Welcome to Dog Pro Radio. What’s going on guys? 

Yeah, a lot going on. 

It’s like a deer in the headlights for a second there. Nothing. 

Woo. It’s been a, it’s been a week, man. I supposed to have dogs coming in next week. Uh, I’m trying to find a customs broker in our nation’s capital of all places, and that is like, you would think that would be like the easiest place and the easiest thing to do.

It is not. It absolutely is not. It’s, um, it’s a struggle, but we’re working on it. 

Cool. Yeah, I was, uh, a little worried that Matt’s gonna ask the question of how, how are we doing and what’s everyone up to? I feel like there’s always so much, um, and yeah. You know, just trying to make headway on the, the projects that we have.

Right. It’s like at the beginning of the year you, you like make a list of all the things you’re doing, but it’s like IACP stuff. ICP projects, individual projects for the business. And then it’s like, if you don’t like. Make it a point to make, to just go down the list and itemize it and do it, uh, it just, you know, sits around for another quarter or another month or another year.

So that’s kind of been like my thing is like I have to get going with some of the things on the list. So, you know, back half the year’s, been wide open so far. So I’m excited to just get to work. I’m also in the middle of like selling my house and, and like buying new property. So. It is just, it’s just a mess, you know?

So, so I was happy to catch up with you guys though. I, I feel like I haven’t spoken to you guys in a couple of weeks. I mean, we sent messages here and there and, and more. Board official stuff, but you know, it’s always nice to catch up in, in person or virtually and get to hear everyone’s very nice voice through a screen.

I’m excited to see your place in a couple weeks, Fabian, or maybe it’s more than that. I don’t know. It’s coming up soon, right? 

Yeah, it’s like in two weeks. Um, you’ll be coming by, we have like a French ring workshop that weekend, or it’s starting to be, it’s supposed to be French ring decoy handler, like entry level for it, whether it’s a competitor of a handler.

But it’s turning into be a bunch of different dog sports stuff, which is kind of cool. Um, and it’s also that crowd, you know, loves to hang out and, and have a good time. So if you are interested in having a good time and you’re gonna stick around, you know, hang out afterwards, but yeah, you’re gonna be in town, right?

What do you, you say you’re doing something out here with the rescue. 

Yeah, the West Suburban Humane Society, they’re in Downers Grove, you know, at west of Chicago. I’ve done work with them for absolutely forever, it feels like, since probably 2006, 2008, somewhere in that timeframe. Uh, so we sponsor their event.

They have a big event every year, this time of year called Barca Palooza. We always sponsor it. A lot of times I just can’t make it up there, but this year I can, which I’m excited. To do. Uh, so we’ll have a booth and, you know, be able to see a lot of people. I don’t get to see all that often, see a lot of dogs and support them.

’cause like a lot of humane societies, they rescue out a ton of dogs and they do a phenomenal job. And you know, we all know there’s all kinds of rescues out there, right? That some are better than others. And they’re, to me, pretty high in the list. If they do a great job adopting, they’re easy to deal with.

They take good care of the animals. Don’t lie to people about what kind of dog you’re getting. That’s a big one. That’s a big one for sure. Don’t lie. 

Don’t lie to people. Must be a Chicago thing. Yeah, 

it must be. There’s somewhere, every dog they have is a lab mix and you’re like, this lab mix is like 18 inches tall.

His chest, he is got like in 60 inch chest with cropped ears and he’s a lab Makes, 

whereas Shepherd makes you get Lamba. Shepherd makes. 

Yes. So they don’t do that, which is nice. They’re a great group to deal with. 

Cool. So you come, you come up here often or? No, 

not as often as I would like. I probably get up there four times a year or something like that.

Okay. That’s not that at all. Jason, when’s the next, when are you coming to Chicago? You should 

come, you should come that weekend, Jason. It’s gonna be fun. 

Yeah, if 

you, I can, I can run the streets of Chicago at three. It’s not that bad. Dogs. Um, apparently that’s his pastime now. 

Just, just my, my, my dogs. You know, Chicago’s not that bad.

I mean, I think it’s, I think it’s great. I mean, there’s a lot of headlines, but there’s also millions of people in a bunch of different neighborhoods. And, uh, we should, when we run a regional gathering here, you should come out for the weekend or just something, uh, check the place and, and look at kinda where the ICP is, is located and, uh, you know, all the cool stuff.

Um. I would love to have you guys both out here. So, um, 

and Jason. Chicago’s not that bad. As long as you have a Malinois with you and a gun, like you’re gonna be fine. It’s not a big deal. 

Yeah. No one ever bothers me. Like no one, no one ever comes up and says hi to me. No one asks to pet my dogs. No one ever talks to me.

So when everyone’s like, I can’t keep people’s hands off my dogs, you know, they just keep wanting to pet ’em. I’m like, I don’t have that problem. Like no one ever. Never, no one ever, uh, offers that to me. 

Get you, uh, get you some French bulldogs and, uh, a couple golden doodles and you can change that whole thing up.

Yeah. 

Yep. We go. Shifting gears a little bit, why don’t we get into conference recap. You guys were the, the heavy lifters of this year’s conference. I feel like. Any, any big thoughts from your end? 

Yeah, I did. Um, I think I did 37,000 steps in a day. One day. Um. I was, uh, I don’t think I’ve ever done that many steps in a day before.

Uh, so it was, uh, it was definitely busy on our end for sure. Um, our end the board, um. But I think overall it was, uh, definitely one, uh, that we can put in the W column. Uh, I really do. Uh, it is most, most of the feedback we’ve gotten from that and, uh, we’ve gotten quite a bit and I appreciate everybody sending those in ’cause it gives us a lot of information.

But, you know, overall people were pretty, pretty happy with Savannah even though it was, uh, end of July and it was hot and um, the vendor hall almost flooded. Uh, we were gonna have to hand out, um. Life jackets in the vendor hall there for a minute. But, uh, it was just so good 

water. 

It wasn’t, it wasn’t 

any crazy 

crisis averted there, but, uh, never, we’ve ne I’ve never seen that much rain come at one time.

But, uh, yeah, it was, uh, it was a busy five days, six. How many days was it? Six. It was a lot. Um, but, uh, I think overall people, people enjoyed themselves. Uh, I think people learned a lot. Uh, we had some, we had a pretty cool lineup of speakers. Um. But you know, as, as y’all know, it takes a ton to put that thing on.

Uh, and I think it takes a lot more than most people imagine. Um, a lot of people, uh, in the feedback forms. Talked about what a good job the board and all of the other, um, volunteers and all the other people did and, um, insinuated that we had a crew like, um, event planning crew helping us put it together.

We, in fact did not, it was us. So, um, it’s, uh, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a lot of work. 

It is a lot of work. Well, we had us and then we had Fabian’s team, so that was pretty helpful that Fabian shows up with a small army. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was, we actually did that last year because we were so close to like, um, you know, conference date that we knew we had the bunch of things to set up and not do video.

And I, I, you know, a lot of the stuff is just cost cutting, right? Whatever you can do to save the organization some dollars, I think that we’re definitely gonna do, do that. And then. They kinda became the habit this year too, which was like, oh, let’s just do it again. Just because, you know, conference takes a whole year to plan.

Last year we booked it within nine months, right? I think it was September and then conference was in September. ’cause I’m getting the memories on social media now of all the stuff that we were doing at that time. And then a couple months later we have a 2025 conference. Right? So this is the first time heading into California, um, that.

It is a year’s worth of planning and it really takes that much time, you know, between, you know, some of the stuff we’re working on now and, you know, uh, logistics on that day. But yeah, conference was a conference was a, a big hit. I really enjoyed pretty much everyone that attended. Um, um, I enjoyed the vibes.

I think it all came together for me when it was time for gala and you had the big ba like you walk in and it’s a big dome and you know, it’s like a just. Tons of people in there, everyone’s having a good time. That’s when I felt like, okay, this is officially a successful conference. Right. So I was pretty excited about, um, all of that stuff.

Um, and just, you know, there’s just a lot of work getting stuff there and bringing stuff back. Um, I didn’t count my steps, but you know, we, I’m sure, I’m sure there’s a lot of, uh, um, you know, we were definitely exhausted at the end of everything. Um, and as much as it is like. Bringing like a small army, to me, it, it is a bit of like team development, right?

Like having to be part of some of those events really helps people build a, um, I don’t know, like a understanding of the industry, right? Like a deeper understanding of the industry, like getting to meet with every, all the other pro uh, canine professionals. Uh, so that’s really, you know, one of the reasons I, I, I did that and, um, you know, helps everybody out.

Speaking of being 

exhausted, there were people in the lobby playing this. Until like five in the morning or something. What was it? What? Anybody remember the name of that thing? No. Portal. Portal? Yeah. It was like a clicker 

shaping game, right? It was like a sheet. Yeah. 

It was like behavior shaping game and man, apparently that thing’s addictive.

So, um, we gotta, we gotta bring that back next year. There were like zombies in the lobby playing that game till late, late, late. It was, it was wild. I’d never seen it before, but apparently it’s pretty popular. 

I know if there’s one thing that I do miss from some of the previous conferences is how much of, uh, how much involve you or how much fun you can have attending a conference.

Right? Because a lot of times you’re like, oh my God, they’re having such a great time. And then you have a box, a bunch of boxes on your arms and you’re like, oh, but I can’t stop and do this ’cause we’re gonna be here forever. We if, uh, if, if, you know, if we stop now. So, uh, I kinda miss that, but I also. I don’t know.

I’m a bit of a workaholic, right? So I love working and, and being exhausted after a long day and, and feeling like I was able to make a contribution, um, as an individual. Uh, so when one day, when we’re no longer doing these, like long conferences, I’m also gonna miss that, right? That sense of accomplishment from, from pulling that kind of stuff off.

Um, but, um, I guess I, I did have a question for Jason. Jason, what did, what do you think was the hardest? Thing for you to organize that conference because you do a lot of planning, like what you do. I mean, you’re, you’re doing a lot of planning now and, and you know, so does everybody else on the board, but I mean, you bring together a lot of of things.

What do you think is the most challenging thing that people should be aware about as we like head into future conferences? 

Oh God. Hardest thing that, that’s, that’s a tough question. ’cause they’re so. It just, I mean, there’s just so much that I think I, I think people don’t understand it. And I say that because I didn’t have a clue.

Um, you know, as you remember, last year was my first. Conference. Uh, I wasn’t president very long, and then we had a conference, but you know, I, I had an opportunity to see things a little different this year. And I mean, it’s just so much that goes into that from logistics to food and beverage to, you know, how many rooms you get booked to, what space you’re putting presenters and uh, setting up vendor.

I mean, it’s just. The hardest thing. The hardest thing to, for me was really just trying to wrap my head around all of it because it’s, it’s, the other thing that I found out about doing these conferences is how fluid the whole thing is. And how everything shifts and changes, you know, um, because you know, everything’s laid out and you’re good to go.

And then the next minute, you know, six people canceled the room and now all of a sudden everything down the line changes. Yeah. I mean, I had no, I, I absolutely, I had no clue. Um, I learned this year. Um, but, um. Yeah, just, you know, trying to understand all the moving parts I think is the hardest. 

Yeah. I would say too, like adding to what you said, meeting the financial obligation to the hotel is probably the, the most nerve-wracking and the hardest part to all that we’re transparent.

’cause that’s where like. You gotta make sure you have the right amount of vendors, the right amount of attendees, you gotta meet your commitment. And we ultimately become responsible for any of that, right? Like whenever people don’t show up or they show up or, and, and they cancel the rooms and, you know, things change, like you said, like it just changes.

It could bump you out of a tier of something that you’re currently in. Um, so that’s something I learned a lot about conference, uh, as well is more or less. Getting people to like, uh, I guess making sure the financial obligations met, but then when you guys took on the, the vendor spots. ’cause Matt, you, you and Jason worked on rallying all the vendors last year and I probably now moving forward as well, you’re still doing it.

And I would say getting people to commit to, uh, that that’s also plays a big part of it, you know? Um, so getting people to say yes and, and making it a financial commitment for them. Uh, ’cause it is an investment for those companies too. I think, uh, you know, all the challenging, so, you know. Back to the subject of, of trauma and trauma bonding.

