Madcap Radio

We’re continuing our conversation about why puppies get returned to breeders — and what we can do to help prevent that from happening. This episode is about the perspectives breeders shared in response to the original question. It’s a wide-ranging discussion covering topics from whether breeders should offer refunds when a puppy is returned, to unexpected connections between pure positive trainers and Prozac, to how to give puppy owners the benefit of our wisdom without making them feel we're overstepping our bounds. The breeder comments on this thread were thought-provoking and brought us to some slightly uncomfortable places, which I really enjoyed. I think you’re going to enjoy listening to it just as much as I enjoyed recording it! Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

Puppy returns are an unpleasant reality of being a breeder. At the end of the day, no matter how well you screen, you're going to get puppies back if you breed dogs. This week's episode is a response to a breeder who got a puppy back from a puppy owner who ignored the breeder’s explicit written instructions regarding training and veterinary care/medication, and disaster ensued. The puppy is going to be OK but the breeder is wondering, could she (the breeder) have done something differently? The people seemed so nice, how could the breeder have gotten this placement so wrong? In this episode I address this question, talk about what is an is not within our control as breeders, and share some resources for stacking the deck in your favor when it comes to puppy placements. Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

This episode’s question is about teaching show prospect puppies to sit: "What do you do with your show prospects for stacking? I am worried about the puppy automatically sitting in the ring and for the judge…" Direct answer - we teach all of our puppies to sit, and we’re on our ninth generation of homebred champions, so it’s safe to say it has not held any of them back. But the bigger question is, why is this still a question? Not only will teaching your puppy to sit or mand not hold him back, it will help him stack more confidently in the ring. Putting aside the actual merits of the dog as a specimen of their breed, there has never been a champion-worthy dog that did not get their championship because they could not learn how to stack or move around the ring at home. But there are thousands and thousands that never got their championship because of profound behavioral issues, stress at shows or refusal to be handled by a judge. Teaching your dog to communicate with you through manding, and teaching him some operant tricks to call on when he’s feeling pressured, can boost your puppy’s confidence when he really needs it. That tackles a much more real threat to your puppy’s show career than the outside chance that he might sit in the ring. Tune in for more conversation about how and why teaching your show puppy to sit and even (gasp) sniff will make him a better show dog. Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

There’s a lot of confusion about good fungi and bad fungi for dogs, and in this episode I’m joined by certified mushroom expert, Magda Chiarella to untagle this confusion. The fungi kingdom includes mushrooms and yeasts that are super beneficial for us and our dogs. Mushrooms have properties that boost whatever food your currently giving your dog. Certain yeasts, such as the yeast found in Kefir scoby also have the ability to boost the nutritional content of other foods. But mold is also in the fungi kingdom, and mold often is quite harmful. So those good mushrooms and yeasts sometimes get a bad rap by association. But that’s just a misunderstanding. Tune in and find out more about beneficial mushrooms, yeasts and how to safely prepare and feed them to your brood bitches, puppies, and dogs. Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

This episode’s question is from a breeder who’s frustrated by puppy seekers who seem to be just shopping for the lowest price: "I'm a small breeder, one or two litters a year. I'm in a rural area so most of my puppies travel to their homes, but because of how I raise them I have people happy crossing the country for them. But for every person who sees the value, there's 30 that don't… I find myself spending way too much time justifying [my pricing]…If I'm going to continue, I need to find a better way of dealing with the pricing issues…" Plot spoiler, if we want more puppies raised in a forward thinking and humane way, we have to support the breeders and caretakers who are raising the puppies that way. And by “we,” I mean the puppy buying public. There is a cost and a value to raising puppies this way, and if we as a society value it, we need to be willing to pay for it. But it falls to the breeders to communicate that value, and we could do better in that area. In this episode I explore those issues and also share some truly awesome suggestions for how breeders can help educate puppy seekers about the value proposition of a puppy that’s been raised with the “meaty” training and protocols in Puppy Culture. Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

We Hit 100K Downloads 🎉 Thank you, listeners and all the folks who write in with the great questions that keep us curious! We could not produce such a great podcast without your insightful and interesting questions. Here’s to the next 100K downloads! To celebrate, I’m re-releasing our runaway top episode - “Dogs Eating Poop: One Species Evolutionary Meat is another Species Evolutionary Poison”. Somehow, that hit a major cord with everyone. Not sure if that says more about dogs or us, but it’s for sure a hot topic🐶 🍽️ 💩😅 ***** So, your dog eats poop. Is it deviant? Or an elegant evolutionary solution? In this podcast, Jane and Mark look at the research and talk about the possible functions of poop-eating, what works and does not work to stop it, and why. We won’t say you’ll come away happy that your dog eats poop, but for sure you’ll see it in a different light. Visit our website, madcapradio.com for further reading and studies referenced in this episode.

