025 | Marissa Martino & Sully, on why “fixing” your dog’s behavior as a way out of discomfort won’t work

After she had gotten several shoutouts on the podcast already, it was about time I interview the one and only Marissa Martino of Paws and Reward herself. Or rather, I got lucky enough to have her on the show.

If I were you, I would listen to this show twice. There are so many gems in there.

Listen to it once, just to absorb what Marissa is saying, and then listen again and ask yourself how what she says applies to you and your situation. It will be time well spent.

Marissa describes how unlike many others on this podcast her road to dog training did not start with a challenging dog. Her dog training journey started before she ever had a dog.

She now focuses heavily on the human end of the leash, and mindset in particular (can you guess why I wanted to talk to her?). The spark that lit that particular fire was provided by a therapist who managed to point out how strategies Marissa already used with her dog training clients could also apply in her own life.

Once Pandora’s box of parallels had been opened Marissa couldn’t unsee these parallels between the connections with our dog and the connections we have with others and ourselves anymore. The rest as they say is history.

We talk about the power of turning questions around. If I believe my client/dog is not listening to me, how is it true that I am not listening to them?

About how knowledge is both power and very confronting and often uncomfortable. We talk about how that discomfort often leads us to play the blame game and the power of embracing discomfort.

As I keep hearing conflicting opinions on whether LIMA (Least Intrusive Minimally Aversive) as a training philosophy is “good” or “bad”, because the humane hierarchy it is based on mentions positive punishment, I ask Marissa about that too.

Fittingly enough, Marissa is also the first person on the show to describe which feeling the words expectation, frustration and celebration trigger for her.

Of course, showing up throughout the story is Sully, who was a senior dog when he recently passed away.

Links:

Marissa’s website: https://pawsandreward.com/

Marissa on Instagram: @pawsandreward

Marissa’s book, Human-Canine Behavior Connection: https://pawsandreward.com/book/

Humane Society of Boulder Valley: https://www.boulderhumane.org/

LIMA and the humane hierarchy: https://m.iaabc.org/about/lima/hierarchy/

The Paws and Reward Podcast episode with Chris Pachel Marissa mentions detailing the humane hierarchy: Episode 47: The Humane Hierarchy with Dr. Chris Pachel

Pet harmony offers mentorships for dog trainers: https://petharmonytraining.com/

Sarah Stremming’s website: https://thecognitivecanine.com/