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The Everyday Trainer Podcast
The Everyday Trainer Podcast
Van Life with 8 Dogs & How Not to Take Life Too Seriously
We've loaded up our pack and are headed to Southern California with our 8 dogs and two vans, and amongst the chaos that comes with this eclectic lifestyle, we're here to inspire you to not take training (or life) too seriously.
If you're here, it's because you're immersed in the world of dog training- but that comes with it's own downsides. But that can sometimes leads to high expectations for ourselves and our dogs, comparrsison, and just simply a lack of fun.
In this episode, we're diving into how letting loose can improve your relationship with your dogs, how dog training has led owners to not enjoy their dogs, and how letting dogs be dogs allows us to actually enjoy the special bond we have with dogs during their very short time with us.
If you've found yourself getting frustrated with your progress with your dog, this episode is for you to hopefully inspire to let loose a little. You know the drill, grab your drink and enjoy.
This will be our casual episode. This is the it's not so serious episode. Hello, hello and welcome back to the Everyday Trainer podcast. My name is Meg and I am a dog trainer. Today's episode is our not so serious episode. So first we're going to start off with some van life updates updates of life on the road, what that's looking like and then we're going to talk a little bit about dog ownership and how. Maybe you should not take yourself so seriously, so we'll get into that. You know the drill Grab yourself a tasty drink and meet us back here. Hello, hello, Welcome back, Hi Toma.
Speaker 1:Hello, hello welcome back hi toma hello. We are currently in san luis obispo in the van. So we're no longer at primal we've.
Speaker 2:We've left the city um. We've left the city we're driving down our way to la and, no, it's like I guess the first time we actually get to enjoy the van in a kind of more finished form. Basically, since we left Florida, um, we've been in two very unfinished vans and now our van has a ceiling, some walls and the start to the kitchen.
Speaker 1:We have running water, so that's, that's nice yeah, I feel like we haven't really like gotten into your lore yet, you know. So tomah actually used to build out vans.
Speaker 2:That was like his thing before dogs yes, it's the story as old as time where the shoemaker has the worst shoes. I have this decently nice looking van on the outside with the roof rack, the ladder, the spare tire in the back, these big tires and fancy rims and whatever, and it looked good on the outside, but the inside was actually pretty bare bone.
Speaker 1:Have we talked about how we've met, or at all? Have I just like brought you on?
Speaker 2:Have we had an episode about that? No, we have not.
Speaker 1:Just like random new person.
Speaker 2:Yep, here's this guy's part of my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, well, toma's from Canada. I think we have talked about this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, more or less yeah, more or less, yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1:So he used to build out vans, and I would say that was one of the earlier conversations that we had online, because I had a Sprinter van and then you had a Sprinter van and I was like, oh my gosh, sprinter van, what's your plan with your build?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean for sure, had things in common right off the bat.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so I used to have a van conversion company and that was a whole. You know that was like a while ago. Yeah, I built some pretty nice vans and it kind of sucked to be left with this unfinished van but, like you know, no longer having the shop or the tools to like build my van out, so pretty much for like the last, like I want to say two and a half three years I've had this van in a state where it was like insulated, you know, like not finished at all, like I had like all the the fancy things like installed into it, like I had the heater, it had like the water tanks and it was like everything like functionally was there, but it had absolutely no like aesthetic to it yeah, and shout out mike for being so nice and letting us take over like half of the facility to be able to build out our vans yeah, that's like he's literally the best yeah I would, I would, I would be a real homeless person right now if it weren't for mike.
Speaker 1:He's seriously like pretty, pretty much like family at this point. Um, yeah, so we left florida in two vans, drove to california. Toma finally got to the place where he was able to build out his vans. We have walls and a kitchen and the plan is to get a shower here very soon so that we can be like functioning. Um, I, I would say like, up until this point, we have been disgusting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's pretty funny when you think about it. When we were still talking, you said oh, you should come down to Florida. The plan was for me to build my van out there, but then we just got you know, it's formed with dogs and that never really happened.
Speaker 1:Yeah, bombarded, I turned you into a dog trainer.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, out bombarded, I turned you into a dog trainer. Yep, yeah, I was like come down to florida, the weather will be nice and you can build out your van, and then by the time you actually started like doing anything with your van it was like getting super, super hot, but I don't know and ended up working out.
Speaker 1:So one of the reasons why we're driving down to southern california is because we have to get more stuff for the van build. We have to, like, get more wood and a couple more things to finish out Toma's van my van is still very unbuilt, so how we have everybody split up now is we have all of our personal dogs is Mink and River. So River is no longer contagious, but we're still just being like extra cautious, keeping her away from the majority of the dogs and since we don't let Mink out with any of the other dogs anyways, like we you know, it's not that big of a deal for us to put Mink and River in the same crate.
Speaker 1:And also, mink does better when she's in a van with less dogs Like she just doesn't do well around like a lot of dogs, it's just too much for her. So she's doing a lot better in my van, I feel like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's more quiet space.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I mean I think that's a good moment to also say like just to underline to what extent like river is like such a good boy, like river is the goodest boy river is so easy he's the malinois that we rescued and we just we got him on antibiotics, like a very strong antibiotics, for like three weeks.
Speaker 1:So the vet sent us home with like a couple days of antibiotics for, like his respiratory infection and then we just got him like a higher dose, stronger antibiotics for another two weeks after that and he's doing great, like he's literally the best boy in the whole world. He's so sweet. He like is crate trained now he has no, he's just a perfect little muffin. He's just a good river, he's so good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no accidents. He's not like barky or anything, he's a really good boy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and really easy. And that's what's like so crazy to me is that we rescued him, you know, and he was going to get put down in like an hour.
Speaker 2:I mean he was gonna get put down in like an hour I mean he was like at the brink.
Speaker 1:I mean he was really skinny, yes, but also like he was just a malinois yeah, you know like he was just really dramatic with, like his illness.
Speaker 2:I would say yeah, and like he's not even like a malinois that like uses his teeth at all, like he doesn't even like you know initially no idea yeah, like initially, like he didn't want to go in the crate, you know, but the way that would present itself with like a different malinois, like could potentially be more like forward aggressive or just like nippy or whatever. And he has never used his teeth like whatsoever on us, he's just like no, he has no idea, he's just a good boy yeah, he's just a good boy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm very curious about, like, his past and kind of where he came from.
Speaker 2:I feel like he is very young and just throwing him in the shelter, just in that environment you know the the mouths do not thrive in shelter environments, that all the mouths, you see, they're like super spun up and like they don't do well well, and even the shelter workers said like he declined really fast.
