Listen, Learn but ALWAYS Laugh: How a little dog podcast changed our lives
By Steve Goodall
Image: Barks From logo and picture of the team in Brighton UK.
Many of you may know about our podcast “Barks from the Bookshelf” but for those who don’t, I thought I’d write a short piece about it as means of an introduction to those who haven’t found us yet. Back in late 2019, long before we took over the running of PACT, Myself and Nat sat in a pub and pondered about making a podcast. I have been an avid podcast fan from nearly day one and I always wanted to make one and, after a small dabbling with a show called the Barking Mad Show I was convinced we could make something special. There were already a fair few great podcasts out there about dog training but we wanted to do something a little different.
Most of the dog pods we loved followed the same one to one interview format so we thought we’d try and combine our love for dogs, reading and learning (as well as a good dose of our own personalities and friendship) and Barks from the Bookshelf was born. We set about writing a list of our favourite dog training and behaviour books and tentatively sent an email out to all the authors requesting an interview about their books. Much to our surprise nearly everyone said YES! I also set about writing a theme song and some little musical snippets that I would pepper throughout as another way of adding something different from other shows.
Image: Logo’s from previous Barks from Episodes
Our very first episode/interview was a massive coup as it featured Turid Rugaas and her wonderful book “On Talking Terms with Dogs”. We’d been told that Turid didn’t do a lot of interviews so both Nat and myself were excited and nervous in equal measure. After the first episode was in the can we went from strength to strength interviewing Ken Ramirez, Patricia McConnell, Clive Wynne, Jean Donaldson, Marc Bekoff and Zazie Todd (to name but a few).
Image: Screenshot from the recording on the Melissa interview
Then something really wonderful happened. We started getting recommendations of books to check out, so we did. Thus started a period of time that still persists where Nat and myself read, what feels like, a million books a year! This led us to finding wonderful humans in the dog world that we may never have connected with like: Jessica Pierce, Sassafras Lowrey, Cat Warren and Maria Goodavidge. It was during this time that we made a true friend through the podcast in Melissa McCue McGrath that led to her coming over from the states, visiting us and even delivering a DOGx highlight talk last year.
We often get asked what episode is our favourite and, although, that is an impossible question to answer, I do have a very fond memory of the episode we recorded with Jesse Freidin and Dr, Robert Garofalo about their book “When Dogs Heal”. A departure from our usual reviews this book was all about people living with HIV and how dogs had helped them navigate through their experiences. I wasn’t prepared for just how beautiful the book was with it’s amazing photography portraits and emotionally charged true stories that hit you like a tonne of bricks. The interview took me through all the emotions and we’ll forever be grateful to both Jesse and Robert for spending this time with us.
Other highlights have been interviewing the awesome illustrator Lili Chin and having a bespoke “Barks from” illustration drawn by her that now features as our logo. Speaking to wonderful dog professionals like: Sindhoor Pangal, Andrew Hale, Danielle Beck, Grisha Stewart and many, many more has been an absolute privilege. This little podcast has grown from strength to strength and has introduced to so many people we now consider true friends. It is constantly humbling how many people want to share ideas and talk about dogs.
Image: Greg Walace Moment
We also had the pleasure of receiving a post card from MasterChef’s Greg Wallace (pictured above). We have a section on the show called the “Greg Wallace Moment” which we talk about the biggest WOW moment of each book and Nat’s husband Jay tipped him off and we received this wonderful gift!
We have now been bolstered by the addition of Corrin who comes along and joins the team from time to time and this has only made the podcast better. We also have a brilliant listenership (affectionately called the “Bookshelvers”) that get involved in asking questions and general banter. Over the last few weeks we’ve had the pleasure of talking to two vets… Cat the Vet and Chris Little so we are really excited to hear what everyone thinks about these upcoming episodes (Cat’s one got released today)!
So there it is… A true labour of love and something that enables us to learn, laugh and grow together as well as spreading the word and knowledge about dogs throughout the ether.
If you’ve never heard it give it a listen. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or follow this link: https://www.pact-dogs.com/barksfrom