Chrissy 0:02
Welcome to The Dogs of our lives Podcast. I'm Chrissy Messick, your host and owner of the nature of animals. My dog training and behavior consulting business, get ready to hear journeys from challenging behaviors to heartwarming successes and everything in between. Our episodes will feature personal stories from clients, colleagues and professionals, all centered around our favorite animal companion, friends. Each episode, you'll gain insights and valuable tools from those that have walked the path that you are on with your dog. We'll discuss mindset shifts, growth, training, tips, lessons, learned and so much more. By the end of each episode, you'll feel inspired have a deeper understanding of your dog and walk away with actionable steps to improve both of your lives.
Chrissy 0:48
Welcome back, and today, I talk with Gigi Moss, who is a local legend in our community. She's been training dogs over 20 years, and she's seen how dog training has changed and evolved over time. So she talks about that, but she also talks about her dog Henry, who developed cataracts and had to have both of his eyes removed. So she talks about that process and what they both went through, and some other good tidbits of information. So enjoy the podcast. So hi Gigi, thank you for coming on. I know this is your first time doing a podcast, and I know how you you don't enjoy being on social media or any of those kind of things, so I really appreciate you coming on and sharing your story and all of your experience, and especially your experience with Henry and his eyes and stuff like that. So yeah, that. I think that'll be really interesting for people to hear about.
Gigi 1:43
Well, thank you for having me come and speak. I'll do the best I can, yeah, so
Chrissy 1:48
I will, um, I'll just kind of let you introduce yourself. I mean, you, you are a legend in the boulder Lafayette, Colorado area. You've been doing it, probably the first dog trainer here, and you've just been doing it ever since, and I know you've mentored a lot of people help 1000s of dogs. So do you just want to tell us a little bit about yourself and where you live, kind of what you're doing now and the current puppies in your life? Yeah.
Gigi 2:17
Okay, so I have been training forever. I started my career probably 24 years ago. I just always knew I do something with animals, and fell into this dog thing. My current crew are five dogs, all rescues, ranging from four years old to nine years old. Henry, the special boy, being the oldest at nine. I have been in the boulder area since 1982 and I have been doing this forever. I love it still. I just love being able to help people and their pucks negotiate life. You've been
Chrissy 2:55
here since 1982 when did you start your dog training? I
Gigi 2:58
probably started at around 1998 99 okay, I was looking for a career with animals. I wasn't so keen on going to college. It wasn't really my thing. Both of my parents were teachers. Both of my brothers were teachers. I knew I wanted to do something with dogs, but I couldn't figure it out. And I checked out vet tech school. I looked at grooming, and then I took a dog training class with my dog I had back then in 9899 just for fun at Humane Society Boulder Valley, and just got the bug, and I thought, This is it. This is what I can do with dogs. This is what I can do with animals. Yeah, just was so happy to find something that I could do, where I could be a teacher and be with dogs, but not have to go through the whole College Avenue, yeah,
Chrissy 3:49
well, um, what do your parents teach and what does your brother teach? Both
Gigi 3:54
of my parents have passed. Unfortunately. My dad was a elementary music teacher and my mother was a college professor of women's studies, Native American studies. One of my brothers is just retired from teaching middle school science back in New York State, and the other one is in California, and he teaches at a college in California. He's in music and computers.
Chrissy 4:20
You were born to teach your whole family was born to
Gigi 4:22
teach. Gina, yeah, for sure.
Chrissy 4:26
And then what's the name of your business? Now,
Gigi 4:28
when I started, I couldn't think of a catchy name that people were using. I was always afraid if I picked some catchy name, I would regret it down the road. I just use my name, and then it's stuck. So just Gigi moss dog training. Simple, easy to remember, yeah,
Chrissy 4:47
that's perfect. And that's pretty much what many people are doing nowadays anyway, right?