Speaker 1:But I also feel like he improved really fast, like once we got him out of there. You know like he was sniffly but he was like oh hello.
Speaker 2:You know like, just like happy boy, yeah no, no, it's really cool to see him bounce back because, like the first day that we picked him up, I wasn't sure he was gonna make it through the night, to be honest yeah, no, he was.
Speaker 1:He was pretty sick when we first got him but he's doing great now and, like I haven't really talked about this and I'm gonna knock on wood right now, but so long as his training goes well and he gets along with other dogs, he'll go to my dad yeah, I think it's a perfect dog for your dad, right, and I kind of like I'm trying not to get my hopes up because I don't want to.
Speaker 1:I would never like give my dad a dog.
Speaker 1:That was too much right.
Speaker 1:Like I don't want to get my hopes up and be like, oh, like I got him for a reason, you know, but I genuinely do kind of feel that like I feel like I felt so strongly about like getting him because he was like meant to come into our lives and I was meant to like give him to my dad. And also, like my dad has been really sad since losing his dog. You know, and we were, we were literally just talking to him about like my dad gets borbals and like I have I have nothing against borbals, but they're just a lot and like I feel like you don't really know what you're getting. Like they're very dominant dogs and my dad's like a big dude. You know he doesn't have any issues with big dogs, but you can't like travel. You know like it's tough to find people to like watch them and even when I watched like his dogs um, they like resource guarded the bedroom and like wouldn't let me in the bedroom you know, and it's like they're good quote like like good dogs, you know.
Speaker 1:But they took advantage of me because that's just, they're just that type of dog. Like they knew that my dad wasn't there, right. So they're like, oh, we're for sure going to bully her and they just like growled at me, like low growled at me and it's like I don't do, we have to do this right now, you know. So it's like Borables are a whole different thing. So we were like talking to my dad about getting him a dutch shepherd. We're like, oh yeah, you'd really like mike's dogs. Like you would really like these big, fat-headed dutchies, you know, like we wouldn't get him a crazy one. And then I saw river and I felt very strongly about river, for whatever reason. Like you know, shane is always posting videos of like rescue dogs, but like, literally, when I saw river, I was like, oh my god, I have to save this dog.
Speaker 2:So it's funny how it panned out and even like when you initially like, showed interest, like it wasn't necessarily like to get the dog for your dad, like at all oh no, not at all like we were gonna look at like potentially like placing like a detection setting yeah or, like you know, we didn't really know.
Speaker 1:But yeah, and then like he's just such a good boy, like he's so sweet, but he's also very like intelligent and aware of his surroundings and I really like that. Like he's very, very observant. So if we're like standing in a parking lot and like a car pulls up, he will like very intently watch them, not like in a reactive dog way, but just like I'm just going to watch this, you know, and like he knows, like as soon as he sees me, like he's very observant in that way and very stable, you know, whereas like Minka is not like that, like she is not an observant dog no, there it's funny because we have three mouths at the moment and they're all so different yeah like hawk, is definitely very twitchy and, in contrast, river is like very mellow and like chill yeah, so anyway I think he'll, he'll do.
Speaker 1:I think so too I think he'll be really good with my dad and he's like big you know, but he's just like a soft boy on the inside he looks big and scary, like no one will approach you when you are with river for sure he's massive. He's seriously so big and he has like a very nice structure. He has super pretty eyes, like he's just a really cool dog yeah, I think we lucked out, and I mean so did he?
Speaker 1:yeah, for sure. So yeah, I'm excited for that. Um, we just have to make sure that he does okay with other dogs. He's a little reactive with small dogs yeah, smaller dogs but that.
Speaker 2:But he has no training on him. No, none at all.
Speaker 1:He is hitting the end of the leash.
Speaker 2:I would say it's more like prey. It gets little dogs and that gets him overstimulated or aroused. But, bigger dogs. He hasn't been super reactive at the end of the leash.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we just have to make sure that, like he's chill with the dogs no for sure. I feel like he will be. We'll just have to like teach him.
Speaker 2:Well, we haven't even remotely started training him. Basically the first. Well, we've had him for like just over a month now, but basically the first like three weeks, we're just like getting him back to a healthy weight and, like you know, try to get him like healed so yeah, so he's been really easy.
Speaker 1:And then mink well she's. She's a whole other can of worms. Mink is a lot. I genuinely like don't know what we're going to do with her. We recently reached out to a rescue who, like, takes these types of dogs. She's just like a really intense staffy, like she is a really nice dog not nice as in, friendly, but like she's super jacked and like super fit, and like she's an intense dog, like it's almost like that's what somebody would want, but she does not get along with other dogs, very dog aggressive and she literally shredded a roughland yeah, I mean that's also, you know, I think, like you said, like my van with a bunch of dogs, that was kind of like too much for her.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so now she does you know better, in a, in the, in the quiet van, in the quiet, that way yeah, but we have her in a metal crate right now.
Speaker 1:I'm probably gonna have to get her an impact because she literally just like ripped a roughland which is like a pretty. If you don't know what a roughland crate is, it's like a pretty sturdy plastic crate but like a thick plastic it's not, they're high quality crates like I mean yeah, I've never had a dog I've never had a dog like rip their way out of a roughland she pretty much had her head poking out, you know so yeah and obviously like well, it happens, like relatively fast, but she's also like self-harming and, like you know, we can't have that happen either.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, no, she's.
Speaker 1:She's an interesting dog, for sure and then you walk up and pet her and she's like yeah she's so sweet and she wants, like you know, to be cuddled and whatnot. And then she gets out around another dog and it's just murder.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:She's an interesting one. So we still have her and we're still trying to figure out what we're going to do with her.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's never fun yeah.
Speaker 1:But our dogs are doing great Everybody.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's good, the four main girls, your two boys yeah, basically the way we got it set up right now, we got well I guess actually my, my guys in front I was gonna say my two males are underneath uh the bed and the van set up, but we actually in the front since uh zoe is free roaming.
Speaker 1:Zoe is my old lady and she is living her best life yeah, since we're short of crate, because because of mink.
Speaker 2:That's how that panned out, that's how she gained some extra freedom oh yeah, we are shorter crate, that's right yeah okay, yeah, we had the metal crate was hawks crate, and then we switched Mink to that crate.
Speaker 1:You know, recently I had somebody comment or message me and I posted a video of our van with all of the dog crates and they were like why would you crate your dogs in the van?
