The Long Leash with James Jacobson

As a “voice for dogs,” Barry Karacostas has a lot to teach us about how to listen and care for our canine companions.  He was once a successful chef/owner in London’s competitive restaurant scene. But like many in that business, addiction and stress hit him hard. His wife Julie handed him their Rottweiler’s leash and said “Leo is YOUR responsibility now.” Forced to feed and walk Leo, Barry found himself healing and regaining confidence. Buying a dog walking service from a fellow Kensington Park denizen, he became known as the Dog Jogger. He built an off-lead dog pack one dog at a time. Over the years, Barry deepened his knowledge and commitment to canine health. He also attracted celebrity clients! Today, he's full circle: using his hospitality skills to run a five-star dog hotel. Chapters: 0:00 London’s Urban Dogs Pamper Time with Barry Karacostas 01:35 London’s Competitive Culinary Scene 02:31 Rise from The Downfall 03:24 Leo, The Rottweiler and Savior 04:38 Barry’s Dog Walking Business -- a Fluke or a Calling? 06:30 20 Dogs Running Unleashed – Okay, What?! How? 08:46 Leo as Wingman 09:42 Tracking Dogs with GPS 10:29 How to Build a Pack of Dogs 11:54 Happy Dog, Happy Human 15:05 The “Voice for Dogs” 16:13 City Dogs vs. Country Dogs 18:00 London Dogs vs. New York Dogs 20:36 The Soho House for Dogs 21:55 The Urban Mutts Experience 22:45 Blueberry Facials, Anyone? 23:35 Get Loose Doggos! 26:08 Sleepy Time … Hmm, Cabin or Penthouse? 28:15 Pandemic Soft Opening 32:01 Partnerships with Dog Charities and Foundations 33:24 Celebrity Patrons – Trust and Friendships 35:12 Expansion … Next! 37:00 Setting The Bar for Dog Daycare Industry About Barry Karacostas Barry the Dog Jogger is also the Founder of Urban Mutts Hotels, the UK’s first Dog Club & Hotel. A state-of-the-art facility for the urban canine community, it has a simple mission: making city dogs happier and healthy so they can make their busy urban owners feel the same way. About The Long Leash Thank you for joining us. If you have enjoyed listening, please SUBSCRIBE so you’ll never miss out! Check out Dog Podcast Network for other dog-adjacent shows. Follow us in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert Forto is an award-winning dog trainer with nearly thirty years of experience. His approach, called Peak Performance, focuses on leash walking, communication, manners, and creating a balanced mood. He’s an internationally respected podcast advice guru and successful business owner. In short, he’s got a great life doing good work with people who really love their dogs. A dream life, right? Yes … and he’s also got a not-so-secret dream: to run the Iditarod before he gets too old. The legendary race is nearly one thousand miles in length over some of the most challenging terrain on the planet. It takes weeks to run … weeks of snow, and ice, and cold, and strain. Musher and pack must be one in mind and body in order to finish, let alone win, this grueling race. After decades of building his pack of Huskies, one dog at a time … while running tens and tens of thousands of miles to learn and bond with his dogs … Forto is that much closer to achieving his dream. Chapters 0:00 Welcome to The Long Leash 02:06 A Bumpy Ride in The Life of a Seasoned Dog Trainer 03:15 An Interesting Love Story for Robert 04:59 Me-Time for Mushers In Love 06:38 Ever Heard of the Rock and Roller Tour?? 07:20 From Dog Training to Pursuing the Iditarod Dream 09:26 Hobby Farm Planted the Seed of the Iditarod Dream 13:04 Racing Down the Kenai Peninsula…. And Are Those Pterodactyls?! 15:43 The Life of Any Dog Musher During a Race – Passion Lives 17:38 A Bond and Affection Expressed in a Unique Way 18:19 Fresh Straw Bale = Treats! 19:01 Who Gets the Skittles Every Night?? 19:28 Pack of Athletes – The Thoroughbreds 22:57 Who Gets to Be the Lead Dog? 25:00 … When The Symphony Begins – And The Neighbors Couldn’t Care Less 28:14 Summers in Alaska… Time to Relax, Snoopies! 28:58 Coaching Lead Dogs – Basic Commands Matter 31:56 $30,000 A Year in Food Bills 32:30 Alaska Dog Works 34:59 Dog Works Radio 39:01 Almost Reality: Reaching for the Iditarod About Robert Forto Robert Forto began mushing in 1994 and became interested in long distance sled dog racing shortly thereafter. He plans to compete in the Iditarod before he gets too old. Forto owns and runs Alaska Dog Works with his wife Michele. They teach dog lovers how to become excellent dog trainers using a unique philosophy and system of training. He is also the host of a weekly radio show, Dog Works Radio where people all over the world call in to ask questions of Robert and other dog trainers. About The Long Leash Thank you for joining us. If you have enjoyed listening, please SUBSCRIBE so you’ll never miss out! Check out Dog Podcast Network for other dog-adjacent shows https://shows.dogpodcastnetwork.com/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/DogPodcastNetwork/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/dogpodcastnet Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dogpodcastnetwork/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR9QKdd9KLXbb-6xOi250fw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donna Dees worked for