That’s a good example right there. Selling, 

selling tickets too. I mean, yeah. I mean, how do you market it? How do you, you know, where you at, uh, on ticket sales, can you meet those KPIs for it? And we, you know, I set a goal of, um, having 50% more ticket sales for 2025 over 2024, which was pretty lofty. Um. Happy to say we met that goal.

Thank you, Zach George, for bringing awareness to our organization on social media. Um, I, I, I think that might have put us over the top, but, uh, yeah, we had, uh, ticket sales. I think we were right around 305 or something previous year. We were right around 200. So, uh. And then Fabian’s got, what, 600? Is that on your list for next year?

Is that what you said? 600, 700? Yeah. Something 

about California just told me we’re gonna have a big, big turnout. I mean, it’s, first of all, it’s, it’s people like California. I mean, I’m speaking from my personal perspective, right? I like California. There’s a lot of, there’s a big dog training community. At least that’s what it seems that way.

Uh, out there, doctors out there, um, you know, uh, it’s in a good, good location and people like having a beach time as well. So, um, you know, hopefully it turns out, uh, but we’re pretty good at, at meeting and, and checking those things off. I mean, just earlier this year we made a list of all the things that needed to be done for the ICP and here we are, you know, um, nine months in and feel like we’ve accomplished a lot, you know, um, the podcast being one of them.

Right. How many episodes are you guys in now? This is 20. Nice round 

number. Yep. Hard to believe. This is 20. So you guys have gotten pretty good at it. No, 

we’re better. We’re better than we were. So I feel like that’s a good segue to just why we even started this podcast in the first place. Right. You know, we had a, we were at the board retreat and what month was that?

Like February. February. 

Mm. And very end of February in Savannah. Yeah. 

And Jason, you had pitched this and I, I feel like, at least from my standpoint, the two reasons that we’re running this show, one is education. I mean, what awesome education for our members, but it’s also free for anyone to listen to, which is pretty cool.

But on top of that, just to also build awareness for the IACP, although we have a ton of really good members and a lot of a lot of trainers out there are IACP members, not all trainers are. And for people to hear the show, to understand who we’re all about and to hopefully join that’s. For all you listeners, that’s one of the big reasons we’re running this.

It’s not just education and sharing this with others, sharing it with your friends, sharing it with your trainer friends, especially getting the IACP name out there and with Jason and Roberts plus one campaign. Maybe you wanna talk about that. There’s, there’s incentives for people to help grow the membership, but just keep in mind, we’re doing it.

The bigger the organization is, the more clout we have and that’s really important with what we’re looking to do to protect the industry. 

Definitely then you’ll get those numbers up. We did, uh, we announced it at conference, the plus one campaign. Um, we had talked about doing a membership campaign at the board retreat in February when we came up with the idea of the podcast, but also, uh, was talking to Robert on his podcast and, uh, he brought up the idea that if, you know, just everybody who’s currently a member brings on one person, we get to double our numbers.

Um, so kind of played on that whole plus one, bring one person, will you? And, um, we did start our plus one campaign. It’s live, it’s on our website. Uh, we started it August 1st, so we’re one month into it. We’ve seen some success from it, so I gotta, oh, it’s cool. I gotta update the leaderboard and, uh, I think we’ve got a social post going out real soon, but, um, yeah, we’re gonna run that for 12 months.

There are some perks all the way up to getting a. Free ticket to conference next year if you bring enough folks, uh, along. So, uh, we’re excited about it and, uh, hopefully that’ll, that’ll catch on and, um, create a little awareness about it and get people signing folks up. It’s not like Mary Kay or Avon or one of those, you just, they just put your number in.

That’s all. When they sign up, they put your member number in, you get credit for it. You don’t have to, who’s the leader? Host a party at your house on Saturday. You don’t have to sell anything. Wait, you 

don’t have to do that. No. No. This isn’t a Tupperware party. 

No. None of that. 

Who’s the leader right now?

Do we have a known leader? Uh, we do. Uh, gimme a second. I’ll find it. 

Hang on. It was, uh, Gwen just shot it over to me the other day. 

Wait, so if someone wants to throw a party and then just convince a bunch of people to sign up, that’s like they can essentially get on the leaderboard 

ab Yeah, absolutely.

That’s it. 

You’re gonna see Highland up there pretty quickly on. Um, you know, after this regional gathering, I get a bunch of local people up. Jason’s handing out his number 

that, uh, that’s gonna be our party.

October 18th. Come see us. We’re here in North Carolina. What do you guys gotta 

line up for that, Dave? 

Uh, all kinds of stuff. Mag’s gonna be talking about the, how we started our shelter program here. Uh, I think we’re gonna have some folks from the shelter here as well to, um, um,

talk about. Their perspective of that program. We got the pools still open, it’ll still be open in October. So if you wanna bring your dog out, do some dock diving. I don’t care if you’ve never had your dog in a pool before. If you’re a world competitor, doesn’t matter. Come on, hit the dock. Um, that’s gonna be open.

Uh, we’re gonna have a cookout, um, let people hang out. May have some demos as well. Um, so yeah, hopefully we’re gonna have a good time. So SVP, it’s free. SVP on the website. And, um. Come see us in harmony. Oh, Ashley Kerik. How many people top of the leaderboard? I do not have the stats, but she is at the top of the leaderboard.

Hey, can you guys hear this if I do this? Let’s see.

Yeah.

Ashley. Ashley Care. Keep it up. Keep bringing them. You might get a pink Cadillac. That’s awesome. No, that’s, sorry. That’s so different. Yeah. You might get a free conference ticket for next year. 

Do we wanna shift into kind of some recaps of the show and some of the stuff we’ve done and covered? 

Yeah. It’s, dude, it seems like we just started this like a couple weeks ago, and at the same time it’s like, we’ve been doing this for years.

Mm. 

I mean, you guys had a lot of practice. I mean, 20 episodes, that’s like 20 some, not more than 20 something hours. You guys have had some long podcasts. Yeah. Um, you know, in, in this. And I figured, um. You gotta have quite a bit of practice. And plus you started this in March. It, it wasn’t even like a, what was it, the first episode?