Speaker 2:It would be utter chaos, it would be impossible.
Speaker 1:I can't imagine it'd be utter chaos, it'd be impossible. I can't imagine like, honestly, I feel like van life with dogs, with our level of structure, is easier than house life it's so easy with dogs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love it. We can like drive into the middle of nowhere and like literally just open the door and let the dogs like roam yeah and also, like I don't know.
Speaker 2:For me, like, like the crates are great because it's like downtime, like all the dogs are, like you know, just laying down, like chilling right now and you know it's a very clear like on off switch once they're like free. But the other thing too is like the dogs come back super muddy and if we would have crates, like the whole van would be like super messy in no time, you know. So I feel like it kind of like helps, um, mitigate the dirt yeah, you know, this was like very exaggerated.
Speaker 1:When we went into the coffee shop the other day and we brought zoe in and I was like, oh my gosh, you're so disgusting, like she's all just like dusty and dirty and like she needs her hairbrush and she's just like a wild girl, you know.
Speaker 2:But they're also like living their best life oh no, I'm not saying.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying that they're not, I'm just saying like it's so, it was so such a big contrast for sure zoe in the like bougie coffee shop, you know, and she's just like so nasty and I'm like, oh my gosh, yeah she wasn't like muddy or anything, but she's just like dusty, she's just like crusty we call zoe big crusty. Yeah, like little little white dogs we call little crusties zoe's a big crust big crusty.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just the contrast of that. And then also I was thinking like how we live with our dogs is so different than how everybody lives with their dogs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's very, very niche, very peculiar Sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would say our lives with our dogs are very unconventional, but I would say that our dogs, like, are truly living their best lives because they get to spend so much time outside. And then the time that they're inside is like very structured and down, like when they're in the van, it's like calm time, right, like everybody was napping today because today was a pretty like drive heavy day, right, and so on those days, like our dogs know that it's just time to like go and relax and lay down, whereas I feel like a lot of people with their dogs feel the need to do so much all the time.
Speaker 2:If they're inside they're like entertaining their dogs and you know stuff like that, whereas, like for us, I would say we spend more time outside with our dogs, but when they're inside we're not doing anything with them yeah, it's very clear, like on and off, and also like we can spend two, three weeks like where we're like more active with the dogs and then, like this past week, I worked on the van a lot and, to be honest, like some of the dogs didn't get as much exercise as others and like they're able to do that and, you know, be totally fine as well like have like a kind of a chill week yeah which I think is awesome, you know it's just, it's very like seasonal
Speaker 1:for sure and I feel like that kind of gets into a little bit of what I wanted to talk about today, which is people taking things too seriously.
Speaker 2:It's not that serious I mean, you know, people want the best for their dogs and they're like stuck in this, like mindset that you got to take your dog out for a walk every day and like that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:But not even just that but, like I would say, in training right. So I feel like there's there's this, there's no middle ground when it comes to training your dog, and I I've seen such a big shift with this over the past like five years, I would say. I would say when I first started my business, it was more so everybody wanted to baby their dog and they weren't walking their dogs, they weren't like treating their dogs like dogs, they just expected their dogs to like sit on the couch all day and would be upset if their dog wouldn't do that Right? Whereas now I feel like we're working with a lot of people who are so harsh on their dogs and not I'm not saying like physically, but I'm saying like mentally like they get so frustrated with their dogs when their dogs aren't literally perfect yeah, the expectation, the expectation of like owners on their dogs, I feel like, is so high, like, wouldn't you say?
Speaker 2:I have pretty low expectations for my dogs yes, when it comes to like obedience, like, say, if, um, whatever, like you put lucina down and she breaks, so you're not correcting the down, or that kind of thing yeah, like on saturday when we were watching training, I was thinking about that.
Speaker 1:I was like, damn, I would like laugh if I was like messing up with my dog. You know, whereas I feel like some people were like genuinely disappointed in themselves.
Speaker 2:My dog didn't do that. Great yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm like, oh man, it's really not that serious, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but that's where, like I don't know, I think, like in sport you're, you know you're doing something kind of like at a higher level or like there is eventually there's going to be a trial or whatever, and then you're comparing yourself to other people and you know, like comparisons, like the thief of joy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I also think we've kind of gotten too far away from why we actually have dogs.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Is to enjoy them.
Speaker 2:Well, even like Hawk, he's like my sport dog. I was pretty much only taking him out to do like fancy obedience, like before. You know, being with you and you really like opened me up to you, opened my eyes up to like. Taking my sport dog out in like the regular world and and having Hawk like run around free off leash like with your dogs, is like so rewarding, like for me, like just watching him, like you know, be able to coexist and like be a dog, is huge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I feel like if people who have these really high expectations for their dogs saw our dogs, it would make them feel better, you know it would make them feel better.
Speaker 2:You know, I think like the people who went to your joshua tree retreat were surprised, like some of the trainers.
Speaker 2:Uh, they were kind of like putting this, this high expectation like on on their dogs and then seeing you kind of being more like oh yeah, my dogs are like jumping on them and like knocking their phones out of their hands and like just being hooligans yeah, and then, like you know, you're okay with that and because, because that's the thing, like everyone creates the standard, you know, for their own dogs, like in their own mind, whatever, like what a you know well-trained dog is, yeah, and I I feel like, with the internet, dog training and all that, like it kind of puts like a certain level, like kind of of dog ownership, like on a pedestal of like where you should be, but it's like does it really matter?
Speaker 1:yeah, like people were like the only dog trainers that I've met have like perfect dogs and I know what they're doing to get perfect dogs right, like even let's think about mink like if I wanted mink to be a quote perfect dog, I would have to like shut her down yeah, extinguish behavior exactly like if I wanted my dogs to like never make mistakes ever, I would have to shut them down, like that's because you're asking them or, sorry, you're expecting them to be something they're not Right, and so that means that you have to shut down some natural instincts and some natural behaviors, like let's be real, running away and jumping up on people and you know, like all of that stuff is natural behavior, but how a lot of owners view it is it's bad. I don't really think like any type of behavior is bad, even aggression right. Like aggression isn't good or bad, it's just a behavior and it can be unsafe right?
Speaker 2:it doesn't fit in our society.
Speaker 1:It doesn't fit in our society, you know, and so I feel like owners have such high expectations and like trainers have such high expectations of their dogs, whereas with me I just want my dogs to be happy, you know. And I think that kind of goes back to like, why do we even get dogs? Or even I think a good conversation was like the one that we had with your mom, where she was like oh, before Toma got into training, like he wasn't so strict, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:You know, I think it's interesting.