Gigi 4:52
Yeah, it's just, yeah, it's hard to be creative and come up with good names. I think the good ones have been taken
Chrissy 4:59
and then, um. Um, you also right next to your brick and mortar. You have, well, Angela has the GG moss. No, it's the GG pet and products. I always get confused what it's called. Yeah,
Gigi 5:12
it's, um, I have had this training space in Lafayette for about six years. It's a nice space. It's not too big, it's not too small, and there was a retail space that opened up right next to it. And my partner, Angela, wanted to have a pet store, and it was perfect to have a pet supply store right next to the training space. That way we could show people the products we recommended. Have a really good supply of training, positive reinforcement tools, good equipment, good leashes, good harnesses, healthy training treats. And so about four years ago, Angela opened this little store, and so it's really nice. We've got this side by side situation that works great. What's it called Gigi and company, pet products? Okay, I always get it wrong. Well, it is Angela's store, and I just invested. And it's a little bit of a of a sad thing that, you know, it's not Angela and company, but she knew that my name was out there, and it was just a strategic business move to call it my store, even though it's her store. So if you go to the store Gigi and company pet products, you're looking for. Angela, she's been studying nutrition, both in humans and dogs, for many, many years, so she's got tons of information she can give you,
Chrissy 6:28
yeah, and I want to get her on the podcast as well. Yeah, that
Gigi 6:32
will be really good. She'll love that. Likes to talk about herself. Oh,
Chrissy 6:36
yeah, no, it's great. And, well, I used to bring a client in there all the time, a doggy client. And we would do training in there, getting him comfortable with the environment and people coming in and out, and Angela and I would always have our therapy sessions. Well,
Gigi 6:50
yes, yes. He started shadowing me with my puppy kindergartens about 10 years ago, and really, really loved the whole puppy thing. And so she's actually been teaching puppy kindergartens with me for about 10 years. It's sort of nice to have her have a lot of knowledge that she picked up from overhearing me speak with many, many, many clients over the years and shadowing me. So she's got a lot of knowledge in dog behavior and dog body language, and just has a real passion for dogs as well. Yeah, so
Chrissy 7:21
you guys make a great team with everything that you're
Gigi 7:24
doing. Yeah, that's the goal.
Chrissy 7:27
Yeah, and the and so your brick and mortar business and then the pet store, they're both in Lafayette Colorado. Yeah,
Gigi 7:34
they're both in Lafayette Colorado. Yes, perfect. Okay,
Chrissy 7:37
so just to go back in time a little, and I always ask everyone this question, because I feel like it's so important. Tell us just a little bit about your childhood growing up. What did you learn about values, beliefs and how they shaped your thoughts, feelings and attitude toward animals?
Gigi 7:52
Well, I grew up mostly in both Bozeman, Montana and Twin Falls, Idaho. We always had a dog. The family always had a dog. My dad was an avid hiker. He loved to be outside in nature, and so from the time I was really young, we always had a dog. I always knew I'd do something with animals. And my dad's just was the sweetest guy that just loved to be outside. And again, he was a public school teacher, so he was a really good role model in just being compassionate and educating. And those family dogs that we always had, I just love them. We just always took them everywhere. My dad hiked. He always took a dog. My grandfather lived with us. He always had a dog. The dogs would go fishing the this was back when you just opened the door in the morning and let the dogs out, which is terrible, but that's what we did. And so we just always had these happy, re roaming dogs. And that's, you know, was life in southern Idaho,
Chrissy 8:52
honestly, back in that time. Like, I don't think it's terrible, like, I think that is very normal, but I think with how crowded it's become in the cities and the population that it's just harder and harder to do that now it's just not as safe. You know what I mean. And so so much has changed from us being able just to let our dogs outside and roam around safely. Anyway, I I know what you mean by back in the day, letting our dog just out and roam around.
Gigi 9:22
I know I do. I do sometimes imagine if it was completely 100% safe, what it would be like if we could just all open our doors in the morning and let our dogs go out for a stroll together and maybe go have a coffee or something. I don't know it would be so fabulous if the dogs could all be free.