This episode is about when and if you should use vitamin and probiotic supplements for raw fed puppies and dogs. One of my students asked me what supplements were necessary when weaning puppies onto raw. Another student in the same thread said she had read that raw diets are often deficient in vitamins D and E and asked if she should be supplementing those vitamins. The answers to these questions strike at the heart of what it means to be a raw/natural feeder, and why breeders often struggle with this. Natural feeding is not an ideology, but it does require us to release some deep-seated ideas that are based on presumptions that are not relevant to raw/natural feeders. Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

“I have a question that has come up from some of my puppy parents, and I am not sure how to answer. How do I phase treats out and use the clicker exclusively? I was thinking clicker every time, but treats sometimes until there are no treats, and at what age would you fully remove treats? Do treats ever get fully removed? Many of my parents reported that many of the pups are really food motivated, and I'm not sure that is my goal ... I would like them to be clicker motivated at some point.” This podcast uncouples: How shaping behaviors with a clicker works How a clicker becomes a shaping tool ​How and when you can lose the clicker and treats. Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

This episode answers a question we get on almost a weekly basis: “How do I introduce my puppy to my adult dog?” This podcast looks at: Questions to ask about your dog and your puppy that can help you craft a good introduction. Guidelines for puppy-dog introductions. Honoring normal social behavior and protecting the interests of your dog and your puppy. Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

The question comes from the discussion group for our With Open Arms puppy owner course: “Looking for a podcast - Hello! Our 15-week-old puppy is presenting some potty training challenges…While he's reliably house-trained for bowel movements, he frequently urinates on rugs, likely because they resemble the puppy pads he's familiar with. More puzzling that even when we take him outside at the recommended intervals, he'll pass small amounts of urine and then refuse to empty his bladder fully, even after 10+ minutes. Inevitably, within 20 minutes of coming back inside, he'll urinate on a rug. He's very able to stay in his kennel for a full 2-hour nap with no anxiety or accidents. So he certainly is physically capable of holding his bladder. We are not sure what we are doing wrong or if this is just to be expected and to be patient. It does seem like he thinks that the rugs is the place to pee. Let me know if you have any tips! ” This podcast covers: Why being able to take a two-hour nap without peeing does not mean a puppy can hold it for two hours while awake Why “double and triple peeing” is really a developmental thing The physical reasons puppies may target fabric to relieve themselves Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

A new study was published this week, showing that a specific strain of probiotic found in kimchi is extremely good at binding up and carrying microplastics out of the body. We, and our dogs, are surrounded by plastic, it’s inescapable, and the accumulation of nanoparticles of plastic in our bodies is also inescapable - and very bad for our and our dogs' health. So the student question this episode is: “Should we be giving our dogs kimchi?” In this episode I serve up: The practical takeaways from the kimchi study for canine nutrition The “Foodome” project and network analysis of food Why the next big thing is “everything” Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

This episode’s question comes from the discussion group for my new weaning and early puppy nutrition course, “Weaning For Life: From Gut Biome to Behavior, A Whole Approach to Early Puppy Nourishment”. “Some of my puppies go home on raw, others to healthy kibble with whole‑food toppers. Historically, I always include at least one kibble meal—often from toys or snuffle mats, sometimes mixed with whole foods. Is there a more refined or appropriate protocol?” In this episode, we dig into the real‑world question breeders face every day: If, and how, to transition raw‑weaned puppies when their future homes will be feeding mostly kibble. This podcast covers: How I prepare raw‑weaned puppies for life in kibble‑feeding homes What other breeders are experiencing when transitioning puppies from raw to kibble Practical strategies for helping puppy owners either stay with raw, or significantly upgrade their kibble feeding with whole and fermented foods Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