Speaker 2:I think that perspective is very interesting yeah you know, I think it's interesting, I think that perspective is very interesting. Yeah, absolutely, I think it's definitely.
Speaker 1:I feel like, true, as a dog trainer you go from like a dog owner, where you might not necessarily know what training is at all. You know like, let's say, you got a dog and you're like, oh shoot, this dog is doing like not so fun behaviors, like they're dragging me down the street and they're doing this and they're doing this. And then you do a little bit of research and you get into dog training and then you realize like, oh, I need to be way more structured with my dog. And then you get like so, so structured.
Speaker 2:You get literally tipped to the whole other end of the pendulum.
Speaker 1:You tip to the other side of the scale, the whole other end of the pendulum, to the other side of the scale, and then I feel like you get to the point where I'm at, where you're like I don't care what you do, you know, like I just want you to be happy, like my dogs could have perfect obedience, or, you know, they could be perfect if I was consistently correcting them for everything that I didn't like them doing. But I'm not going to do that, you know.
Speaker 2:I mean, you have like very confident dogs and I think that's like also a byproduct of like letting them, you know, be dogs, yeah.
Speaker 1:I like let them be dogs and I also feel I let them make decisions for themselves. I'm not just constantly like putting my dogs in obedience. Like micromanaging or like, yeah, that's even something that kind of like we talked about. Is you micromanaging your dogs like give them an opportunity to like make decisions where you're like wait, wait, wait, wait.
Speaker 2:I mean, I also do think there's more like liability in owning, like you know, a Malinois that wants to bite, versus like a golden retriever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I have a Malinois that wants to bite.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I just think, like you, you get very nitpicky over like the little things, right. So like a good example of this is like the trash can, right, like I let my dogs go and sniff the trash can and then if they took something out of the trash I would tell them no, whereas like you are like managing them to where you don't even let them go over to the trash can.
Speaker 2:This is true.
Speaker 1:You know, but I feel like that's how a lot of owners Like learning opportunities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's how a lot of owners are. Opportunity, yeah, that's how a lot of owners are. It's like it's so serious, right, like everything is so serious and we're like, oh, it's like all right, let's be real. What's the worst case scenario? They fucking take a piece of trash out of the trash can, like is that really the end of the world? You know, I feel like me and clayton. I need clayton in on this podcast. I feel like we're in the same boat.
Speaker 1:Because he's also like some days I'll work my dog all day long and then some days we literally lay in bed and watch movies all day and they go out twice and that's it. And my dogs are cool with that because, like, that's what I've trained them to do. And then also like Darla. He leaves Darla out all the time and she's always getting into the trash can, like at least like a couple times a year he goes through the god damn it, darla. Like darla ripped through the trash can. Now there's trash all over his apartment complex, you know. But like, at the end of the day it's really not that serious.
Speaker 2:Like I'm not saying that like well, I just listened to clayton's podcast that he just released and one of the things that he talks about is, like darla, specifically like she's kind of more of a primal dog, uh, and in the sense that, like nikki, she'll work for him just like out of pleasure, darla, if she's like what's in it?
Speaker 1:she's like, yeah, how like, yeah, how much are you going to pay me? Yeah.
Speaker 2:So one of the things he's talking about is like she loves to swim and then he's like recalling her to go in the crate and he'll put kibble in the crate and like kind of like bribe her to go in. Versus, like you know, he's talking about like some dog trainers like think like, oh, eventually you should like wean off the treats and whatever. We don't, no, we don't, we don't. But like he's just saying, like some, some people do, anyways, um, but the water is still like more rewarding than the treats and whatever. Um, but the point of that was like, anyways, he has like a solid down and he's able to get her to get, you know, in and down. Then he clips the leash on and then he's like puts her in the crate and she still gets the treats or whatever. But you know, even the dog trainer's dog is like not perfect and like, yeah, could you teach her to like go in the crate and like add pressure, yeah, but is it even like worth it?
Speaker 1:you know yeah, I guess that's yeah, exactly like we could get our dogs to do anything, like we have the skills to be able to do that, we have the tools to be able to do that, you know. Or even like an owner, that is like my dogs are just like, not in a perfect heel. I'm like, so you know, like some dogs are great, some dogs are so good in heel and they're amazing. And then some dogs, for the life of your dog, will try you, like Walter. Right, walter will never have a nice pet heel. He will not. He will always try you.
Speaker 1:So what's our middle ground? Just don't put pressure on the leash. You can walk out in front of me. Just don't put pressure on the leash. Right, like, you can walk out in front of me, but don't put pressure on the leash. But like in dog trainer world, that's not. You don't have a trained dog, you know, and it's like all right. Well, if we were, to quote, have a trained walter, then we would just have to correct him on the e-caller all the time yeah and I've had like, so that's exactly like you know.
Speaker 2:My mom talking about like me being less strict. Before, yeah, I enjoyed him so much more. Then I became really nitpicky about like what his heel should be and it was just like he's always testing me, so it ends up always being just like and then you get pissed off and then the walk is like not enjoyable I've literally had to like I've had to like send you away like it because you were.
Speaker 1:You were being so miserable and I was like yeah, it was like you were just like getting so frustrated with walter because he's like pulling and dragging and then I'm walking my dogs and it's like not enjoyable for me, not enjoyable for my dogs. We're all just like standing there while, like you and walter like pissed at each other and it's like okay, like at the end of the day, it's really it's not that serious, like it's not that serious yeah, and that's something that's like transferred well, like with Hawk as well.
Speaker 2:Like I have the fancy obedience when it comes to sport, but when I walk him like just like down the street, I've realized it's okay to just like. All I'm asking is for you not to pull on and have tension on the leash and just have like a loose leash versus like a perfect like pet heel, like I'm already asking so much for him in sport settings. Like you could just kind of like wander in this like five foot bubble, you know yeah, or even with mink as well.
Speaker 1:She, it's not like we have high expectations for her. No, no expectations.
Speaker 2:I would say the bar is just don't eat us. You know, know.
Speaker 1:Don't Friend, we're friend you know, or like when you have behavioral dogs. I know that I get a lot of the dogs where people are like, oh well, I expect my dog to be off leash by the end of this training and it's like all right, your dog's coming to me because they've bitten five people. Right, you've been to three other trainers, we're not, your dog's not going to be off leash, you know, I, if at any point like I'm not ever going to, you know, guarantee that to anybody yeah, because people still have like the standard of like what their dog should be a trained dog is this, and it's like how about we just like have a dog that doesn't want to bite you or bite other people?