Chrissy 9:40
I know, I know it would be. So that's a whole other podcast, right? Yeah. Okay, so you are, you know, like I said before, you're a legend in our community, because you've been doing it forever, and you already told us a little bit about, you know, why you became interested in dog training. If you want to talk about, I guess. What you've focused on in dog training over the years, like just basic manners or aggression or separation anxiety, and what you're focusing on now, because I know that has changed and a little bit about just your path and towards it
Gigi 10:15
absolutely so when I decided after this really fun dog training class with my then dog I started looking around for a way to learn how to be a dog trainer. And there were only two or three around, you know, there were a couple of people in Denver that did show dog training. And then there was a real famous dog trainer in Boulder, Nana will people just really didn't have a way that they could tell me how I could find out how to be a dog trainer. So I started looking around. I did find a program where I got to stay at a training center from but the methods were really it was 1998 99 and the methods were horrible. And I was told that using treats was cheating and it was all corrections. I went to the program anyway, because I didn't know how else to get a start. I felt like I needed an education. I came back and I started helping my neighbors with their dogs, because they were willing to let me practice. But I never could do the corrections. I just couldn't. And it was a time when, again, it was food. Was like bad, it was wrong, it was you just didn't do it. And so I discovered that most dogs would play. So I started using play as a motivator. It still felt like I was cheating, because that's what I told but I just never had it in my heart that I could correct a dog. So I just started practicing with neighbors dogs and friends dogs and family dogs. Volunteered at hsbv and got to walk dogs and practice with those dogs, and just slowly got some experience so that I felt like I could help more and more people. At that time, there really, literally, were probably only two or three trainers local, and so if somebody wanted to hire me, I just took the case, and I was just really upfront from the beginning. If somebody called me and said, Hey, my dog has this and that situation, I would always say, Well, I can do that. Or I would say, I don't have any experience in that yet, but let me go see what I can find. There was no Internet, there was no there was no YouTube, there was no Instagram, there was no people didn't have computers, we didn't have cell phones. I mean, it sounds like I'm a dinosaur, but there was no way to find out anything except for a couple of magazines and a few books that were also really backwards, although they were starting to be some really good literature back then, Ian Dunbar was coming into focus for a lot of us, and he started the whole lore, lore and reward training. And I just grabbed it, and I just found the association of pet dog trainers. They had just started, kept going to the conferences, kept getting as much education as I could, and just practiced by taking every case that came across my path again. Just was honest. If I didn't know something, told people we're just going to work through this together. As the time has gone by, I have continued to take pretty much anything if I felt like I could handle it, and learned along the way, and continue going to conference every single year and getting my hands on everything I could that was coming out. I am, as I'm getting closer to being a 60 plus person. I'm 63 I'm thinking maybe I will start to slow down, maybe. And I don't know, I don't see that I'm doing a very good job of slowing down. I still work full time, but maybe, I don't know, maybe I will. It's nice there are a lot more positive reinforcement trainers around now, so I feel like I don't have to take every case i There's so many great people like you and Emily Wolf and Jamie Flanagan and Mary Angela and just, I mean, I can't even name everybody. There's so many great trainers now. You mean society Boulder Valley has such great trainers, so many people now that I can filter people out too. So that feels really, really good. It just helps my little heart relax that I don't have to worry about people getting into the wrong hands. So we'll see. I think you know something, I'll slow down someday. But right now, I still teach puppy kindergarten twice a week. I teach probably six basic manners classes a week, and I do between 10 and 15 private lessons a week. So I'm pretty busy, so I do take off two days a week, I really do, but still loving it.
Chrissy 14:25
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I know you've mentored so many trainers, and, yeah, it's just nice to have a community of trainers, because, you know, it's, it can be a lonely profession, but so it's nice to have a community of like minded trainers that don't use, you know, pain, fear, intimidation, to teach their dog. And I think it's wonderful that you like when you were just starting out, you just kind of intuitively, were like, Ah, I don't, you know, I don't like doing this style with my dog. And it's interesting, because what were you hearing when you were just starting out? Why were people saying that treats were. Cheating or bad.