U.S. Senator from Louisiana Russell Long. She was David Letterman’s publicist on the Late Show. In 1999, she was birthing the anti-gun violence movement that would culminate with the Million Mom March. Glamour Magazine named her Woman of the Year for 2000. And right smack in the middle of all that, her husband asked for a divorce. They had two small daughters. How was she going to spin this?? The high-powered word magician leveraged her daughters' yearning for a dog. With no guarantee it would ease their pain, she told them the bad news: they were getting a divorce ... immediately followed by the good news: they were getting a dog. The resulting search for the perfect dog proved all-absorbing. Her adventure of finding, adopting, and living with Daisy Don't-Call-Her-the-Divorce-Dog is twisty fun. This is a soul-deep conversation about how dogs are the perfect companions for humans of all ages ... and about how we humans cope with tragedy. Chapters: 0:00 Welcome to The Long Leash 02:35 On the Job PhD in Politics Working for U.S. Senator Russell Long 04:45 Publicizing Stupid Tricks and Trailblazing for Working Moms at The Late Show with David Letterman 06:20 Tragedy in LA Leads to the Birth of the Million Mom March 08:50  Personal Tragedy of Divorce – Can It Be Softened with a Dog? 09:45 Don’t Call Her Daisy the Divorce Dog! 10:18 Divorce Lawyers Leverage Daisy’s Vet Bills for Billable Hours 11:45  Telling the Kids the Divorce and New Dog News 13:36 Two Dogs. Which One To Choose? The Kids Decide, and Custody Is Arranged 18:55 Daisy Saves a Golden Retriever From Drowning … But the Kids Demand Proof 21:18 Leaving CBS After a Record-Long Career 22:36 Daisy Doesn’t Seem Well 25:05 Tuesdays with Daisy: Quality of Life for the Best Pup Ever 26:25 Goodbye, Wonderful Darling Dear Daisy 29:32 Next up for Donna Dees: Documentary Film Making About Donna Dees Donna Dees is a career publicity expert. She started on Capitol Hill with U.S. Senator Russell Long before joining David Letterman. In 1999 Dees watched the coverage of the shooting at the Los Angeles Jewish Community Center. It made her angry, and sad, and she vowed to use her skills to do something. Within nine months she had birthed the anti-gun violence movement ... and organized the Million Mom March on Mother's Day, 2000. Glamour Magazine named her Woman of the Year.   Dees coauthored a book about her experience called Looking for a Few Good Moms: How One Mother Rallied a Million Others Against the Gun Lobby. Dees recently ended a thirty-plus year career at CBS ... and is currently conjuring a documentary on creatives in New Orleans. About The Long Leash Thank you for joining us. If you have enjoyed listening, please SUBSCRIBE so you’ll never miss out! Check out Dog Podcast Network for other dog-adjacent shows. Follow us in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Casey Isaacson had a problem. Her boyfriend was cool with her dog at first … until he wasn’t. Why’d she waste so much time on someone who would never fit into her life? Casey’s sister, Leigh, felt her pain. The two sisters created a dating app called Dig. On Dig, dog people find each other based on the most important criteria … compatibility with the soulmates who already occupy their hearts and beds. Leigh Isaacson, Co-Founder and CEO of Dig, joins host James Jacobson on this Loose Leader episode. They talk about what dog lovers are looking for when they look for love, how the app works, and why they don’t let users search by breed. It’s a fascinating off leash interview about what happens when start a business around bringing a new person – and a new dog – into your life. About Leigh Isaacson  Leigh Isaacson and her sister Casey created the dating app called Dig. Dig connects dog-people through one thing that’s already crucial to them—their love for dogs. A former TV journalist, Isaacson also teaches at Tulane University in their Homeland Security Studies Master’s Program. https://digdates.com/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If someone wanted to create a mold of a serious journalist, they would use Martha Teichner as the model. Her career started in 1977, and she has reported on every topic you can think of. Her incredible voice and poised presence has been the vehicle through which we’ve learned about war, apartheid, pandemics, politics, and so much more. Since 1993, Teichner enters our living rooms every week as a correspondent on CBS Sunday Morning. For many, hearing her voice is like attending a delicious brunch where everything you want is served … from bagels and lox to waffles and whipped cream to roast beef and Yorkshire puddings. Plus: a champagne bar and good, strong coffee. So, when Teichner’s first book was published, many were surprised. It wasn’t about politics, or behind the scenes at the network, or about her work overseas. For decades Martha Teichner brought us the world, but in her memoir, she brings us her world. When Harry Met Minnie is about her dog, Minnie, and Minnie’s introduction to a new friend, Harry. Step into this picture postcard of a tale, in which a chance encounter with an old friend at the Union Square Greenmarket leads to Teichner’s brilliant new friendship with a dying woman named Carol Fertig, and to