Yep! Your dog has a purpose, too! Today is a really juicy episode, and if you love to have those big-picture conversations, as well as get into some practical suggestions of how you can create change for you and your dog today, then you’re going to love this chat I had with dog trainer, dog behaviorist, and ethologist, Kim Brophey! 
You may know Kim from her TedX talk on why framing our dogs as “pets” has been to their detriment, or maybe you have come across her applied ethology-based L.E.G.S course, which involves taking a step beyond training to also look at a dog’s behaviour in relation to its environment, its genetics, and its individual self. Kim aims to build bridges and invite others to contribute to a new conversation about dogs- one that challenges us to redefine how we perceive, talk about, and treat our canine companions as a society.
Whether you’re familiar with her work or not, I know you’re going to get so many nuggets out of this conversation, so definitely message me on Instagram @mysticdogmama with your “aha” moments! I’d love to hear them!
Kim and I go deep into how behaviour issues don’t exist in the wild, and how our dogs’ behaviours are telling us about how we may or may not be meeting their needs, and what we can do about that. We also talk about how our dogs are the new “canary in the coal mine,” showing us where we are going wrong - not only in relation to our dogs’ health and wellbeing, but to our own, and the planet’s, and how shifting our perspective from a focus on training our dogs for obedience, instead to creating a state of welfare for them, can have life-changing results -again, for our dogs, but also for ourselves.
THIS is the conversation we need to be having alongside doing all the things to help our dogs better live in and cope with the world we have put them in. I really hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Kim mentions some resources in this chat, and I’ve left links for you in the show notes, along with how you can connect with Kim and her work.
Just a quick note that this episode was sponsored by Aspirationery, which, in full transparency, is another project of mine where we create books, notebooks, and stationery to help you become all you aspire to be. You can check out our shadow work and moon magic journals and workbooks, as well as our popular “My First Period Tracker” for young girls and tweens on Instagram @aspirationery.
To find out more about Kim and her work, visit: https://familydogmediation.com or follow her on social media @familydogmediation
And to purchase a copy of Kim’s book, “Meet Your Dog,” please consider using the following affiliate links. When you do, I may receive a commission, which helps keep the podcast running.
Amazon USA: https://amzn.to/3wReDyN
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3v7OA67
The article that Kim mentioned: 
Montgomery, J. Evolutionary Mismatch, Emotional Homeostasis, and “Emotional Addiction”: A Unifying Model of Psychological Dysfunction. Evolutionary Psychological Science 4, 428–442 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-018-0153-9

TIME STAMPS
00:22 INTRO
03:50 How the idea of “pet” has affected how we understand who our dogs are
10:30 Dogs as our canary in the coal mine
14:00 The need to look upstream when we identify a problem
21:50 Behavior problems don’t happen in nature, so why do our dogs have them?
29:30 What are your dog’s L.E.G.S. and how do they affect your dog’s behavior?
41:45 Applying L.E.G.S. to your own dog - and yourself!
50:04 Even positive reinforcement is coercive
56:15 Resisting the temptation to blame ourselves, or our dogs - it’s not you, it’s the system
1:01:00 The more separated we feel from nature, the more we need our dogs
1:03:00 What does the future look like for dogs?
1:08:00 What dogs have taught Kim about what it means to be human
1:10:00 OUTRO
DISCLAIMER: This is not a substitute for medical advice or other relevant professional advice.