Speaker 2:you know an enjoyable like like mink you know, like mink was not.
Speaker 1:I mean, she's not still not great?
Speaker 2:you know? No, but she was. She doesn't want to eat us. She was definitely like way more unhinged and unsafe before like yeah like I don't know, I'm not like shes me.
Speaker 1:She dragged me so hard yesterday, yeah you went flying, your phone fell my phone flew Like she just ragdolled me on the leash and it's like hey, at least when she hit the end of the leash she didn't redirect, turn around.
Speaker 2:Lunge at your face. Yeah, I mean, let's put it this way, I'm like not stressed at all taking her out, you know, to potty.
Speaker 1:But we used to be 100 progress, yeah, yeah. But I feel like in dog trainer world if I was like, oh, I had this, I've had this dog for a year, it's like a year. And she's still like literally dragging me on the leash. It's like, well, what the F have you been doing? But I just feel like I have such low expectations for her because the conflict is not worth it for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, this is a dog that if you try to lure like the hand sketchy yeah, the hand like over her head, is like too much pressure, so she gets stiff yeah, it's like I don't really want to correct you on a prong collar or any collar, and that's just like what would have to happen, you know, because, oh, I would love to invite a force free person out and be like here, put this dog on a harness, hold this dog on a harness, like no, you can never. Like she's so. She's so strong, like what? Yeah, what would somebody do with her, you know. But it's like okay, so let's say I don't want to correct her, I don't want that conflict. Then we're gonna force free her. But like food is not a motivator, you know yeah food, it's just not.
Speaker 1:It's not a motivator to her at all. So I mean force free, if I went, if I golden as long as you know, there's no other dogs in the picture but like, if I wanted her to be like quote, well trained, you know, walking at heel it, it would be me correcting her, because there is nothing that is like rewarding yeah to her no, for sure yeah, it's very interesting and I also get a lot of dms from people who are like my dog has come so far with the loose lead walk, but he's still not in a perfect heel and I'm like is it good enough?
Speaker 1:yeah, I, I don't know like be really happy with where you're at. You know it's almost like this, this never satisfied mentality. Or even like the, the girl at club like her dog was so good like it was a great session she didn't she say, she rescued that dog?
Speaker 1:I don't know, I'm pretty sure she rescued the dog when the dog was like older. She literally got a rescue dog and now she's doing sports with him and he did. He literally had like such good ob she, the girl, was it a girl dog yeah, it was a girl dog, right, okay. So she had such good ob and she was like I.
Speaker 2:Just I don't know, like I wish I could have done better and I'm like you did amazing. But you know people compare to other people at club or other people online and you know the bar is just so high, right, but yeah, it doesn't really matter and it's.
Speaker 1:It's very easy to forget the progress that you've done with your dog yeah, and I wish she would have just like been content, like even I or just like happy to do something with her dog right, and that's kind of what I told her. I was like I think you're like you're literally doing great, you know, I think just make it more fun for both of you and she. She's used like an ex-athlete right. So she's like, oh my gosh fun. You know, the like competitive, yeah part kind of comes into it. But I think a lot of people can relate to that.
Speaker 2:You know, if you've like done sports or have a competitive personality, it's like it's never good enough yeah, what's funny is, even like people that drop off their dog for a board and train, they like they don't realize the progress that like like they, they before a board and train like they're getting dragged down the street and then like three weeks later they get the dog back and he's still not perfect.
Speaker 1:I'm like do you remember how you came to my house? Yeah like in three weeks.
Speaker 2:That's so impressive, you know or it's more like the follow-up sessions. Afterwards they're like ah yeah, I feel like I'm not like understanding, I'm not doing great and I'm like like girl, you're walking down this bike path with a bunch of distractions.
Speaker 1:Who was that? Which owner that? The one that we went to the farmer's market with?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, that's exactly the one I'm thinking of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she was doing so well.
Speaker 2:It was like night and day.
Speaker 1:When we first got that dog, like he was.
Speaker 2:Yeah, basically like feral.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he was just like at the end of the leash putting so much pressure like sniffing doing his own thing. And, yeah, she was like using her e-caller like at the farmer's market, like no hands on the leash, and she's like I don't know. I just feel like I don't understand and I was like you're like you're literally doing amazing. You know like you're using your e-caller correctly.
Speaker 2:You're using your dog's like super engaged.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the dog's super engaged. I'm like you're, you have the best dog here. Like we brought millie. I remember millie was horrible yeah millie's like dragging us on the leash the whole time. I'm like oh gosh yeah, but no, he did great no, so it's.
Speaker 2:It's people's perspective.
Speaker 1:At the end of the day, it's funny but I think part of that too is it's like a new thing that they learn. You know, and I feel like anytime you start like a new hobby or new project, you want to know all the things about it. Yeah, before you do it, and I'm very much in the camp of just do it, like don't research, just like start doing something, and then you kind of learn as you go. But there are a lot of people out there who will dive into the semantics of dog training and can tell you every little like scientific, I don't even know, like I, I can't even say things I think it comes from a place, uh well I think it's procrastination it's like a to-do yes, no this is it.
Speaker 1:It's like a to-do list, right? I hate that. I hate to-do lists.
Speaker 2:Just do the things like if you have time to write it, to sit there and write a to-do list then like, just do the things, just start doing something, just start, but I do, I do think that it comes from a place of like lack of knowledge. So you, you're just like, just do the things right, but like someone that's like fearful of like you know they want to know, kind of like people like to know expectations.
Speaker 1:I was thinking about this earlier today. You know, I I've been thinking a lot about shane's business shane murray. I kind of help him with like the back end of his business sometimes and we're going to his seminar this weekend and I was thinking of like the booking process, right, and I was like, oh, I bet people are like asking him where they're gonna park and what time they need to be there and if there's gonna be a break, and you know like what the day is gonna look like. Like people like expectations and people like to know like exactly how things are going to go and what things are going to look like. And I feel like that's kind of like the same thing.