Was that the second time? That was the second week after we got back for conference. Or it was the same week. It was like we got back. No, it was regional and then right away there was an episode and then it was like producing the episode. And then there’s another one and then there’s another one. Um.

Which was, uh, yeah. So I mean, hey, that’s a lot of, I’m surprised there isn’t even more, you know? Um, that’s great. Who’s your who’s, uh, do you guys have favorite episodes? 

Want to turn your passion for dogs into professional career at the school for Dog Trainers at Highland Canine Training, we offer expert led in-depth courses that fully prepare you for successful career in the dog training in.

Offering three campus locations, our licensed programs provide you with the perfect balance of academic instruction and real world hands-on training. Over the past two decades, we have hosted graduates from over 45 countries across the globe. Join thousands of graduates making a difference while on dog at a time.

Visit international dog trainer school.com and unleash your future. 

That’s a tough call. Jason, you you wanna go or you want me to? 

Uh, yeah, I, I do. I I, I’ll be honest with you, man, I, I tell people all the time, just from us sitting and doing these podcasts, I have learned so much stuff. I mean, it’s, I just sitting here interviewing people and getting the opportunity to ask those questions.

I’ve learned so much stuff. Um, yeah, I mean, I’ve got, I’ve got quite a few who, who sit at the top of the list, but my favorite probably, um, probably was one with Robert. Mm-hmm. It, there was, there was a lot that came away from that particular episode, but, uh, yeah, that was probably my, my number one of the, of the 19 so far.

You know, I think, no question. Robert’s episode and Larry’s as well were really fun conversations that I, I really, I mean, I’ve enjoyed all of them. One I really liked though, ’cause I know so little about it was Athena house. Where for me it was just such a learning experience. ’cause I don’t know anything about search and rescue, so getting the chance to learn was, was pretty cool.

Versus, you know, talking to people you really enjoy, that you respect as a trainer, but sometimes it’s also just kind of hanging out, talking and letting them tell their story. So I, I thought it was really cool to learn about something that I, I know next to nothing about. 

Mm-hmm. 

What about you, Mr. Fabian?

Um, I would say Melody Uday. I think she was one that was very excited about, I had seen her on social media for quite some time, you know, and I began following her work. So I was very excited to, to get on the podcast and ask her some questions that, you know, I had some, uh. Some curiosities myself in terms of, you know, uh, say aggression and neutering or keeping animals intact.

’cause there’s a lot of hearsay, right? There’s a lot of hearsay between trainers and especially in the working dog world or the sport dog world, and then into pet dogs and everyone’s got their specific, um. You know, their version of the explanation. But getting it from Melanie Uday was, I think a, a super awesome part.

You know, I really enjoyed that conversation. Um, you know, another episode, I mean, the one we did with Pat, that one, you know, I enjoyed a lot. I did feel like I complained a little too much. You know, I was a little worried when we were done filming it. I was like, here I am complaining about, I’m so mad about Sack George and why are we not doing this, and what do we think, dude?

I get so, you know, I get, I turn into a broken record pretty easily with that. Um, so. 

Dr. UDAs almost turned into its own little miniseries there. We did. That’s the only one. We’ve done two episodes, right? Mm-hmm. Two back to backs. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It’s like we walked away from that with way more questions than we had answers, so it was like, let’s do this one again.

Those were good episodes for sure. 

Yeah. 

Let’s test everyone’s dog pro radio knowledge. Oh God. So what is your guess on the most downloaded episode? I pulled the stats from Spotify

most downloads. Man, that’s a toss up. I’m thinking it’s gonna be between three. 

Jason’s gonna name nine episodes. He’s like, I think it’s one of these, 

nah, it’s, I’m gonna give you one, but I think, I’m pretty sure it came down. I bet. I, I’m, I think I know the top three. I’m gonna say most downloaded is probably Robert Fabian, um, 

J Jack.

It was J Jack by a pretty wide margin, followed by number. What’s your guess for number two? 

I’m gonna say Larry or Robert. One of those two. I I was, those were my top three. Um, 

I’m gonna go with, um, Melanie. Melanie Uday, or um, pat Stewart. 

Gotta choose one. 

Uh, Dr. Uday. Oh, you chose 

wrong. It was Pat. Oh, really?

Oh man. 

Okay. Alright, good. That was pretty good. Yeah, I’m a pretty good guess here. I’m a pretty good guess. You are. Who’s number three? 

Uh, let’s see. Um.

Jason, aren’t you the stats guy? Aren’t you like a, that’s what you do, dude, I’m not, you always, always get the reports from you. I’ve not looked at that in 

forever. Was Tyler 

Moo? 

Okay, cool. That was a cool episode. Mm-hmm. If you’re, if you’re interested in upping your game with your business, man, that’s definitely one listen to Perfect.

And then 

after those three, there were a ton that were grouped pretty tightly. 

Yeah. Now you have to say that, Matt, you started this game. Now you have to say that. 

Well, let’s, let’s play number least amount of 

downloads. Let’s do least amount of downloads. That’s gonna be the very first one with the three of us.

And it’s gonna probably go with the, this one right here. It’s gonna be neck and neck with this one. 

Yeah. Yeah. Let’s, let’s, let’s start, let’s change the question before we get into. 

Longest episode. 

Ooh, I’m just, I’m just going off of like, just vibes. Okay. Social media vibes and, and what I’ve seen. ’cause I’ve not tuned into all the episodes, but I can take a wild guess.

You wanna go first, Jason? No, I don’t. Go ahead. Longest and time. Mm. Long as, and it did not 

feel like a long episode filming it. I remember this one well, and it did not feel even, at least to me at all, like a drug out or it went too long. It was really, it was one of the, 

it was one of the earlier ones, right?

Not a lighter one. 

I can’t give you any, any clue. 

All right. I’m gonna take my guess. Larry Rum. Oh, you can now we gotta wait on Jason here. 

Uh, practicing my poker face. I’m going with Sandy doing. Cindy was close, but it was Mark Goldberg. 