Gigi 15:01
I just think that was the culture. It was just that was just not what you did. It was all about corrections. That's all anybody did, really. Was choke chains were still really popular. I didn't see a lot of pinch collars. I don't think shock collars were really around yet. Thank God. But yeah, I was told that if you're teaching tricks, it's okay, but it's not training. It's just not training. The person that I took the the course from that got me started, said, and I'll never forget this, and it was so long ago, he said, never train in public because people want won't understand what you're doing to the dog in order to to achieve your training goals. Meaning, if you're a good trainer, you correct dogs, and you don't want people to see you doing that. You just want them to see the end result. I knew I couldn't do that, and that's what I really love, that I still hear from people. They almost don't want to train their dog if they know it's going to hurt their dog or intimidate their dog or make their dog uncomfortable. So yeah, anything that's frightens a dog is just has never sat with me. Has never been okay for me, right? There
Chrissy 16:03
needs to be transparency in dog training. If someone is hiding what they're doing, that's that's not a good that's a red flag, right there. Yeah. But for the consumers and the you know, dog guardians, there needs to be transparency, and it needs to feel be reinforcing for the human as well. So tell us a little bit about how dogs that you've lived with have influenced you. Well,
Gigi 16:27
I got right. I always wanted a dog. I waited and got my first dog when I was probably late 20s. Finally felt like I was settled enough got my first dog. Just picked a dog and she was under socialized and struggled a lot with being fear aggressive with people and dogs, and there was no way to find out anything. And so then a year later, I being this crazy dog person, I got another dog, but this time I got not an I had the first one was an airdale. So the second dog I got was a corgi from a farm up by Fort Collins, and it was the opposite dog. She was easy and lovely and loved everybody, loved children, loved dogs. I was living in a part of Boulder where I didn't, I could get away with not using a leash much. She didn't. I mean, she was the dream dog. She was that dog. When people say I had the perfect dog. She was that dog. And so what fascinated me was how different two dogs could be. And obviously breeds we know can affect to some extent, but it just really fascinated me that two dogs, just one, you're a part in age, could negotiate life so differently, could behave so differently, and have such different ways of dealing with stress and being joyful or being serious. And so I feel like every single dog I've ever had has taught me so much to live with. The dog is really different, obviously, than just working with a dog. So then my third dog was a Jack Russell, and she was amazing, and she was, she was a pretty good one. She was fascinating because she could do so many things, and she was so smart and so clever. So every single dog I feel like just gives me a whole new set of information on Living with Dogs and training dogs and empathy for dogs trying to do the best they can with the with their lives. And so it
Chrissy 18:22
sounds like the dogs that you've had have really helped you to have an open mind in regard to how you approach working with them. And you know, every dog you know is not the same, so we approach how we work with them differently, but it's always in a gentle, kind way. Yeah, I
Gigi 18:40
remember early on hearing an amazing saying. I don't know who said it now. She said, Love the dog you have, not the dog you wish you had. I mean, all of my dogs have had their quirks. I mean, I had the perfect Corgi, which is that's also weird, but I've had two Jack Russells, and they were both completely different, and they both had a lot of sensitivities towards other dogs, which a lot of terriers do. I love to hike, and so I always wanted hiking dogs, but in at the end of the day, I had to adjust my needs or wants for my dogs by how they were able to negotiate the world. So my first check, Russell could hike. Didn't want to meet dogs, but we were able to do it a lot, as long as I was careful. You know, it's that situation where you have to learn how to keep your dog feeling safe out in the world, if they can do the world. My second Jack Russell had a lot more sensitivities. He didn't want that big a world. He didn't want to go for hikes, and I had to adjust myself for that, and I loved him for being who he was. I think something I see a lot now is people that have a certain expectation for how a dog should be in the world, and we don't get to tell them who they are. I feel like when we get a new dog. Whether it's a puppy or a rescue, we want to bring out the best in them. We have to also accept their limitations and love them for what they can do and love them for what they can't do. Frankly, yeah,
Chrissy 20:11
exactly. Well, perfect. Well, now you have a special pup named Henry. Can you tell us just a little bit about him and his personality, and then we'll get into his story a little bit. Yeah,
Gigi 20:24
I was completely out of dogs I lost. I had lost a dog. He was older, but kind of surprisingly, lost him a little faster than I thought I was going to to a neurological condition, and I found myself dogless, and Emily of Summit dog rescue said, come look at puppies. They just got here from Arkansas. I'm like, I don't need a puppy. I was still so sad. And she said, No, come, come see these puppies. They're pretty cool. He was the funniest looking little mousy, weird looking little puppy. He was just charming and strange looking. And I met him in somebody's yard that had invited the dogs to all get together with different people that were potential adopters. And he said hello to everybody, and then he went off on his merry way and explored the yard and dug some holes and met a bunch of people. And he just, he just was really quirky and funny and charming, even at nine weeks old. So I just decided to take him in and adopted him from summit dog. And he was always just super chill, super loving, loves all dogs, loves all people. My Jacks had not been that way. So it was a really nice switch I did his DNA. Turns out he's half cattle dog and then the other half is mostly terrier of several kinds. So I get a little bit of the best of a herding dog and the best of the Terriers. And he's just always been super, super fun and easy and charming. And, you know, really nice to have an easy dog so well. About a year ago, he came home from work one day he couldn't open his eyes. I got a hold of my vet. They said, Bring him in. We thought he was having an allergic reaction to something, and lo and behold, she diagnosed it with glaucoma. He's only he was only eight at the time, so it's not really the age you think of glaucoma striking them, and so I hadn't it didn't really cross my mind. And we got him to an ophthalmologist specialist right away that same day, and started him on lots and lots of steroids, hoping to kind of keep the inflammation at bay. Long story short, did lots of medication for about three months, six months anyway, in the end, glaucoma, which is pretty much is so uncomfortable, that they do end up removing the eyes altogether, which is just super scary, and you just try to keep the eyes healthy as long as you can. But ultimately, the end result was having both his eyes removed.