Speaker 1:So like when I'm, you know, going to help him plan events or we do a retreat like I'm very good at that, I'm very good at like putting myself in somebody else's shoes of like what would somebody want to know before they start something right? Like exactly what time to be there to pack what to bring. You know all of those details. I feel like people really like those things. I don't, you know, I'm fine, just literally like, hey, what time do I need to be there and then I'll show up, probably not on time, but you know, like I just know that I'll figure it out once I get there. And that's kind of how I feel about like any new thing that I start. But with a lot of people in dog training it's a new thing that they're starting and so they want to know all the things and they're scared to take action unless they do feel like they know all the things. Yeah, and I don't necessarily think that that's it's not bad or good, you know it's just facts.
Speaker 2:Like you, I don't know, we got a behavior dog, whatever, and you're just like, yeah, pull the dog out.
Speaker 1:You know yeah, we'll figure out what to do.
Speaker 1:We'll see, yeah, because like at the end of the day, like you really can't plan anything oh, for sure you know, and like you can study all you want about dog training or all you want about like the walk or how to do that, and like we talk about this all the time when we go on walks. You're like, well, if this happens, um, would I do this or would I do this. And I'm like I don't know, see, like if it happens, then we'll figure it out when it happens, but like why? Why it hasn't happened yet, so like don't even think about it.
Speaker 2:You know yeah, you're just in the moment, so it's like there's no point to I don't know. Think about the eventuality, what ifs and like, what I'm gonna do if that eventuality, the what ifs and like what I'm gonna do if that situation does end up happening, you know for sure.
Speaker 1:So instead of I guess my advice is, instead of kind of like ruminating on your knowledge and what you would do if something happened, or hyper fixating on the imperfections in your dog training or your dog's behaviors, your dog's behaviors, just handle them as they come up and try not to take it too seriously. You know, one thing that I always say to you, that I say to everybody, is like how embarrassing is it that a dog controls your emotions.
Speaker 2:And like instance where, like I get pissed, where you get like frustrated right Parks or whatever You're getting like frustrated with your dog.
Speaker 1:Or I know that, like reactive dog owners feel this way all the time. They're getting like so frustrated with their dogs and, you know, want to avoid things, and it's like they grab the leash, walk out the door and are already stressed and anticipating the thing that's that is bad and is going to happen and I know my dog's going to react or oh my gosh, there's another dog, you know, and it's like you're already anticipating and you're already getting frustrated with it. Like it's kind of embarrassing that like a dog controls your emotions in that way, and that's one thing that I think a lot of good dog trainers are good at is controlling their emotions, which is why the industry is probably filled with like crazy people, don't you think?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think controlling your emotions is definitely important when it comes to dog ownership, like that's, that's for sure but I'm not just saying like angry, I'm not saying like just angry emotions, I'm just saying like no people get frustrated or they get like shut down as well and it's like it's just a dog.
Speaker 1:You know, like at the end of the day, you got a dog because you wanted to enjoy them. It shouldn't feel like this every single time. You take them out and like, if it is feeling like this, like you have to change your perspective and like you just gotta relax a little bit. You know, and even like when um I'm gonna call out uh, cassidy here I was kind of like talking to her. She has been talking to me recently about like her burnout and dog training and she's been training dogs for a long time and she's trained like a shit ton of dogs. She kind of went like manic and like took a whole bunch of rescue dogs and just had too many dogs, was training too many dogs and got herself burnt out and also had these like really, really high expectations for her own dogs.
Speaker 1:And so the bite night that we went to um at the hill when everybody came, it was like kaylani, britney, cassidy and we're all walking around the block and cassidy had her two dogs and one of them started whining and she was like like she's just always gonna do this and like I didn't even notice it.
Speaker 1:You know, like I didn't even I didn't think twice about like her dog whining and it was just because, like her dog was just like a little overstimulated. You know, like we were we're new people, new environment like literally that's it. You know it's just like hawk. Like hawk does the same thing, just like, but like she comes from a very different world than we do, right, and so like me or mike wouldn't bat an eye at a dog like hawk. That's like sitting there, like you know, like whining. But I feel like, because cassidy is more so in the pet world, right, she's like, oh, my dog isn't perfect and that really like bothered her. I think she's working on like getting through that, but it really bothered her like having her dog out around like fellow dog trainers, and her dog wasn't like absolutely perfect and it's like oh my gosh, my dogs would be like zigzagging and wrapping leashes around everybody's legs and you know.
Speaker 1:But I have low expectations for my dogs because at the end of the day, like I like that and I just want to enjoy them. I don't want to have to nag on them 24 7. You know, and I remember when I first started my dog training career it was very much like that. The expectation was like, if that dog got up from a down, you e-collar on every single time, right, and I never agreed with that. Like, I never agreed with the like hyper strict dog training and part of that was coming from I was working with clients and I'm like clients aren't going to do this right.
Speaker 1:So it seems so unfair for us to like set this expectation for our dogs of like every time you get up from a down, like e-collar, goes on, and I'm correcting you every single time. It's like that would be so unenjoyable. I'm so sorry but like, imagine if I took Minka out and I put her in a down and she broke the down and I e-collared her every single time, she would literally be in tears. Minka would be crying if I did that to her, you know, and that's not to say that like like I'll put my dogs in a down and like minka can stay there, but if she gets up I'm just gonna put her back. You know, I'm just gonna be like hey down. I'm not gonna be like minka get down. You know.
Speaker 2:Like but people do that like, yeah, you grab the leash and you kind of redirect, yeah, like she's a dog like she's gonna get up from a down.
Speaker 1:Or even I went to lunch with somebody and we were practicing that. We were practicing like downstays, like out in a busy area, and we were in like downtown winter park, florida, like super, super busy like people around us, dogs around us.
Speaker 1:There was like a bathroom line by us and so there was a whole bunch of people like standing around and her dogs. Like I told her, I don't want you to put them into a down because they're gonna break it right and then like then we're just practicing them breaking the command. If we know that they're gonna break it like I don't want to put them in it, why don't we just wait and then when they do lay down or they sit, we'll reward right, like kind of like a free shaping when you're calm, you get paid yeah, but it's, it's almost.
Speaker 2:I feel like that's very applicable to like living with your dog like a like a pet dog, where you're free shaping behavior more than obedience, like you set the tone and you want the expectation to be like calm or the dog like goes at it down on his on his own, um. Versus, like you know, like flashy obedience or whatever, where you know you're giving the dog a command and he has to stay in the command yeah, I guess that's just my take on.
Speaker 1:Training is even other trainers that I've like been around and kind of learned from. I feel like they're too strict with dogs and it kind of takes the whole point away of like having dogs and like training dogs.