Oh, really? Okay. Cool, cool, cool. Oh, that’s awesome. 

Yeah. Alright. Last game.

How about the shortest episode? That was the first one we did. 

Yeah, I 

think the first 

one we did. Okay. We can’t count that one. We can’t count the intro. Shortest with a guest. 

Uh, shortest with a guest will be, uh. 

Antonio Diaz. I’m just kidding. We’re just aina.

Um, shortest one. Um, I’m trying to think who’s like a pretty straight to the point person. Um, I mean, Tyler’s pretty, you know, he’s a pretty calculated straight. To the point person. Um,

I’m gonna go with

Dr. Uday again, 

part one or two. 

Oh, it 

was part one, art wine. Yes. Doctored up part one. Yes. I that right. That’s awesome. Yes. Now I was gonna give you some shit for taking 45 seconds to answer it, but when you get it right, I, I guess you, you deserve that much time to think if you’re gonna what? 

But that’s not fair, dude.

That’s not fair at all because I remember that episode. Now it’s coming back to me because I was sitting over here with this like long, long list of questions I want to ask him. Fabian’s like, well, that’s a wrap guys. We’ve enjoyed it. 

That’s why we have to do part two. Fabian had plans that day. I don’t know.

You know, I don’t know what’s an acceptable length for podcast anymore. I mean, I’ve seen some, nobody knows, like three hours long. I’m like, that’s a, like, that’s a good multiple day. Listen, you know? Mm-hmm. And I’m not one to sit there and, and remember everything if I listen all in one shot. So, um, yeah. No, that’s, that’s good.

That’s good. We’ve 

had some long ones and I, I don’t think, Matt, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think we’ve had some prty long ones and I don’t think we’ve ever had to stop for somebody to take a bio break. We never have. So that is success right there. 

Mm-hmm. I’ll tell you what, for our business, we do pretty long interviews with trainers.

Mm-hmm. And I, we used to never ask them. Like I just assume if someone has to go to the bathroom, they’re gonna say, Hey, can I go to the restroom? And a lot of people in an interview, it turns out, won’t say that if no one else goes. So now we have to tell people like, Hey, if you need to go to the bathroom, ’cause we do a four hour interview in person.

Just tell us and just go to the bathroom. But we learned the hard way where like someone would finally be like, they’re like fidgeting and you’re like, are you okay? They’re like, I really have to go to the bathroom. 

Yeah. Four hours. Is it like like a podcast interview or is it like, um. 

No, no, no. I’m, uh, I meant like an interview for like a new trainer we’re hiring.

Oh, got it, got it, got it, got it. So there’s dog handling, there’s questions, there’s all kinds of stuff. Yeah. But, so maybe we need to start telling guests on this show, if you need to go to the bathroom, 

you can do 

it a 

four hour employee interview. 

Yeah. 

Do they get the punch in for that? No, I would, I would be looking to punch in.

Yeah. It’s like, sir, we, we did not, we did not run into, people run into the bathroom, but we did run into some other goofy stuff. Um, I remember Cindy. Climbing around their living room, closing curtains, trying to prep the place. Prior to, 

Cindy’s a badass, she was like climbing around on the kitchen counter.

She’s like, should I fix this lighting? Yeah, I should fix the lighting. She’s like climbing on the counter, like tacking stuff up to cover the windows and it’s pretty awesome. Yeah, only Cindy. How about, uh, Fabian, how about Pat Stewart? I don’t think we can repeat a lot of it, but holy smokes. The stuff we talked about after that episode ended when we cut the camera and just chatted 

there was, remember that podcast where we didn’t tape anything?

We said it was, so if, 

if we could air the stuff we talked about after we stopped recording, that would be our most popular episode. Times a thousand now we’d probably get sued by a few individuals. 

Yeah. Yeah. No. 

Do you remember that conversation, Fabian? I 

do 

remember 

the 

conversation. 

It was a long one. It was a long, long conversation.

Not, maybe not the podcast, but it was a very long conversation about, I mean, a lot of it about values and dog training and, you know, where we go with the industry. And I feel like I always find myself getting people really deep in the weeds with that, you know, and like asking the questions about what, what they think is gonna happen, uh, with.

Legislation and, and what they, you know, what kind of trouble is that gonna cause and all that. And, you know, being more proactive, uh, with that kind of stuff, that’s always something that comes up. And with Pat specifically, ’cause anytime I’ve ever run into him, it just gets straight into, um, you know, those topics.

And then dog business, which is like, you know, a whole nother, whole nother thing. So, um, but yeah, that was a, that was a really good podcasts, uh, jc why weren’t you in that one? What were you doing? You were in somewhere different country, India. You were in 

India, you were teaching there? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was in India.

Yep. Yeah. Well, that one came up and I’m like, look, I’m in India, but y’all go ahead, knock it out. 

All I’m gonna say is if you think Pat’s opinionated on air, you should hear the stuff he says off air. 

The difference, the difference is, Fabian, when I got back from India, I actually listened 

to that episode.

Oh dude. I said, someone needs to listen to this. Like, I, I remember calling Matt, I was like, can Jason listen to this and just make sure that he’s gonna be, you know, what was gonna be okay with what was said? I, you know, I didn’t, I didn’t even listen to that episode. I was like, no. I think, I think whatever the public decides to do with them.

I’m good with. And if they’ve somehow managed to publish this and it wasn’t a wash, I, you know, um, they would all be on the same page. Right. So, um, I was happy to, to see, and I also dunno how much what I said was cut out. Um, uh, how much? I 

don’t 

think 

we cut anything. It was the, you know, everything, we, everything we talked about, I feel like was maybe borderline controversial.

I, I think the stronger opinions came out in our, our debrief session and a lot of that would’ve had to been cut. Yeah. Like I said, I think there would’ve been some lawsuits involved. 

Yeah. Yes, yes. It’s 

coming back 

to me now. It’s like show lawsuits. Yeah. 

What else? Any, any other memorable moments? Anything you can think of, Jason?

Uh, just, 

you know, navigating these things sometimes can be seem, seems like it can get tricky at times. Um, but I think we’ve done okay with it. 