Chrissy 22:56
Do you feel like it was harder for you or him to have that done, right?
Gigi 23:01
That is the question. I tend not to try to spend too much time looking at, you know, Instagram posts and groups on blind dogs and things like that. But kind of the common theme is, if your dog's still in the process pre surgery, you feel like it's not fair to take their site. But in hindsight, I think a lot of people and I did find this for myself that, in hindsight, he was, he was so physically uncomfortable that I probably was keeping the eyes for both of us. But in the end, once he adapted to being blind, he's doesn't have that pain in his body anymore. So he's just doing great. Now, it's been nine months, and he's really doing great. You know, everybody says, oh, they'll do great. Well, it did take him two or three months to sort of be able to follow the directions he followed before, and be able to negotiate as simple as going for walks. But he's just brilliant. Now,
Chrissy 23:55
I remember I saw you guys in mcguckins One day, and he's just this happy go lucky guy, just, you know, just ran right over to me and said hi, and I actually just forgot that he didn't have any eyes. I was like, Oh yeah, eyes anymore. And he was just happy go lucky guy. So how was it like? How was that journey for you, personally and professionally? I know I think talking to Angela one day in one of our therapy sessions, it was because you are so used to training and doing things a certain way that you had to kind of take a step back and have a little more patience, you know, teaching him things and working helping him work through things. Would you say that is true?
Gigi 24:38
Yeah, I was really surprised that he struggled with really simple things, from how to negotiate taking a treat out of my hand. That was just so bizarre. For the longest time, you'd put a treat near his nose and he would drop his head, and it was just like the weirdest, simplest things he really couldn't figure out. I. Luckily, had taught him a few basic skills, consciously not using any gestures or hand signals, just because I wanted to practice, not using hand gestures and body signals, because I think we forget that being able to hear a cue separated from hand signals can be useful. Well, thank goodness, because we don't realize how much we use our body language to communicate with our dogs, even just from a simple nod letting them know that you're going for a walk, right? So yeah, it was really fascinating to me, what he took too well and what he didn't take too well. We were really careful, obviously, with the house putting up lots of baby gates, but then, you know, they have to run into the baby gate so that we patted the baby gates. But I have only worked with a couple of blind dogs in my really anciently long career, because I think, honestly, I think most dogs lose their eyesight at an old enough age that people don't request help. The first dog I worked with I remember, well, quite a few years ago, was a young dog that was losing his eyesight, and the woman thought to have me come and help her before he lost his eyesight, but that was a young dog, but that was really unusual. I didn't really have a big background in working with dogs that were losing their eyesight or were blind, so it was definitely a learning experience. Yeah,
Chrissy 26:20
it is, yeah. I've worked with a few dogs that are blind as well. Yeah, it's, it's a lot about teaching verbal cues and sounds and that kind of stuff. And it's interesting because, you know, it's kind of almost a normal thing as dogs age and become seniors, that that just kind of happens and and they know the environment so well, and that it starts to happen so gradually, that they get accustomed to feeling their way around, whereas suddenly losing it, it's a very different experience for them. But they seem to be pretty resilient with so many things that happen to them, most dogs are pretty resilient. Yeah, I
Gigi 26:58
think that is one thing that I've thought about a lot more for my clients, dogs, since he lost his eyes, is that concept of resiliency and being compassionate for dogs that aren't resilient. But can we potentially, when we start a puppy that they might need to be resilient? I mean, I think most people have the goal when they're raising a puppy to have a dog that can do anything and go anywhere. I think that's just our culture, but I don't know that we really think about putting a big emphasis on that necessarily. I think people, most people, are worried about teaching their dogs how to walk nicely on a leash and come back when they call them. But what about teaching them to be able to handle change? You know, being able to handle everything from different sounds to different surfaces to different places. I really encourage people to try just challenge yourself to go somewhere new once a week, when you have a young dog, don't go the same places all the time. Can we teach our dogs to feel safe unless you have a really fearful dog, and then you need to be respectful of that. But can we teach our dogs to adapt more readily to new places, new people and new things. So if something does happen to them, and it could even just be a major move to a new location or a sudden life change in a family, can they handle it? Can we help them maybe handle that down the road, just by being more conscious of it? Right? Yeah.
