimes we don't, we just think they're cute. And of course we do because. Dogs are cute and, we like how they look.

And then to me, the breeder should have said, this is really not a good thing . So this begs another question. Do shelters understand sort of the breed and help? I mean, they're looking to move dogs, especially after [00:22:12] the pandemic. So many people got dogs and then they said, my God, what are we doing with this dog?

And they brought it to a shelter. But if you go to a shelter, our shelters. Equipped to help you select the right dog, or to say that may not be the right dog for you. And again, in shelters, you're going to find generally mixed breeds. Sure. Yeah. But you see certainly dominant traits within some of those dogs.

So are shelters, equipped generally to handle some questions or really provide guidance?

And maybe they're really looking at making sure that the needs of the dog are met and the needs of the family. And that meshing is a hard task. There are some shelters that aren't equipped. They might not have someone who's got, the behavior chops to be able to say, gosh, if you have a lot of grandkids coming over, this might not be a good fit.

Or if you live in like a really. busy urban setting, this dog might not be a good fit.

I think asking the right questions, I guess, might be the best way to kind of go into a scenario like that.

Like those scenarios are very different. Dogs that are scared, those dogs need a lot of help, just a lot of health encouragement and a lot of behavioral modification when they get into a home because dogs that are scared when they're pushed, I mean, they're, that's when dogs get defensive, right?

So let's say, for example, you're someone who through the winter are going to RV and they're going to travel all winter. Okay, well you're going to be in a lot of new spaces. How is this dog going to be, number one, traveling, distances, being in new places every week, meeting a lot of new people possibly encountering dogs off leash.

John Salak: And talking a little bit about breed or breed history, whether it's a mixed breed or pure breed what's the best way for people to get a handle on that?

And obviously I would recommend, I'm pretty sure you would as well. And a lot more that people really do their homework before they, they do. So what are some really good sources for home? I mean, certainly the American Kennel Club puts out a lot of information.

Heather Mishefske: Seeking out a certain breed

John Salak: or just I want a dog that does this. Should I have a, should I have a Chessie? But what are some other ways that people can understand about breeds or feel like they get a handle on what they may be looking for?

In that exact way. And so that will tell you, Hey, here's someone who's your local rescue coordinator. They're going to be able to give you a lot of information about the breed, a lot of information about this particular dog a lot of information on the isms and the quirks and the great parts about this [00:26:24] certain breed.

That's a really good place to start. And let me tell you, those of us that are involved in rescue for the breed that we have are so passionate about it. I mean, I look at my own breed and I've taken in two rescues through our national breed club but holy cow, I mean, I drove to Atlanta to get, like, an 11 year old dog with cancer after Christmas one year.

And so that's a really good place to start if you kind of look and seek out the parent clubs because those people are so involved in their breed. And they know the breed well, they know the family, , environment that they fit into best. Are they typically good with kids? Are they more aloof?

Are they good around wildlife and other animals and cats? And they have a lot of really good information. Sure. And they have the background of having had multiples of that breed. Sure, yeah. And so they're pretty good at being able to... Taylor information to give you.

John Salak: What do you think about a designer dogs, that are like a Golden doodle. I mean, they're incredibly popular now, and it's like purposeful breeding. Is it healthy for the dogs? Is it not healthy? I mean, you see chess doodles, you see Yeah. Anyone, you see any type of doodle actually now, but, so, I know it's designed for allergies, it's designed for shedding, but yeah.

You know, is that a healthy approach?

And so I think there are a lot of people that are mass producing doodles for money because people will pay for, those kinds of mixes. But there's another half to that too. There are people that are doing it ethically and they're clearancing health and they're checking, they're doing cardiac clearances and hip clearances to make sure there's no orthopedic disease or the eye issues that you see in a lot of dogs.

Heather Mishefske: So if we look at puppies, there's been a, I guess I'll say myth that puppies are like a blank slate, but they're not right. We just talked about how genetics are very strong. So your puppy is coming to you preloaded with some kind of genetics. And so there's a couple of developmental periods that will kind of fade [00:29:24] when a puppy becomes a teenager.

And we say puppies are puppies until they're about five or six months of age. And then they're teenagers from like five to six months of age until they're about. Two and a half to three. Larger dogs are going to be maturing slower, which I know feels very overwhelming. But I think that's something to consider when you're looking at a dog that, they're going to be in the teenage phase from like five to six months of age until like Two, two and a half, three for the bigger dogs.

Which and that's cross species. So, if you look at puppies, we kind of have this developmental period that kind of starts to come to an end ish around the teenage months.

So teaching them how to cope with stress, teaching them a problem and how do they solve it, teaching them different, surfaces and experiences and things to feel and things to walk on and different people to meet. That is going to build a puppy that is confident so that when you get into the teenage months, you can really focus more on the skill-building.

Now we know the teenage puppy brain kind of ebbs and flows through the teenage months. So some days you get A brilliant dog, and then the next day you get maybe not so brilliant of a dog.

John Salak: Kind of like teenagers in general. Exactly!

Okay. So with puppies, it's so important to find either a really well run puppy class that isn't focused on obedience. It's important that we still teach skills, but we start the foundation for them. So for puppies, it's really important to find someone who is credentialed, qualified so that they understand the neurological development of puppies and developmental stages in puppies so that they're catering and they're tailoring, the training to that learner that's a young puppy.