Speaker 2:I mean I think there's two things to it. There's most owners like most like you're, you know whatever everyday like not dog trainers, just pet owners. They don't actually want a well-trained dog like, they want a well-behaved dog you know that they can take to the coffee shop and like that just has like a natural off switch versus like dog trainers. Maybe you want like a more drivey dog that they can actually like lure and like have fun doing obedience with. Like if that's your like jam, you know, like I don't know I think.
Speaker 1:Wait, what are you saying?
Speaker 2:Well, like you don't like particularly care for like obedience right, but like if that's like your thing, like I don't think that for obedience right, but if that's your thing.
Speaker 1:I don't think that's true. My dogs have good obedience.
Speaker 2:They do. They do but like.
Speaker 1:I just look at it as a completely separate thing.
Speaker 2:That's kind of what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 1:Obedience in my day-to-day.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm trying to get at right. Day-to-day dog ownership isn't really about obedience. It's more so about like you. You talk about that all the time, like but people do expect obedient dogs. Yes, they do, they'll stand there and they'll be like sit, sit sit and it's like it doesn't actually matter, like that does not matter, like you talk about that all the time, how it's like it's more about the dog making good decisions. Right, you want the dog people. People think that they want obedient dogs yes, but they don't know what they want.
Speaker 1:But they want well-behaved dogs and so I think the issue is it's thought that the the obedience causes the well-behaved, or the obedience leads to the well-behaved, but it it doesn't right, and so people are being really strict and hard on their dogs on the obedience. When it's like that's not you know, just like the heel, like the heel question that I always get, I feel like my dog is not in a perfect heel and it's like it doesn't really matter. Like is your dog dragging you down the street? Are they reactive? Are they, you know? Like do you have any other behavioral issues?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Is your only issue that they're not in like a perfect heel, then just do some like fancy heel sessions with luring and like you know yeah, getting like a fun obedience session, like that yeah, like I have great obedience on hawk but, at the end of the day, like he's not a well-behaved dog by any means versus like walter I mean, I'm just using my personal dogs as examples, but like walter, like he doesn't really have much like fancy obedience per se, but like he makes good decisions. You know, like he doesn't need to be in a crate, he could be out in the house. He can, you know, be the coffee shop dog that just like stays in a down and like he'll go into the down on his own.
Speaker 2:Like he just like reads the you know, reads the room. Okay, like this is a calm setting, like we're not doing anything exciting, it's just mellow. I think there's a lot of value in getting like educated on dog ownership and it's a great thing that people are consuming like a lot of media and like listening to podcasts and a lot, and that knowledge will definitely like take you far. But then, on the flip side, your expectations like owning a dog shouldn't, you know, like hinder your joy, just like enjoy your dog yeah, I think that would be.
Speaker 1:My advice to people is know, don't forget to enjoy your dog in the process of training them. I think dog training is one of the coolest things and the bond that we have with dogs is unlike anything. I remember when I was in college I really wanted to get a job at SeaWorld and so I went and spoke to somebody who worked there and he was doing research with some of the killer whales and he was also in school in the psychology program studying dog behavior and I remember asking him which animal he liked working with best and he told me that when he worked with the killer whales, he would walk on the pool deck and they would come up and they would look at him and they're very intelligent and he was like you know that, they know that you're there, but you also know that they don't really care that you're there other than the fact that you're there to provide something for them, whereas with dogs it's very unconditional. You don't have to provide them with anything and they're happy to bond with you. You know, and he was like because of that, dogs will always, always be my favorite animals to work with and own, and it was very interesting to me because I always thought like, oh, it'd be so cool to, you know, like work with marine life and I went to school for marine biology and like that's what I wanted to do, and for somebody to say that, you know, the animals that I grew up with are far better to work with than the ones that I like dreamed of working with, it really like brought a different perspective to like huh, I feel like we don't actually appreciate our dogs and like the relationship that we have with them enough, and I see that a little bit in dog training, in that, like we love our dogs so much, we've gone from kind of like spoiling them to now we're spoiling them with training, to where we're doing so much with them all the time and we have such high expectations for them all the time that we have kind of forgot to enjoy them and enjoy this very cool and unique bond that we have with them, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely Man's best friend.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's. My advice is train your dog but do it in a way that is enjoyable for both of you. You know, and I always say, like nobody likes correcting dogs, nobody's out here correcting dogs because we enjoy it. Like you know, corrections are a very valid and real part of training because it allows for certain types of dogs to exist in this world. You know, or not, even certain types of dogs, all dogs, like I would correct lucy if she dragged me down the street, you know. Know, because it's not enjoyable for me, it's not safe for me, I don't want to be dragged on concrete type of thing, you know. But I'm not going to take it to the point where I'm nagging my dogs and it like ruins our relationship. I don't think correcting dogs ruins relationships, but I do think that too high of expectations can do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, it's also just about like doing things without emotion.
Speaker 1:I don't think it's without emotion. I think it's like without getting frustrated or defeated.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what I meant, because obviously, like emotion can be like very beneficial to dog training. Like you can, you know, create a lot more like power and excitement and intensity, you know, just with your like voice inflection. But contrast to that, if you're frustrated, even like your tone of voice could, like you know, affect the dog and they can like I feel like that's enough for some dogs to cower, kind of thing yeah, the only time I get like that is like when it's a real situation.
Speaker 1:you know like, if my dog is like running in the street, it's like I am going to feel some type of way and I'm going to yell at you. Yeah, you know like if you're chasing a squirrel across the street and like I'm going to be angry.
Speaker 2:You saw their life flashing for your eyes Like this is literally your life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Right, but it's kind of like I didn't have this at all. It's kind of like I didn't have this at all. But sport parents, you know, that are like they have these super high expectations for their kids to like succeed in a sport and then it just like becomes unenjoyable at that point because it's like yeah, I would see those and feel so bad for those kids.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because the parents like always nagging them about this and it's like that's their whole life is to be perfect and perfect in this sport and always perform and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And maybe people are literally like that with their dogs and I'm like they're just dogs, like let them.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Maybe their kid was good in that sport, but you just robbed all the joy of it, yeah.
Speaker 1:No more fun. Like, at the end of the day, I feel like we're all just here to have a good time, you know. Like, if that's not what life is about, like, what the heck are we here for? Why did you get a dog? And especially with dogs, like their lives are so, so short. And it feels extra exaggerated now that Zoe is kind of getting older. Like I literally don't care. I do not care what Zoe does.
Speaker 2:Neither does she she does not care either.