Chrissy 28:20
So it sounds like, you know, going through that experience has really helped you personally, professionally, you know, working with other clients, and, you know, developing that resilience, like you said, but also personally, already, as having a dog trainer, you have patience, but even even having more empathy and patience, you know, with yourself and the people that you work with, and personally,
Gigi 28:45
one thing I discovered, which is makes sense, and he still does this some, but not very much. When he gets disoriented, he isn't on the same walk we do every day. He is someplace. He doesn't know where he is. He does freeze up. Puppies do that all the time, and people are so frustrated, but patience is everything, because, again, I think they're doing the best they can with what they know and what they've experienced, and depending on how sensitive a dog is, just being still is such an important part of them figuring out if they feel safe. And when we brush our dogs through a situation or we get impatient that they want to maybe sniff a spot for a really long time. I think that is just so important that we're really patient, letting our dogs learn how to negotiate at the pace that fits for them. You know, they're not trying to cause us any kind of grief by wanting to stand in the same spot for 10 minutes. You know, they're trying to figure out if they feel safe, right? So
Chrissy 29:43
people that are going through this with their dogs or even themselves, what advice do you have for them? So I guess talking about personal, like emotionally, some advice you could have for them, which you've already talked about a little bit, but also possible. Symptoms to look out for. Or, you know, your kind of experience going through the process with the medications, I guess, just what advice you know, do you have for dogs going through this and humans going through this?
Gigi 30:13
Yeah, I mean, the symptoms usually come on pretty quickly, from what I read when I was trying to research what was going on often you get excessive squinting, but for a lot of dogs, it's pressure build up, and it can happen pretty fast. And I think a lot of people just brush it off as the dog got something in his eye. And I've thought back about, were there symptoms that I missed? I don't know that I did, but I think a lot of people do wait to go see the doctor, thinking it'll get better, but the pressure really damages the eye pretty quickly. That's also part of the process of just you have to get to a doctor, you have to get steroids on board right away. They did oral steroids, which were really hard on his on the body, or at least they were for Henry. They caused him to have a lot of muscle weakness. Obviously, he had a hard time over drinking water, having accidents, and then they have you do drops in the eyes three times a day. Again, back to that resiliency thing. I was really lucky that he was always a dog that was okay with body handling, where another one of my dogs is not good with body handling eye drops going in the eyes three times a day can be super stressful. At the same time I was going through that, I had a client reach out, because she had a shepherd that was having to get drops, and she was really having a hard time getting eye drops in his eyes. I found American cheese was a really wonderful tool. Get a piece of American cheese every time he let me put a drop in his eyes. He also had a good two front foot paws up foot target that I used training wise, so he would do his front foot target
Chrissy 31:52
Squirrel moment. So a lot of you are probably thinking, What the heck is a two front foot target? A lot of times when we have to do procedures with our dogs, they can be pretty invasive. And this can include body handling, going to the vet, going to the groomers, giving eyedrops. And as dog trainers, we want our clients and dogs to have choices in the matter. So we teach cooperative care. In this instance, Gigi used a two front foot target as a way for the dog to say, Okay, I'm ready for this procedure to begin. We can also teach other behaviors that they can do to let us know they're ready. And this can include work mats, chin rests, sitting or laying down,
Gigi 32:27
I would hold a piece of cheese. He'd get a drop, and we just went through that until he just hear me crinkle the cheese wrapper, and he'd come running for his eye drops. So I think some dogs are going to handle it better than others. And as far as people go, it is, it's really hard, it's stressful, sad. It's very sad that they are so uncomfortable and you don't know what they're feeling and what they're perceiving. In the case of everything, just being kind to ourselves and kind to our dogs
Chrissy 32:55
Yeah, you mentioned a tiny little bit about support groups and groups, but were there any groups that you found really helpful to like as a community for support going through this,
