What is life like with a rescued puppy mill dog?  And what can each of us do to stop puppy mills?  These are the questions we explore today with Dog Mom and Advocate Jo Anna Kloster, author of Lily Unleashed.

Jo Anna shares the story of how Cagney, her first rescued puppy mill dog, changed her life and gave her passion and purpose.  Jo Anna shares all that she’s learned about the inner workings of puppy mills, pet stores and the laws that aren’t being enforced.

Jo Anna’s passion and career as a teacher led her to writing Lily Unleashed, a chapter book for all ages that tells the story of how a rescued puppy mill dog inspires an insecure 6th grader to speak up and take a stand for what’s right.

We’re also joined today by Megan, a young lady who just completed 6th grade, who gives us her book review of Lily Unleashed and what she thinks about puppy mills.

Have you ever wondered if it’s possible to make a living being a Dog Mom? Tori Mistick is here to tell us how she turned her blog Wear Wag Repeat from a creative outlet into her full-time job – including all the pivots along the way.

Are all of us communicating with our animals and we just don’t realize it?  This is one of the questions we explore today with Animal Communicator Shannon Cutts.

While Shannon grew up loving nature and always wanting a pet bird, it took many years for Shannon to follow her intuitive calling to work as an animal communicator.  Shannon shares her long and winding journey with us, including the many ways animals have been healers in her life.

Does Shannon think we all have the ability to be animal communicators?  We discuss our intuition, how to quiet our minds and demystify the woo-woo.

How did Ruby Balaram go from being a reluctant dog mom to pet industry CEO? You don’t want to miss this episode.

Like me, Ruby grew up in a house where she wasn’t allowed to have pets. So when Ruby met her partner, Turk, he came with a dog and she wasn’t so sure about jumping into the Dog Mom Life.

But when Turk’s dog got a second cancer diagnosis, Ruby witnesses the power of feeding fresh real food to dogs when the grumpy old Doberman started running around with puppy-like energy. Ruby & Turk were so amazed that they wanted to start a company to make fresh real food accessible to all dog owners.

Ruby shares their early entrepreneurial journey with us and all the pivots they made along the way to form Real Dog Box in 2015. No matter what diet you feed your dog, Real Dog Box is an easy and affordable way to add fun and healthy variety to your dog’s bowl.

By day, Jen Danna is a scientist studying infectious diseases. But at night, Jen has immersed herself in creating the world of FBI K9 Handler Meg Jennings and her dog Hawk. 

From domestic terrorism to human trafficking, the FBI K9 series follows Meg & Hawk as part of the FBI’s Human Scent Detection Team.  From page one, these books had me hooked and it felt like I was along for the ride as Meg & Hawk are tasked with locating the missing, lost, escaped or dead.

We’re diving into an age-old question today: do dog trainers train dogs … or people?  As a dog trainer and pet health coach, Jessica Fisher has a lot to share on this topic.

Despite having some “not so great” experiences with pets when she was growing up, Jessica was on her way to becoming a bit of a crazy cat lady when she met the man who would become her husband … and his chihuahua.

But it took her dog Kimberly, a rescue who came with separation anxiety, for Jessica to find her calling as a dog trainer.

We see these memes online everyday joking that all of our dogs are freelance emotional support dogs.  But what if it’s your dog’s behavior that’s causing you anxiety?

When Layla the Australian Shepherd began showing fear, reactivity and even some fear aggression, Karoline found that her dog’s anxiety was giving her anxiety!  So now what was she going to do?

Over the past 3 years Karoline has embarked on a journey of Growing & Heeling – working on her own mental and emotional health, as well as Layla’s behavioral challenges.

Who is caring for your pets when you’re traveling?  That’s the question today’s guest, Isabel Alvarez Arata, is going to help us answer.

 Isabel describes herself an advocate for in-home  pet sitting and shares with us everything we should know before hiring a pet sitter.

When she had trouble finding a dog walker for her newly adopted dog Titan, Isabel saw a career changing opportunity and spent the next 15 years running a highly in-demand pet sitting business in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington DC.

First we’ll meet Michelle Dumont who created a series of children’s books based on Phoebe Cakes, the tiny special needs bulldog who spent 4 amazing years with Michelle & her family.

From rides to Starbucks to her Mardi Gras Barkus Parade “float,” Phoebe lived and loved to the fullest.  Michelle’s books continue to spread Phoebe’s zest for life to children with her fun interactive books. 

 Next we’ll meet young entrepreneur Ari Minkus, the founder of Always Happy Pets.

As a middle schooler, Ari created his company to provide high-quality sustainable gift baskets for dogs filled with treats and toys. Ari shares what inspired him to start this venture, how he sources the products and why he stopped using actual baskets and what he uses instead.