Yeah, dog trainers are crazy. That’s a good point. I mean, we’ve had how many people call in while they’re driving? We’ve had people like, you know, from a camper on the road, they’re like in the middle of nowhere filming from their camper.

But we’ve had multiple in a car driving and we’re like, Hey, maybe you should pull over, or let’s reschedule. 

Well, we gotta reschedule this. Yeah. Because we’re gonna get, we’re gonna get. Smoked. If we put this out with you, driving down five 20 somewhere, let’s just do this a different time now. Seems really bad.

So 

yeah, I think that the most interesting, interesting part is watching people from very much different backgrounds from all over the country. Um, and in some cases, uh, different countries just kind of come together and just jump on something and talk about dogs, right? And talk about the profession. I think that’s probably been the most interesting thing for me is just like, man, you have like different speakers getting on here and just having conversation and you also dunno what you’re gonna get, right?

Because you’re, you’re getting to know the speakers as you’re talking to them. So you’re talking, you’re having a, you know, you’re having a. A solid conversation, you may ask something that, you know, you’re like, oh, this is a little testy. Um, and I feel like I, you know, that’s, that’s why I excuse myself sometimes for the podcast.

Like, I don’t, I don’t really wanna ask these questions out in, in public. Um, that’s one of ’em, you know, Pat’s a good example of that. That episode’s a good example. Um, and I think when I was, uh, talking to one of the PSA judges Clay Smith, um. A couple weeks ago I was out with the judge’s dinner and you sit down and you start talking and you know, he was a super cool dude.

I think he’d be worth getting on a podcast and, and talking about dog sport and all these different things. Uh, really calculated judge in terms of like scenarios and things. Um, he has got a law enforcement background. Uh, you know, he’s been in dogs for a very long time. Uh, but then when I started talking to him, I had no idea, you know, what you’re gonna, you know, what’s gonna come up in conversation, whether they agree on some of the topics that they don’t.

And I think that’s what sometimes comes up in podcasts, right? You wanna keep it interesting and, and pc, but you also wanted to get to know the other, the other people you’re talking to, um, and see how they feel. And have you guys had any situations that got a little, like odd or like, uh, you know. Um, none you have to mention, but something that was like, Hmm, I don’t really know how to answer that, or, or, you know, feels uncomfortable to have that conversation.

I can’t think of any, but we might have a couple of those in the works. 

Uh, yes. We very well met. We were just talking about that before we started. Yeah. That may be coming. 

Yeah, 

that may be. Yeah. There’s a lot of folks I wanna talk to. I, I wanna talk to some. I wanna talk to some, some folks that, you know, a lot of people know, but I, I think it’d be cool to bring some folks on from, um, from different parts of the world.

Yeah. I’ve had the opportunity to, um, to travel a bit. I’ve been fortunate enough to do that with my business and see. How things are done culturally different with dogs and how, you know, how things operate a little different in different parts of the world. And I think it would be cool to have folks from different, different parts of the world come on and, and talk about that a little bit.

That’d be awesome. 

Don’t know, don’t know if our listeners want to hear it. If you do let us know. If you don’t let us know. But uh, yeah, I think it might be interested for sure. 

The cultural differences would be super interesting. And then so would just someone coming from a place where tools have been banned and talking about what has that done?

You know, I’ve heard some crazy stuff come outta some countries with how wild, we’ve got a client that moved to Australia not too long ago and some of the stuff I’ve heard from, I, I don’t know what part of Australia, but where a lot of the tools are limited and a lot of really crazy dogs. A lot of crazy dogs that can’t be controlled.

Yep. Everyone you talk to in different countries. I had a, I was talking to a couple guys from, uh, Peru and then in Mexico and there’s always some legislation, you know, trying to be passed that limiting trainers and or is trying to ban tools, et cetera, pretty much all over the world. It’s like an ongoing battle, right?

So I’m hoping this podcast helps. Bring kind of that awareness to people. And most of the time the people that benefit from benefit from tools the most also aren’t really aware in, in different countries, right? Like, just like the clients and you know, other dog trainers, they don’t know that some of this stuff’s happening, so, 

mm-hmm.

To reiterate what Jason said. I mean, this show is obviously made for the listeners, for our members, and then any other listener as well, but mainly the members. I’d say, uh, tell us who you want on here and you know, that’s our job is to get those people on. So we will talk to literally anybody, uh, absolutely anybody we can have a conversation with.

So anyone you’d like to see on here will tell us, drop a comment and we’ll do our best to get ’em on. 

Yeah, we’ve got our list we’re working from, but it’s very flexible, so let us know. We’ll get ’em, we’ll do what we can to get ’em on. All they can say is no. 

Mm-hmm. You know, what’d be fun would be to do an in-person episode.

I mean, think of much better it would be to be in the same room doing in-person versus through a screen. 

I got a place right here in North Carolina. 

Let’s do it to make it happen. How busy are you? The time when the, um. Original gatherings going on. Is that a, oh, we can fit 

something in. Definitely fit Something in that could be cool.

And we could do one in Chicago in December when Fabian has his regional gather now. Yeah. Yeah. 

You could do it. 

Oh dude. Chicago in December is beautiful. It’s a great time of year. It’s 

about the only, that’s as good as it gets. And then it’s, it’s cold, 

it’s windy, it’s gray. You’re gonna love it. Jason.

December’s great dude. It’s January and February. That’s rough. You know, um, I think Pat came here. He was here in February. Well, the first time he was ever here before COVID. And, uh, he’s outta snow for the first time here I think, or something. He went outside and started looking at it. He’s like, oh, it’s snowing.

Um, it’s crazy 

when I don’t 

think I get a lot in Australia. 

It’s probably not. When I went to law school in downtown Chicago and when I was go, it was the first year of the polar vortex. So like 2012, I wanna say. 

Yeah, 20 11, 20 12. 

And there were a few guys that I, that went to school there that were from California and had never spent time anywhere, all that cold.

Oh my God. And they didn’t leave their house for days. They were like, this is insane. ’cause you remember that time it was like negative 20, negative 30 real temp. The windshield was on top of that. It was absolutely bonkers. 

