Out Of The Woofworks Rachel Forday

This episode, we chat with scientist Melinda "Mel" Trueblood-Stimpson of Ludar Animal Behaviour (LAB for short). They have 15 years of experience with felines and many years of experience with other species. They have also worked and volunteered in veterinary clinics, zoos, wildlife centers, laboratories, and other animal-oriented facilities.

We will be talking about DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), how colonialism seeps into the world of science and animal welfare, the importance of decolonising animal welfare, and also Mel’s experience as person who is Roma, Indigenous, Jewish, and Two-Spirit.



In this episode we discuss:


Mel's experience as a Roma and Indigenous person in academia.
How colonialism and "coloniser mindsets" seep into science and animal welfare.
Why decolonisation in animal welfare is so important.
What individuals can do with regards to anti-oppression in the world of animal behaviour and welfare.



More shownotes and transcripts are available here: https://dogatheart.co.uk/podcasts

This episode, we chat with Ravenn Bang who is a dog trainer with her business Please Pick Up Your Poop and a Victoria Stilwell Academy Certified Dog Trainer. We will be talking about Ravenn’s journey starting out as a dog trainer and some of the barriers she’s faced, her experiences as a Black woman out with a dog who needs space from people and other dogs, as well as regulation in this industry and what that might mean for all of us.

In this episode we discuss:


Ravenn’s journey starting out as a dog trainer and some of the barriers she’s faced.
Ravenn’s experiences as a Black woman out with a dog that needs space from other people and dogs.
Regulation in the dog training industry and what that means.
The importance of education to help dog guardians make kinder decisions in training.

Shownotes and transcripts are available here: https://dogatheart.co.uk/podcasts

This episode, we are so fortunate to get to talk to Sindhoor Pangal, who is a canine behaviour consultant, a Galen myotherapist, an independent ethology researcher, an engineer by qualification, and an educator in Bangalore, India. She is a TEDx speaker, the author of the book, Dog Knows and an independent ethology researcher studying the free-living dogs in India. Sindhoor is the founder of BHARCS which offers a UK-accredited level 4 diploma on canine behaviour and ethology and boasts of students from all parts of India and across the globe. Sindhoor is also the country representative for Pet Dog Trainers of Europe (PDTE) and is currently pursuing her masters in Anthrozoology from Exeter University (UK). 

We will be discussing decolonisation, free living dogs, and decolonising our perspective on free living dogs and all dogs in general. We will also discuss how the animal behaviour and welfare industry can do better for people and dogs with all of this in mind.

In this episode we discuss:


The importance of decolonisation
Coloniser attitudes towards free living dogs
Decolonising our perspective on how we treat dogs
How the animal behaviour and welfare world can do better for dogs and people.

Shownotes and transcripts are available here: https://dogatheart.co.uk/podcasts

On this episode, we chat with Uyen Nguyen who is a guardian to Jimmy the pitbull (@jimmypinkpaws) and Muffin the one-eyed Kitty (@one.eyed.muffin). We hear about their adoption journey, how they delved into force free training, integrating Muffin with Jimmy, as well as Uyen's experiences of racism as a Vietnamese American person.

In this episode we discuss:


Jimmy and Muffin’s adoption story.
Delving into force-free training from a pet guardian’s perspective.
Experiences of racism and its impact as a Vietnamese-American person.
Things we wish we could see change in the training and behaviour industry.

Shownotes and transcripts are available here: https://dogatheart.co.uk/podcasts

On this episode, host of the podcast Rachel discusses their journey through understanding their own gender identity. She also talks about the importance of understanding gender identities and how gender diversity has always existed in the world. 

Though this personal episode, Rachel hopes that people who are just learning about gender identities can come to be more compassionate towards gender diverse people and make an effort affirm the people around them who may be non-binary or transbinary.

In this episode we discuss:


Rachel’s journey through understanding their own gender identity.
The importance of understanding gender identity.
How gender diversity has always existed throughout history.

Shownotes and transcripts are available here: https://dogatheart.co.uk/podcasts

On this episode, our guest is Namita DigheShetty who is a dog trainer with her business Pawsitive Cultr. She'll be chatting with us about her journey of coming into the force-free dog training industry, as well as her experiences within this industry.

In this episode we discuss:


Namita's early experiences with dogs.
Namita's journey into learning more about force-free training.
The practical and valuable side of trick training.
Namita's experiences in the dog industry and how the dog training industry can do better

Shownotes and transcripts are available here: https://dogatheart.co.uk/podcasts