Podcast: Through a Dog's Ear with Lisa Spector

Have you ever wondered how dogs hear differently than us or how music can help calm your high strung companion? Tonight's guest on Raising Indiana is Lisa Spector, a Julliard graduate and concert pianist of international acclaim.

Lisa has taken her classical music training to the canine world with 'Through a Dog's Ear', a collection of CD's to soothe your puppy's anxious soul. Her CDs have increased adoption rates in over 1,400 shelters we can personally attest to their effectiveness.

Boston is notorious for being one of the noisiest cities in the country and to make matters worse, our basecamp in Winthrop lies in the path of Logan Airport. The Canine Companion Vol 2 has been a goodsend in our house.

This is the first of two podcasts with Lisa and the next one will air at our scheduled time Tuesday May 1st at 8PM EST. Between now and then, if you post comments about your experiences with music and your companion or what band or genre your dog prefers, a randomly selected poster will receive one of Lisa's CDs. We will announce the winner when we air Episode 2.

Changes

I've had to simplify and focus my efforts as of late which will impact, in a small way, Raising Indiana.  To learn more about that, please read http://2dogs2000miles.blogspot.com/2012/03/i-am-2-dogs-2000-miles.html

1. We're moving the podcast schedule from every Thursday to every other Tuesday at 8 PM EST starting  April 3rd with Dr. Jean Dodds with Hemopet.  

2. Sheila Rinks is no longer affiliated with Raising Indiana.  We thank her for helping launch the podcasts and wish her very well on her new life endeavors.  

3. We will have a co-host(s) moving forward and we hope to develop more creative and controversial content for the podcasts.  We feel the show needs a new direction to best serve our audience.  

4. The Finding Fuzzybutt Four blog will be shutting down.  After we adopted little Indy, my original vision was to help find homes for other rescued Pyrenees and mixes and be a resource for new parents.  I think we accomplished that but there are other more effective sites out there.  Thank you to all of the many contributors to the engaging and informative content.  

Tune in Tuesday for the next episode of Raising Indiana.  

Keep the faith & puppy up & support your local shelter or rescue!

Podcast: Linda Westin and PET Care Campus

We're honored to have tonight's guest, Linda Westin the President of Friends of Cookeville Putnam County Animals to talk about their P.E.T. Care Campus, a state-of-the-art shelter pet utopia that's in the works.  

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Raising Indiana is undergoing some changes. Stay posted!

Update and Piedmont Dog Park Videos

No podcast tonight as we're making some changes to Raising Indiana.  In the interim, please enjoy some videos shot recently at Piedmont Park in Atlanta GA, one of the most expansive off-leash dog parks we've ever been to on our travels. 

I was so absolutely if not astonishingly pleased with how well socialized the baby 'Moose' has become and it was like it was my snowflake's first day of school.  You see, all of the wise and wizened trainers, dog psychologists, and other people who have dope slapped me in the head have helped produce tremendous results and our relationship becomes richer by the day.  Thanks and the podcast will return next week as well other exciting news.  

Even when this little guy, Ramses starts butt humping Indiana and does it over and over again due to an inattentive father, Indy keeps his cool.  What a good kid!

Podcast: Nature's Variety and The Ancestral Diet

Last week we talked with Dr. Jackie Obando about integrative medicine and diet and nutrition and about Nature's Variety, a company I feel very passionate about.

What I find most fascinating about this company is their pursuit of a dog's ancestral diet.  

Jill Gainer, the Director of Communications at Nature's Variety, is here to talk with us about their mission and their extensive product line of kibble, raw, canned, bones, & treats. I mean man, they're like the 31 flavors of Baskin Robbins for puppy dogs.

In the interest of disclosure, Hudson, who has suffered from severe food allergies, is on Nature's Variety Instinct, and it seems it is one of the only dog foods he can tolerate.

Podcast: Dr Obando and Holistic Medicine

In this episode of Raising Indiana, we start a conversation about non-traditional veterinarian medicine and to kick it off and our first guest on the topic is Dr. Jackie Obando, who in 2000 founded MercyVet, an alternative and holistic vet practice in the Pacific Northwest.

In this episode we navigate the different terminologies like holistic, homeopathic, alternative medicine as well as the link between homeopathy and dog nutrition and the raw diet.

In the interest of disclosure, Hudson, who has suffered from severe food allergies, is on Nature's Variety Instinct, and it seems it is one of the only dog foods he can tolerate. In next week's episode, we talk with Jill Gainer, their Communications Director. Hope that you can join us this time next Thursday at RaisingIndiana.com

Podcast: PETS LLC

Where did my dog come from? And how did it get here? That may sound like a Talking Heads song but it's the charter mission of Peterson Express Transport Services (PETS LLC). If you adopt a dog halfway cross country, Kyle Peterson, the owner and operator, makes certain she gets to you safe and sound.

There's a backstory here, too. My first encounter with Kyle and PETS was just after the walk was completed in June 2010, I stopped over in Maryland to help a family for a week. From there I had to get back to Hudson and Murphy who were in Memphis and the folks at PETS gave me a lift and they were courteous enough not to make me travel in a kennel.  

Our producer, Sheila, has a more recent experience and in her words, "In October we adopted a rescued dog out to a young couple in CT and Kyle transported the dog, Sonic, for us. Sonic's new mom, Emily, wrote a short blog about adopting Sonic and his transport with PETS that's on Finding Fuzzybutt Four. And this Friday we are sending our latest foster, Lissette, with Kyle to her forever family in New England!"

PETS was part of a Reality show called Last Chance Highway and they've helped a whole lotta companion animals out.  Hope you enjoy our show with them.  

Podcast: Valentine's Day Special with Sheryl from Leashes and Lovers

"When you love someone eternally, having them in your life one second short of that is not long enough"

It's our Saint Valentine's edition of Raising Indiana and we have with us the 'Dog Lover's Matchmaker', Sheryl Mattys, author of the book Leashes and Lovers and a web based dating site by the same name.

We talk with Sheryl about how dogs can help us become better companions, whether single puppy parents should even try to date, and a cute but kinda creepy celebrity story.

Late last nite, I signed up to Leashes and Lovers and our profile name is, not surprisingly, TheFuzzybutts. Will we find a Mommy for Indiana there? If we do, we'll post it here on Raising Indiana.