Speaker 1:She's wandering off, she's literally in her own universe, yeah, but it's like I don't. We don't have that much time with them at the end of the day. You know, and I remember like being so hard on Lucy for like such a long time so early on, like I was really strict with her when she was really young and it was just so unnecessary. I would have never gotten as frustrated as I did with her now, like she wasn't doing anything that was out of the ordinary for dog behavior. You know she's a crackdown yeah, she was like shredding toilet paper.
Speaker 1:If I turned around for too long or if I wasn't creating her, she would go and pee by the back door. You know, she was just doing like dog behaviors and I was like losing my mind over it. You know, and like now, if that happened, like I, I just think about the difference between raising Lucy and raising Minka, like Minka could do anything and I just don't care. Right, it's like every once in a while she'll like pee and she doesn't want to pee on herself. It just happens. She just pees on herself. Sometimes I'm not going to be like oh my gosh and get upset at her. It's like, hey girl, it's okay, it happens to the best of us. Whereas with Lucy, when she was a year old, if she would have peed on herself, it would be like, oh my gosh, what is wrong with you? How could this ever happen?
Speaker 2:you know, because you just have like these crazy high expectations, high expectations without actually like putting in too much work yeah, I mean because, like minka, like she's also the kind of dog that you know, if you would raise your tone at her and like she would crumble, yeah, exactly, soft girl.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I mean I think Lucy is. I mean she's not as soft, but like she doesn't like getting yelled at.
Speaker 2:No, for sure, for sure, you know she's like oh sorry. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Sorry I won't do it again, but yeah, I just I see less experienced folks and you know, I think also it just comes with the fact that I've been around so many dogs. Like can you imagine how exhausted I would be if I cared about like dogs jumping up on me? That's a big one is when owners would come and drop their dogs off and they would be like, oh, I'm so sorry, and the dog's jumping up on me and I'm like this is literally my life.
Speaker 2:Or funny stuff like where was it? One of the girls at the retreat had their dogs and their dog was barking. He's like I'm so sorry. It's like you realize that's every single day of our life. Yeah, background noise is just I don't even hear it anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah yeah, so it does it does come with, just like the sheer amount of dogs that were, like always around. I feel like we're kind of like numb to those things, but I do want owners that aren't, you know, in the same boat as we are to understand that, like, if your dog is barking like it's, it's literally not out of the ordinary, like dogs bark. If your dog has had an accident, like it's okay, it's not the end of the world. World if your dog still pulls on leash a little bit like it's it's, all of these behaviors are very, very normal and in the world of dog training online, or if you're like an avid podcast listener, like you're probably in the dog world, you you probably have these high expectations because we're all just showing our highlight reels, you know, yeah for sure. So this is a don't. Just don't take it too seriously. It's not that serious.
Speaker 2:Yeah, enjoy your dog, enjoy your dog.
Speaker 1:Their life is too short. Our lives are too short. We're all just here to have a good time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, enjoy the process and you know keep time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, enjoyed the process and you know, keep happy training happy training. Look at that, I've trained you so well. All right, we've been blabbing forever. Do we have any other like life updates and things to wrap people up on?
Speaker 2:we're gonna enjoy I don't know two, three weeks in socal.
Speaker 1:So I'm interested to see how long we stay down here yeah, that's the beauty. I kind of like I'm sad to leave mike's yeah, I feel like those are our people now you know, like I'm like sad.
Speaker 2:I'm like gonna miss them I know I'm I'm missing club. Saturday club.
Speaker 1:I know.
Speaker 2:So that's why I said two, three weeks. We're going to be back up there soon. Yeah, apparently it's very hard to find nice finishing wood for this van build in Northern California, so happy to buy some material, drive back up, actually finish the van build.
Speaker 1:And then we could have a shower. Oh, we had to take cold shower. Today I have a new rule, and that is we shower during the day yes, we're at a campsite right now and the shower is very cold oh my gosh, every time we go we pull up to a campsite too late and we have to take nighttime showers, and it's so cold. I almost recorded it, but I didn't have my phone with me. I wanted to show the people the shower.
Speaker 1:Like I have reached a certain level of bougie in my life and I was like I would pay so much money to not have to shower in this right now. But I was like rich people pay rich people. I don't know why I said that Bougie people pay for like cold plunges. I was like this is our cold plunge. Oh my gosh, who needs a cold plunge when you have to shower at camp spots? And also on the phone the lady was like we've got really hot showers. That should have been our red flag right there. You do not have hot showers they lured us here they lured us.
Speaker 1:And the worst part, too, is like wait, did you put all of your quarters in at once? Uh, I put a dollar at a time okay, yeah, so you had to put quarters in for the shower to go on, and it was six minutes, and then at the six minutes the water turns off and it's freezing and then you're scrambling to grab, to grab your quarters and stick them in the shower.
Speaker 1:So that the hot water can go the. The warm water can come back on. Oh my gosh, it's horrible. I hate cold water and I hate that so much, so that's my new rule is that I'm not if we come to a campsite. We have to come to a campsite during the day and we have to shower during the day this is a rule only for the next month, because soon we'll have our own shower yeah the struggles of van life oh my gosh, I have learned to appreciate the shower at the florida house literally the best shower in the whole world.
Speaker 1:It has the window, it has the best showerhead ever. I still get people who message me and they're like, can you send me that showerhead? Who, like, lived at the house?
Speaker 2:you know I'm like I got you. It's literally the best. Yeah, a lot of jets a lot of jets.
Speaker 1:It's just. It's just a nice experience. I feel like I haven't had a nice shower experience in a while. In a while.
Speaker 2:Well, the price to pay to be here. We're going to have to get an Airbnb or a bougie hotel at some point.
Speaker 1:Your girl is in some need. I need a nice shower A little bit of pampering.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, hey, we're all caught up. We just did our laundry, we got a shower, we have clean sheets.
Speaker 1:All of our clothes are clean. We almost have a finished van. We're almost there. Our next project is we have to start youtube yeah we have to start a youtube channel, so who knows when that will be. But you know, be on the lookout for our YouTube and let me know if that's something you guys are interested in. I feel like we live a pretty eclectic life.
Speaker 2:I think it'd be a hit.
Speaker 1:I think it might be a hit too, but let's see. Do I have any updates for y'all? I don't think so. I'll keep you updated. Hope you enjoyed this casual episode, kind of all over the place. We just rambled we just rambled, but hey, we're not taking things so seriously, right?
Speaker 2:there you go.
Speaker 1:There you go, Wrapped it up. All right, guys. Thank you so so much for being here. We'll see you next week. Bye.