Was that that giant snowstorm? The one that like people no drive and everything.

That was 2010 and that. That was pretty wild. The snowstorm, this was just cold. 

Yeah. Now it happens every year. First week of February, guaranteed, guaranteed. First week of February. It’s gotta be the coldest one. Negative 20. Negative 30. You know, it’s the sensation of it. The real, the real feel is, is sometimes.

Into the fifties as it was last year. You just get used to it. I mean, you’re like, I had to return some lumber de I think the last year and I was like, you know, I mean, just how long, how long do I need to do? I have between, I get between now and I get frostbite and it’s like two minutes I, I could load this lumber for when it’s I to Home Depot.

Um. You can’t let it stop you, man. You’re gonna be in, inside the house for four weeks. 

Your blood thins, you really do. You, you build up an, you acclimate to it. But I always said, like when I left the Chicago area, I’m like, oh, I’ve been in the cold for so long, I’ll be fine. And I went back like two years later, we were selling a, a business, a building we had, and my partner and I were like unloading stuff, like out of a huge pull barn in, into trucks.

And I was shivering so bad. I just like, I couldn’t stop. And he’s like, what’s wrong with you? Like, I guess I just can’t handle Chicago in the winter anymore. 

Do you miss it? Do you miss being out here? 

I don’t. I miss some of the food. 

Yeah, 

you don’t The pizza. 

Yeah, pizza for 

sure. 

Pizza’s good. Uh, Italian beefs.

Yeah. I’m tired of it too, actually. I’m kind tired of it. That’s why I’m moving. I’m moving. It’s just the, the hustle and bustle. It’s like at some point it’s like, cool. You get used to it, but then it’s like. You know, not as fun anymore. Maybe as, as you get older, I am getting older, you know, it’s like, oh, time to get outta here.

But, um, I love the city, dude. I, I love it. I mean, I know people hate Chirac the way they call it, but it’s, when you fly into it and you see the, the skyline and everything, it’s just. It’s just beautiful. I assume you guys feel the same way about the places you live. Oh yeah. 

Where I’m at. If you’re, if you’re in traffic, you’re behind an Amish buggy or a tractor, one of the two, that is the only thing that’s gonna cause traffic here.

Yeah. So yeah, we should do some, uh. Live podcasts, um, or not live, but in person. Um, but, um, I guess circling back to you, Matt, you did a lot of those interviews. If, I mean, you did all the interviews, uh, during conference. How did you feel about that setup over there? 

In a claim situation, you wanna be sure you have the right coverage business insurers that the Carolinas is the preferred IACP insurance provider for your pet training, boarding, and daycare business, providing coverage in all 50 states.

Business Insurers of the Carolinas offers the most affordable general liability rates to IACP members. For more information, visit www.dogtrainerins.com or speak with one of our agents at 809 6 2 4 6 1 1. 

The setup was nice, so thank you Fabian, for putting that together. It was, you know, the hardest part was having to break it down and set it up again every single night.

Yeah, every day. So it didn’t get stolen, but it was a good setup. It was, it was interesting doing those live interviews with, you know, some, I mean, every speaker had a crowd, but some had, you know, an insane number of people taking pictures of them, you know, while they’re doing a live interview and. It was an interesting feel for sure.

Were you, uh, I’m surprised how well they came out with like the audio and stuff. Yeah, the audio really good. That was like eight feet away from the registration table. 

And some of them, you know, especially, I’m thinking of like when Ivan sat down, I mean, there, there had to be a couple hundred people watching that and, you know, taking pictures and everyone talking and you hear the audio, and the audio is really, really good.

Mm-hmm. It was those mics. It was Jason’s mics. That’s why I upgraded to these ones. I went to a conference, I’m like, what are these, these are road mics. And I immediately came back and, and purchased them for this through the year. Um, but Matt, were you at all nervous to, to be like a, it was the first time at conference, first time at ICB conference.

And then you’re charged with kind of like a main stage situation here, interviewing and talking to every single uh, speaker. Uh, live. So you didn’t really get the chance to, to, to do any editing. How did you feel about that? I thought I was like, Hey, he’s either gonna be like all for it or, or he’s gonna, he’s gonna ask for some help.

It was fun, but I’ll, I’ll tell you what I, I’ve spoken to all the speakers before, you know, we had pretty much everybody on Dog Pro radio, so you already have that rapport, which helps a lot. Rather than, like someone talks, you’ve never even made eye contact with them before. Right? Now all of a sudden you’re doing a live interview, it’d be a little bit harder, you know, not knowing their personality.

Mm-hmm. I, I think it helped a lot. It was pretty easy, but had a rapport with a lot of ’em already. It was a lot of fun. Hopefully people, anyone listening, drop a comment, let us know if you enjoyed that. It was a lot of work for everyone to put together, but if people enjoyed it and thought it was worth it, it will absolutely do it again next year.

Mm-hmm. 

Yeah, that’s definitely something that’s, that I think should stay part of conferences doing that whole, um, booth set up. Um, I don’t know if you’ve seen it in different places, Jason, but I got it from that first board retreat we went with the previous board. It was in. Texas. I don’t know. Where did we go?

Where did Tracy take us? It was um, it was like a bull riding place. It was like a music Oh, like Stein warehouse. It was a giant warehouse and just, it’s just all sorts of stuff going on. 

Was it like Billy Bob’s or something? 

Yeah, I think so. I mean, you, you would remember that. But they had this whole podcast set up right there in the middle of everything, and then we’re just having a conversation with either like.

Artists had just gotten off stage or something like that. I think that’s the first time that I set up and I was like, yeah, we should do that. Yeah, that’s a good thing for conference. 

Well, and Robert had told me that, I forget what he calls it, but using a road caster, like I think you guys both have one, but like a little thumb switch basically.

To switch the cameras. 

Mm-hmm. 

And to be able to have a wide shot and then an individual shot of each person, which I really think we should move to next year because we could have that wider shot where, where it’s both of us, but the whole, no one’s there to listen to me talk. Right. They’re there to listen.

They’re watching For the guest to be able to then switch the camera to a closeup of them would Sure be nice. And not have to have someone manning the camera and pull more people away. So I really think we should switch to that next year. And I can just. Hit it and switch it over to them. It’d be pretty awesome.