So putting lots and lots of effort into really reinforcing the heck out of a fantastic recall. And again we do that by, finding trainers that understand how to capture that behavior and how to kind of build it under more distracting environments and work through that skill. But of course I think training is important for everyone because, we...

John Salak: You mentioned confidence?

So is that a matter of socialization?

And, what our goal is to, that the dog doesn't need to meet all the people and all the things, right? Because, when, You and your wife, John, are sitting at a brewery and you just want to, like, try a new flight of the beer that came out for the fall. The dog doesn't need to meet all the people and all the things.

The German Shepherd meets anyone and they will say and they need like three references and I will call you. Because they're a different breed. And so, when we look at socialization, the experience for each dog might be different, but confidence building And socialization, might look like, can you put your body up on this thing?

And then they try it again. So, we build confidence in learners by having them problem solve. And again, this is cross species in the literature, right? Okay. Interesting. Yeah. And so, , experiences where you are giving them choice and consent is probably the best way we can build confidence in puppies.

John Salak: What's the biggest mistake that people make when they think about training?

We think about our dogs and I always say, the three year old dog is finally mentally... Physically mature, like their brain, the neural pathways are finally kind of solidifying in their brain. And we have an expectation that our one year old dog should know all these things, but , our one year old dog is like an eight year old. I think the biggest mistake that we make is we have too many expectations without putting the work in. And I think that we fail our dogs a lot of the times because we have expectations that now that they can come when called off leash in the fenced backyard that we can take them to the cabin on 40 acres and they're going to [00:35:24] come back to us.

We're. each step of that process is going to be a little training scenario that you're going to set up. So I think we often have big expectations without actually putting the work in and doing our due diligence to kind of get there. So I think that's a big piece. I mean, the other misconception in dog training, and there's a lot of good articles on the APDT website about this as well is we still struggle in the dog training world with the dominance theory kind of being a thing.

John Salak: What is the dominance piece?

Heather Mishefske: A lot of people think that in order to be a good leader and to raise a dog that is, socially appropriate that they need to be this very dominant figure in their life and control all of the resources and control all the things in their life.

We know that if the... The learner and this could be human, this could be dog, this could be alpaca, it doesn't matter that if that creature or that learner doesn't understand, we back up and we kind of go back to the basics. And I think oftentimes behavior problems in dogs, there is a lot of misinformation that can be cured by being more dominant over your dog.

So controlling more resources, controlling where they sleep, controlling how physical you are with them. And that's just not true.

Yeah. As much as a dog. and you're talking about that interaction, whatever that may be. That the owner's consistent.

Heather Mishefske: Part of that is body language. Like my consult caseload, we just talk a lot about body language and being able to read them. Sometimes in and of itself solves a lot of what they came to me for when they see their dog is uncomfortable when they put them in a scenario.

John Salak: Let me just ask you a couple more questions. Is it easier having more than one dog? And it sounds like you have about 27 flat coated retrievers.

Sometimes those behaviors get worse with another dog. Sometimes they get better. If you have a good mesh of the dogs that are in your home and they do well together, then oh my gosh, absolutely. Because dogs are social. Most dogs enjoy the company of another dog, whether that is, the neighbor dog or the housemate dog or whatever it might be.

John Salak: I can't help but ask you this last question. Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Oh,

Heather Mishefske: gosh, yes. Yes. , learning is learning.

It was a little herding dog and they just came to class because they just wanted to learn more about one another and teach some skills. It always depends on their learning history and their reinforcement history around certain contexts. But, you know, for all of us, we can unravel that. Some things are more work, but it can always be done. All right. Yeah. That's great.

Heather Mischewski is again, a certified trainer among many other things, and also the owner of Embark, which is a dog training school, correct? Correct. Okay. If someone wanted to get in touch with you, how would they do it? Yeah.

Heather Mishefske: They can go to my website, which is embarkdog. com is my website.

John Salak: Okay. All right.

Well, thank you. We will definitely follow this up at some time in the future. Thanks a lot, Heather.

Heather Mishefske: Yes. Oh, thanks so much, John. This was so much fun.

John Salak: Before we dish out some health hacks, we want to remind everyone that members of our WellWellBeing community can enjoy hundreds of exclusive discounts on health and wellness products and services from our affiliates. These deals cover everything from supplements and fitness equipment to organic foods, household goods, and yes, even pet care products for our furry friends.

Owners need to realize this and choose wisely. Here's a short list of health hacks, or perhaps better said, pooch picking tips to keep in mind. One, assess your own situation. Do you live in an urban apartment, suburbs, or the country? Do you live alone or have a family? Are young kids or other pets [00:41:24] around?

Do you have experience with big or small dogs of any kind? What about time? Do you have enough time, either alone or as part of a family, to take care of a dog? Give it exercise and companionship. Training is another issue for any new dog. It takes time and attention. Puppies in particular require a lot of both.

Besides, there's no shortage of good looking pooches around, whether they come from a breeder, shelter, or a rescue group. Ultimately, pick the dog that's right for you. Do this and you and your new furry friend are in for a beautiful and rewarding relationship. That's it for this episode of What the Health. I'd like to again thank Heather Meshefsky for her time and insights. Not only is Heather head of EmbarkDog. com, she's also on the board of directors of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers.[00:42:36]

which offers a wealth of information on training and building great pooch person relationships. You can visit the association site to learn more at APDT. com, that's APDT. com. Okay, thanks again for tuning in. We hope you'll join us for our upcoming episodes.