We got this question about breeders sending their puppies to “camp” before going to their new homes: “[a friend] has a litter of puppies 8 weeks old and she is placing them out to her friends until they are 10 weeks old. They decided it would be good for socialization and to prevent separation anxiety for the puppies until they go to their permanent homes at 10 weeks. That doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. Anyone have experience with this?” This episode discusses: When and how sending litters to “transitional” homes is beneficial “Bite inhibition” and exposure with littermates vs adult dogs Breeder experiences and practices Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

This episode’s question is from one of our Killer Free Stack show training students, but my answer is equally applicable to anyone training a dog: “Hi all, I have a 10-week-old Labrador puppy. I have the Killer Free Stacks video… when I try to get a moment of stillness to mark, she auto-sits. If I hold the food in front of her, she digs at it hard and will sit. Any tips for teaching a stack would be great!” In this podcast I cover: Tips for hand position to avoid cueing sits How to know if your puppy understands what you want him to do What to do it your puppy’s just not “getting it” Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

This episode is about using mother’s pudding for lactating dams: “I was just wondering what brand of cool and serve vanilla pudding mix you are all using for mother’s pudding…The last litter I had, the puppies got diarrhea on day 3 (nightmare) and we never got it fully resolved until they got onto food at 3 weeks... We ruled out EVERYTHING we could think of…the only thing we could come up with was the mother’s pudding…[this dam is about to have another litter and] I want to use it because they do so much better on it with the calories. Help!” In this episode, I explore: Allergens that are theoretically possible to be passed through mother’s milk Homemade mother’s pudding and switching up ingredients in mother’s pudding for different situations Whether or not you should be concerned about mother’s pudding for your dams Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

This episode is a follow-up question about one of our most popular episodes, “An Egg Yolk A Day Keeps Mastitis Away” : “At what point in the pregnancy should I begin giving my dam egg yolk to help prevent mastitis?” In this episode, I discuss: Why egg yolks are a benefit for pregnant and lactating dogs Best practices for when to begin feeding egg yolks to your brood bitches Cooked vs Raw egg yolks and egg whites Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

One of our fans wrote to me recently about a webinar she attended on the veterinary use of probiotics: "The thing that intrigued me was…a study where one group of pregnant bitches was on a yeast-based probiotic, and the control group on no probiotic. There were benefits to both bitches and puppies, such as more stable GI tract and stool quality during whelping in the mothers on the probiotic, and they were less likely to have puppies of low birth weight. I know Jane works a lot at supporting the gut biome, but interesting info about a specific yeast and a specific time." This podcast untangles: The difference between yeast and bacteria-based probiotics How yeast-based probiotic supplements might help or harm a pregnant bitch, depending on the context How to decide if a yeast or other probiotic is appropriate for your pregnant dam Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

This episode is a fan request: "Looking for a podcast - My co-owner needs help. I’ve worked with them on training behaviors, and they’ve done a masterful job at teaching puppy (who’s about 3 months old now…) that barking gets attention. They wait until they just can’t take it anymore but then cave in just as extinction burst really ramps up. Is there a podcast that will guide them through navigating this? To be fair, one of them works nights and NEEDS their sleep! I can understand how they got here. But just like parenting - pay now or pay later, and this one is gonna sting! They do have PC curriculum - I told them to start looking through it again." This podcast unpacks: Straightforward advice for handling confinement and demand barking Why that straightforward advice often fails to help puppy owners How we can re-frame the emotional component of this issue for puppy owners and help them succeed. Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

This episode is about the possible reasons why very young puppies sometimes shiver after big sensory experiences, especially after eating food from a dish for the first few times. We discuss: The neurological organization function of shivering Different theories about shivering after new experiences, such as being put in a new room or eating food for the first time How shivering may prime the puppies' sensory system for “wonder” Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.

This episode's question is about what to do when your “keeper” puppy starts showing significant fear issues: "…I’m really sad about my situation. I don’t want this to reflect poorly on my small breeding program that I’ve poured so much time, thought, stress, money, and emotional energy into.… my keeper puppy is now showing pretty significant fear issues…I was hoping to keep this puppy and eventually use her in my program. My biggest concern is that this is genetic fear and she will not outgrow/overcome it. This is depressing me quite honestly, and I’m feeling very deer-in-the-headlights about how to move forward…" In this podcast I address: How to tell if a fear issue is a developmental or genetic issue and what the line is between normal and pathological fear My personal experiences and outcomes in this area Words of encouragement for small program breeders, with thoughts for surviving emotional setbacks and staying in the breeding game Visit our website www.madcapradio.com for further reading.