Yeah. If only we knew somebody who had a video switcher. 

Yeah. 

Jason, you just got one 

too though. Did you end up order? 

Uh, not yet. You, you 

sent it to me. I gotta get it still. Yeah, you could do a couple of camera switcher. This one’s a cheap one too. 

They, Robert’s gonna, he’ll be there. So we’ll just ask him to bring his, yeah.

I was like, Hey, do you have, you’re the guy with the idea you get to do 

this now. Yeah. Yeah. That’s awesome. But yeah, that’s gonna be a staple for what we do. And I think every year we’re just gonna figure something out that that should just be part of conference every single time that, that we do it. Um, from like the, I mean, that’s how the silent auction stuff has been around for a long time.

You have the award stuff. You have like the, the paper plate recall races. Now you have the podcast booth. What is it, Jason, I feel like you mentioned something at the beginning of this pod episode. What is it that, that you said you wanted to add to one of these? Was it. I feel like there was something similar to that.

I don’t know, maybe I’ll come back, but, uh, yeah, I’m sure there’ll this like a, oh, we need to have the game. The game. 

Yeah. The portal. Yeah. We need to have the portal. Portal championship next year. 

Yeah. Yeah. That could easily be his own conference. How long that we’re there? 

Yeah. Maybe we could do a dunk tank.

Yep. Yeah. Throw a ball. Put the IC present on there. 

Yeah. Yeah. Jason’s sitting up there. Boom. Hundred dollars tickets 

for ball. Sure. I do it all day. Make sure you make a lot of people unhappy before they go on sale. A good little promo shouldn’t be hard for you. Huh? I think you could do it. Actually, we don’t need to add to that.

We could sell out right now. 

Seems to be 

a thing.

Well, do we wanna give a quick update on conference 2026? 

Yeah, we got stuff cooking. Fabian’s got, uh. Stadium’s got some stuff coming our way. We’re hoping to have the web page finalized super soon for the conference. Uh, trying to finalize a few last minute things. Um, Marlene and I have been working on finalizing vendor space, so we got that nailed down.

Newport Beach, August 18 through 20, I think it is California next year. It’s gonna be way different. Fabian’s so excited. He is like, it’s like. Christmas for Fabian, because it’s a reason to go back to his favorite state, California. 

I don’t know if it’s my favorite state, but it, it definitely, you know, checks off a couple of boxes in terms of weather and, you know, outdoor activities.

And, you know, what if, if, if Brittany, Brittany, uh. Loves California, so that just makes it easier to, to go and do a little longer getaway. It’s right by San Diego. We go to San Diego every year so we can make it, uh, kind of like a longer trip this time instead of, instead of like bringing a. Um, people down there and then just kind of grinding it out and then flying back with like, no fun.

This time you can at least have a little bit of fun, uh, with that. So, um, I’m excited. We’ve been working on some of the artwork, so that’s kind of, that’s in his final stages, which is, uh, we got, we got working on that pretty much as, as soon as we, we came back and so, um, we’ve been working with a designer to, to, you know, make it make, not to spoil 

it, but it’s very California ish.

Yeah. I think we’re just waiting on some of the minor stuff for merch and then, uh, we should be good to go. I mean, then we’ll have all the branding and ready to, um, advertise it, promote it. Uh, we already got quite a bit of sales, I think, right? Jason? Uh, some extent. We do 

got quite a few commitments from a pretty, pretty incredible lineup of speakers.

Again, next year we had, um. A lot of our feedback forms from this year, we ask, who do you want to hear, you know, at future conferences? And, uh, saw a lot of names on there. And, uh, well, just so happens we got a lot of those names coming next year, so that should make, can we announce, 

can we announce any of ’em here or not yet?

Not yet. Gimme a minute. 

Not yet. You wanna sell more? We have already, we have already announced, uh, Denise Zi, so she’s gonna be opening keynote, I think. Uh, but we’ve got, we’ve got, we’ve got some others that are, that are definitely lined up, committed, and, uh, we’re, uh, we’re pretty excited about that.

Marlene’s been working pretty hard on. It 

should be a good lineup. The ones I’ve heard are pretty awesome. 

Yep. Yep. For sure. Mm-hmm. 

Awesome. Anything else you think we should be covering in this episode? 

So Fabian says you’re the, you’re the California expert. I’m not. Um, I hear that this place we’re going to is like 70 degrees year round.

Is that right? And like never rains? Um, quite possibly, 

yes. I mean, the micro climates in California are kind of crazy. I was talking to Jackie yesterday about some education stuff and she is, I think in Orange County, and she was like, it’s 95 degrees outside. Real feel is 105. And I was like, oh my God. I mean, it’s like 55 degrees outside.

I’m wearing a, you know, a hoodie. Yeah, crewneck. And then, um, it’s cold and so our, our summer’s kind of gone now. Um, so, but yes, it’s supposed to be like seven, five degrees year-round. Beautiful. You know, typical, you know, uh, coastal, uh, California. A little cool in the morning. Once, you know, once you get into mid afternoon, it’s nice and warm and so.

Hopefully there’s some surfing involved. I like surfing, so maybe there’s some activities and you know, just knowing the ICP uh, crowd, they love to go out to the beach, have drinks, have fun, do activities, you know, so there’s gonna be plenty of that. I’m excited for it 

should be awesome. Yep. What’s going on right now?

Is there a torrential downpour at your place, Fabian, or is that different noise? 

No, that’s a different noise. 

Whoa. 

There’s literally nothing going on here. Jason, this you. 

Hey. I mean, this might be the gremlin’s telling us to just wrap up. Yeah, it very well may be.

All right. I think we covered it. Anything else from you guys? 

Stay tuned to our social media for conference updates. Don’t, as we’ve said, not to be a broken record. Uh, leave us comments, shoot us a message. Let us know who you want to hear, what you want to hear. We’ll try to do our best to make it happen here on the podcast.

’cause this is, this is your podcast. It’s not ours, it’s yours. Um, so let us know what you want. 

Awesome. Thanks for listening, everybody.