a love match for Minnie with Carol’s elderly dog, Harry. They say that we don’t rescue dogs, but they rescue us … and it often feels like we are fated to be together. In Teichner’s case, the guiding hand of fate is evident from the first moment she hears Carol’s name to meeting Harry, to the moment of Minnie’s death several years later. And all along the way, this remarkable storyteller details how she came to understand the real meaning of love. Of living life fully. Of being part of life, even when your life has shrunk to exist only within the four walls of a NYC apartment. Whether you believe in fate or not, if you believe in friends, and you believe in dogs, this episode is a must-listen. About Martha Teichner  Martha Teichner has been a correspondent for “CBS Sunday Morning” since December 1993, where she’s equally adept at covering major breaking national and international news stories as she is handling in-depth cultural and arts topics. Since joining CBS News in 1977, Teichner has earned multiple national awards for her original reporting, including twelve Emmy Awards and five James Beard Foundation Awards. Teichner was also part of team coverage of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, which earned CBS News a 2014 duPont-Columbia Award. Teichner was born in Traverse City, Michigan. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. She attended the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business Administration. Teichner resides in New York City.  https://celadonbooks.com/book/when-harry-met-minnie/    Social Media  @CeladonBooks @CBSSunday  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paul Owens, AKA the original Dog Whisperer, wants you to breathe. Oxygenating the blood and calming the mind is essential to being a good dog trainer. It’s also a simple, fast, minute-by-minute way to be kind to yourself. And he’s all about kindness. Paul’s positive, force-free training techniques work. Why? Because he uses behavioral science, as do “about 50%” of dog trainers working today. But his scientific understanding of the way neurons learn isn’t the only tool he uses. He also approaches dogs – and people – as natural friends and companions. Science, rooted in kindness and compassion. Join host James Jacobson for an insightful, often funny conversation with a trainer who, by his own admission, has had an epiphany. You might just learn something yourself by the end of this episode. And that will be good, for you, and for your dog. About Paul Owens  Paul Owens, the “original” Dog Whisperer, has been training dogs for over 45 years. Once a classical trainer who used choke collars and shame-based techniques, he has found a new and better way. Now Paul is one of the world’s leading proponents of positive, force-free, nonviolent animal training.  His books and DVDs have been translated into several languages and sold over 600,000 units worldwide. His message of kind and compassionate dog training has reached more than 5 million people through his products, articles, classes, seminars, and television and print interviews.  He is the best-selling author of The Dog Whisperer: A Compassionate Non-violent Approach To Dog Training, The Puppy Whisperer and The Dog Whisperer Presents Good Habits for Great Dogs.  Paul Owens, The "Original" Dog Whisperer: https://originaldogwhisperer.com/dog-whisperer/  A reminder to breathe: Don't Forget to Breathe - Paul Owens, the Original Dog Whisperer Paul’s eulogy for Molly: Paul's Eulogy For Moly - Paul Owens (originaldogwhisperer.com) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here’s an unexpected perk Mark Bomback got for writing The Art of Racing in the Rain: he got to make people cry. The prolific screenwriter is more accustomed to writing big action movies, where trains blow up and buildings fall. But after his script about a dog narrating his last canine incarnation was released, he saw people crying on planes as they watched it on in-flight entertainment. The movie, which stars Kevin Costner as Enzo, and Milo Ventimiglia as his human, was released right in a weird time for the movie business. We had just stopped going to the theaters and started streaming films instead. Now that The Art of Racing in the Rain is on Disney+, more folks are seeing it and it’s sparking a real conversation. Do dogs reincarnate as humans, as the book the movie is based upon posits? Join host James Jacobson for a conversation about love, dogs, and art. It’s a special conversation with a special artist whose movie is the Terms of Endearment for dog lovers. About Mark Bomback  In 1994 Mark Bomback got his first job: as an assistant for Eagles' guitarist Glenn Frey. He held that job for a year before going on to become a screenwriter. His first credited screenplay was The Night Caller (1998). He has since gone on to co-write the scripts for numerous blockbuster films, including Live Free or Die Hard (2007), The Wolverine (2013) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014). He's also done uncredited rewrites on several other high-profile films, such as Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), Logan (2017) and The Mummy (2017.) His most recent project is the crime drama miniseries Defending Jacob