Dog Trainer (and NYC small biz owner!) Amanda Gagnon on parenting using behavior modification techniques learned from working with dogs

As far as Annie knows, there is only one other female-owned dog training storefront in Manhattan: Amanda Gagnon Dog Training. Both Amanda and Annie also have toddlers. Annie reached out to Amanda, whose daughter is a couple years older than Annie's, for advice on how to approach parenting in a reward-based, non-coercive way. Learn more about Amanda at http://www.amandagagnondogtraining.com/ Canisius College's Masters in Anthrozoology https://www.canisius.edu/academics/programs/anthrozoology Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right https://amzn.to/2QCvbGc --- Partial Transcript: [Intro and music] Annie: So today I am here with Amanda Gagnon, who, you know, you and I actually have so much in common that I feel like this conversation could probably go on for five hours, like some Joe Rogan Experience episode or something. And we’ve actually never even chatted in real time before, so it’s pretty exciting that we’re getting to talk at all. But why don’t you sort of give a brief introduction to who you are, and then we can talk about some of the things we have in common and some of the things that I think I could probably learn from you. Amanda Gagnon: Absolutely. Yeah. I’ve been looking forward to this too. This is going to be a lot of fun. I, yeah, so I’m a dog trainer. I have a business in Manhattan, which is something we definitely have right in line with each other. I’ve been dog training for about a decade now. I’m also an anthrozoologist. That’s where I got my graduate degree in, which means I studied the relationship between people and animals. Obviously I focus on dogs and humans, and I really am particularly interested in dogs and humans and foreign cultures. So I spend my days typically training dogs and reading lots of books and talking to lots of people about how they feel about dogs based on where they live and who they’re around. So it’s a pretty fun life, I think, because I love dogs. Annie: That is so interesting. So where did you study anthrozoology? If only I had known that that was a thing one could study, but tell me more. Amanda: Tell me about it. You know, I spent so many years looking at animal behavior graduate programs because it seems like that’s what I should do. And every time I would read the curriculum, I would feel like it was missing something, and then I came across the anthrzoology curriculum. It’s at Canisius college, which is upstate New York and it included so much about the human side of the coin. And I realized, Oh, of course that’s what’s missing from a lot of animal behavior, the human animal. I didn’t get into dogs just because I love dogs. I got into dogs because I liked the relationship that we have with them. I think it’s really unique and cool and interesting. So yeah. Canisius College, it’s a really cool program if anyone’s interested in that. It’s partially in person, or at least it used to be before the pandemic, and it is partially remote. So it’s a pretty accessible thing. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a pretty accessible thing for people like you and me who work full time. Full Transcript at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcasts Get full access to Don't Be a Dick to Your Dog at dogtraining.substack.com/subscribe