Gigi 33:06
I never really stuck with any of the groups. There are a lot of them, just like all social media. I felt like there was this back and forth that wasn't always helpful. There are things that are kind of commonly recommended, from the halos or bumpers, to using scent trailing or scent mapping, they call it. And there was a lot of bickering about it. You know, one person would say, or one group would say, Absolutely, get a bumper, and another one would say, don't do that. And then, you know, the next post would say, use smells to help them negotiate different things. And then the next post would say, absolutely don't do that. And I just, you know, when people are almost shaming each other for trying everything, I just check out. So I took a lot of advice for things to try, but I never really stuck with any of the groups. But there, if somebody wants to find support that way, I just went into Instagram and put in blind dogs. And there's a lot of different folks out there, right?
Chrissy 34:02
And then obviously the your professionals that you're working with who have an educational background is very supportive as well.
Gigi 34:11
Yes, yes, I know I felt all the love and support from all of my fellow dog trainers. That was really, really helpful.
Chrissy 34:19
What I doggy doctor. Did you use her?
Gigi 34:22
my gosh, for the moment, she's at at least part time at Blue Pearl on South Boulder Road in Lafayette. Marta Bono Dr, Marta Bano, okay, I think there are more than one ophthalmologist at that center, and there are quite a few amazingly around. But her team was great. They were very kind. We we had a really good experience, and we were going in almost every single week for pressure checks for several months. So they knew us Well,
Chrissy 34:50
good. All right, so how do you keep yourself personally and professionally sane? I mean, since you've been doing the, you know, in this profession for. So long. How do you keep yourself sane?
Gigi 35:02
I think just because I still love what I do, I still love working with people, I think my parents instilled that really young. They were both people people. I still find dogs infinitely fascinating, and they all bring something fun and interesting to the world, whether they're really boingy and outgoing or they're really tender hearts and they need extra, extra care. I just I love working with people and dogs. I love walking my dogs. That's part of why I love Colorado. Most the time you can get really nice walks in, and I just enjoy being outside. So I do a lot of my work outside, so it's perfect, yeah,
Chrissy 35:44
so a lot of outside activities help you, help keep you sane.
Gigi 35:47
Absolutely.
Chrissy 35:48
So, do you have any anything that you just feel like you need to share with our audience, or any nugget of wisdom on anything that you feel is really important for people to hear.
Gigi 36:00
You know, if I think about that, I really just, I wish so much, and I hope so much that people will be kind to themselves, because I feel like people are hard on themselves as well as they can be too hard on their dogs, because I do get to work a lot with puppies. I feel like people have so much pressure on themselves and therefore put pressure on their dogs to be more perfect than is realistic or just not patient. I want people to feel like it's okay to have a naughty puppy, it's okay to be frustrated. It's okay to be sad that your dog, your new puppy, isn't the same as your last dog that you remember that was probably perfect for the last five years. I want people to just enjoy the puppiness of their puppy. I know they're frustrating, and I know they're aggravating, and I know that it's hard. It's hard raising a puppy. It's so much, it's 24/7 for like, two years, and people are so devastated when I say it's going to take two years to raise their dog, but then they're two, and then you're sad that they're not a puppy. You know, dog training has evolved into so much more positive reinforcement, but at the same time, I feel like the kind of quick fix feel we have, at least in our community, to have the perfect dog immediately has caused a lot of people I see out in public want to go to open space using shot collars and using prong collars, or, you know, even worse, I see dogs that have both. They have so much equipment on, there's no way those dogs are if they were my dogs, they would not be as joyful as my dogs are when I just throw a harness on and we cut loose in open space. It breaks my heart to see dogs that are walking in a straight line not having joy when they're out in the world. It makes me sad when people feel like that's only way to raise a dog. I feel like, again, so much peer pressure, community pressure in our part of the world to have a perfect dog, and that causes people to go down the route of using suppressing styles of training, using aversives. I feel like I see more shock collars now than ever. I saw somebody at the trail this week that let his dogs out of the car and turned on his remote like he was going to go out with a toy car. It breaks my heart. It just breaks my heart. And it's not necessary. It is so not necessary. People say they don't have a choice. They have a choice. I just want to say it's called a leash. I've had dogs that weren't good off leash. I've had dogs that weren't good with everybody and everything they they are around, they all should get to have the best life they can have. And if it's down to a leash or even a smaller world of just being in your neighborhood or doing something that causes them to be fearful or anxious or uncomfortable, I'd rather go small world. I'd rather have a smaller world that feels really safe than a big world where there's a lot of restrictions and fear and pain and discomfort, or however you want to describe it
Chrissy 38:46
Yeah,I would say it's definitely managing expectations. Yeah, really getting to know your dog, like really understanding and learning their body language and not projecting our thoughts and feelings onto them, but really seeing them for who they are, and appreciating that and listening to that. Yes, I definitely agree, and I would rather see a Goofy, Goofy dog walking along just being a big goofball, instead of a dog just walking robotically right next to me. Thanks
Gigi 39:16
for bringing up body language, because I really do feel like people we're not taught body language as kids or even as young adults. I feel like if people knew how to read dogs, they might see that their dog is uncomfortable. I mean, I'd like to feel very compassionate for the people to feel like this is the route. This is their only route, and I hope that they can find trainers that can help them see that you don't have to use punishment, and that if they knew how to read their dog, I don't think most people know how to read dog body language, if more people knew how to read dogs, they would see that their dogs are uncomfortable and happy. I don't think people want their dogs to be unhappy. I don't think they want them to be uncomfortable. I just don't think they know enough. I don't think there's enough information out there on how to read. How a dog is feeling,
Chrissy 40:01
right, yeah? And I know as like, force free community and positive reinforcement, you know, we're trying really hard to get that important information out there and just kind of debunk a lot of those terrible myths that have entrenched, you know, that have gotten so entrenched in our culture. Yeah? Well, thank you, Gigi, for being on and what is the best way for people to get a hold of you, if they would like to chat with you about you know, what you went through, or work with you. Um,
Gigi 40:30
I have a website I have been around for so long. I have Gigi moss.com as my domain. I was the first one to grab it. Um, so that's football, G, I G, I m, O, S, s.com, and on there is description of what I offer and my phone number. So I discovered that with so many modes of communication, I was missing some people's contacts, so I've just stuck to my phone number. I took my email off my website, which I heard was a horrible thing to do, but I was missing communications, which just really was horrifying. So my phone number is on my website. You can call or text, and I just try to keep it simple, all my offerings are on my website. Lots of great resources, of other people, other trainers, great books, great podcasts. I need to get yours posted on there, yay. And so, yeah, keep it simple.
Chrissy 41:27
Okay, perfect, yes. And I know that you are not on social media, so we are not even going to ask about that.
Gigi 41:33
If I can't keep up, it drives me crazy. So, yes, I keep it simple. Okay, perfect.
Chrissy 41:39
All right, thank you again, and I really appreciate you being on your first podcast episode ever. You did a great job.
Chrissy 41:47
Well, thank you.
Chrissy 41:49
All right. All right. Thank you, Gigi.
Gigi 41:49
Chrissy, thank you so much.
Chrissy 41:52
Thank you so much for listening to this episode with Gigi. I hope that it was helpful for those of you that are dealing with eye issues with your dogs. I know Gigi would love to talk with you, and would be open to having a conversation. So reach out to her if you are going through this. Dogs truly are special beings and can change lives if we're open to what they have to teach us, this not only impacts you and your dog, but can also make a positive impact on the world. If you're finding value in this podcast, the best way to support us is by leaving a review up to five stars and sharing it with your family, friends and fellow dog lovers around the world. Lastly, I'd love to connect with you. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook at the nature of animals, and visit my [email protected] Until next time, be curious, show compassion and have courage. You.