produced by Apple TV+  The Art of Racing in the Rain on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1478839/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even if you can't watch dogs on film without crying, you'll love this joyful, funny conversation. It's a backlot tour of the film industry with Wendy Mitchell, author of Citizen Canine: Dogs in the Movies. The insider and journalist has sniffed out the juiciest behind-the-scenes La-la-land tales. She dishes on everything and everybody, canine AND human. You'll laugh about how Lassie's casting went terribly wrong, or how Toto replaced a human actor in a dog suit ... and you'll cry about how Charlie Chaplin's dog died. These and many more stories show how many of the angels in this city wear fur and walk on four legs. Wendy Mitchell is a contributing editor for film business magazine Screen International. She has been a staff writer and editor at Entertainment Weekly, IndieWire and Rolling Stone and has written for The Guardian, Variety, Time Out New York, the New York Daily News, The Wall Street Journal, Glamour and Billboard. She consults for film festivals including San Sebastian, Rotterdam and Goteborg. Wendy Mitchell: https://www.filmwendy.com/writing Wendy’s giant list of films with dogs: https://www.filmwendy.com/dogs-in-film Watch James meditate with Amber live on CNN: CNN on dog meditation with James Jacobson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you find your heart's work in the middle of heartbreak? James Jacobson finds out by speaking with Dr. Peter Rork, pilot-turned-orthopedic-surgeon-turned-shelter-dog-rescuer. The founder of Dog Is My CoPilot traces his personal history and how it intersects with the personal histories of the thousands of dogs he's flown to their forever homes. Along the way, you'll get glimpses of wild mountain ranges and bluebird skies. Fly high and listen in for a conversation that perfectly captures what it is to be a human who loves dogs.    To find out more about Dr. Rork's nonprofit, go to dogcopilot.org   And don't forget, charity starts at home, so Dr. Rork hopes you will support your local shelter! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and White House social expert, Jennifer Pickens joins James Jacobson in conversation on this episode of The Long Leash. Jennifer Pickens shares some spectacular stories about one of the most historic homes in the world and all of its four-legged inhabitants. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of The Long Leash, Historian-in-Residence at the Presidential Pet Museum, Andrew Hager, shares some fascinating stories about dogs in the White House. He talks to James Jacobson about everything from a presidential dog named Satan to one who could have been the key to preventing a nuclear catastrophe.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is from our sister podcast, Dog Cancer Answers: Could you imagine being able to build an open relationship with your vet? One where you feel comfortable discussing the use of herbs and supplements in place of chemicals and drugs? Believe it or not, it is possible, and this week’s episode tells our listeners how they can do exactly that. Dr. Judy Morgan discusses how pet parents can build stronger relationships with their dog’s medical care team, how to find a great vet if you need one, how to communicate your needs as a client, and everything else that goes into finding and keeping an exceptional team of medical professionals at every stage of your dog’s life! So, listen closely as Dr. Judy provides an abundance of tips that you won’t want to miss!  View more useful links and show notes on Dog Cancer Answers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

March 2020: the pandemic forces our economy into a temporary coma. As our horror mounted at the number of cases, and as the shut-down lingered, dog parents confined to home recognized a secondary health crisis building. What to do about pets who NEED trimming when all the groomers are shut down? Through the clever use of a timeline and inclusion of real life stories, her book serves as a flashlight in the darkness of 2020. Oh, and if you are wondering what is “floof” - listen to the episode and find out Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dogs on Deployment is akin to a dating service that matches military personnel who are about to deploy with volunteers who will look after their pets while they are away on deployment. Alisa Johnson, the organization's co-founder and president discusses the triumphs and challenges of building and maintaining a national non-profit that has helped over 2,000 dog loving service members find a temporary home for their dogs while they were away defending the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the first episode of The Long Leash. To start things off, our guest today is Rob Schwartz who was once described as a "CEO's Creative Director." In other words, the rare creative person who is fascinated by all aspects of a business and finds ways to create breakthrough platforms and campaigns that get results and build brands. So can dogs help elect a President? Listen to this episode to find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices