The Dogs of Our Lives

About The Dogs of Our Lives

The Dogs of Our Lives podcast is all about living, learning, and growing with dogs. Listen to real-life transformation stories between dogs and their human guardians. Get inspired to take the next best step with your dog as we discuss successes, challenges, dog training, deeper connections, relationships, personal growth, and just a little bit of magic. Join us for heartfelt conversations that celebrate the incredible bond between dogs and their human guardians.

Publisher

Chrissy Messick

Category

education · kids & family

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

24 May 2024

Latest episode

9 Sept 2025

Latest episodes

23 of 46 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   9 Sept 2025TRANSCRIPT

   #37 The KEY Differences Between Welfare and Wellbeing for Your Dog

   Host [Host Name] clarifies the crucial distinctions between dog welfare and well-being, empowering owners to meet their companion's deeper needs.

2. 

   19 Aug 2025TRANSCRIPT

   EXPERT Dog Trainer Spills All About Working Dogs in the Home - with Jean Donaldson

   Host Jean Donaldson, a pioneer in force-free dog training, discusses the realities of integrating working dogs into the home.

3. 

   22 Jul 2025TRANSCRIPT

   Could Dog Agility Training Be The Ultimate Enrichment Exercise? - with Cheryl Parker

   In this week's episode of this special working dog summer series of the Dogs of Our Lives podcast, I chat with a great friend of mine, Cheryl Parker, about her journey in dog agility. If you've ever thought about agility training for your dog, then this is a must-listen episode with Cheryl and her multi-award winning dogs Cheryl, an athletic trainer turned PA, started agility with her Cocker Spaniel Cooper in 2005, competing since 2010. She discusses the importance of building trust, desensitization, and positive reinforcement. Cheryl shares her experience with Sammy, a rescue with an eye-opening story about a hidden tooth issue causing anxiety, and her current dog Earl, who is still a work in progress with his agility journey! She emphasizes the physical, mental, and emotional care of agility dogs, including stretching, proper nutrition, and rest. Cheryl highlights the wonderful community aspect of agility and advises new participants to start with basic obedience and desensitization training before they get into agility training classes. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your fellow dog lovers! https://www.theanimalnature.com/ (https://www.theanimalnature.com/) https://www.instagram.com/thenatureofanimals/ (https://www.instagram.com/thenatureofanimals/) https://www.facebook.com/thenatureofanimals/ (https://www.facebook.com/thenatureofanimals/)

Inside a recent episode

#37 The KEY Differences Between Welfare and Wellbeing for Your Dog

Published 9 Sept 2025 · Transcript excerpt

[…] Thank you to our expert guests who joined us and shared their knowledge and experience and expertise. Of course, we talked about the nuts and bolts of working, sporting, and high-energy dogs, but what I think is most important is not only the welfare of these dogs, and any dog for that matter, but the well-being of these dogs. A tired dog isn't necessarily a fulfilled dog. I was discussing this with one of my colleagues, and there's a huge difference between welfare and well-being. Here's the differences. Welfare tends to focus on meeting basic needs and preventing harm, so physical health and safety, adequate food, water, and shelter, freedom from pain, injury, and disease, protection from abuse or neglect, meeting the five freedoms, such as freedom from hunger, discomfort, pain, fear, distress, and freedom to express natural behaviors. […]

Who has been a guest on The Dogs of Our Lives

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Cheryl Parker
• Niamh Coleman
• Kim Crowmer
• Annika Alcorso
• JoLee Wingerson

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

8 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

9 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 46 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

71

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

51

Contact The Dogs of Our Lives

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.