Our StoryWelcome to the Pawplexity Pawdcast.
The Pawplexity Pawdcast is a conversation about everyday life with dogs.
Not training sessions or problem cases, but ordinary situations: leaving the house, going to the vet, not eating, growing up, growing older.
Each episode starts with something small and follows it a little further than we usually do. Because many of the important parts of living with dogs are easy to miss while they are happening.
One German. One Brit. And one American.
Three very different dogs — and three lives forever changed by them.
It started as a conversation among friends about life with dogs — the easy parts, the difficult ones, and the moments that leave you slightly puzzled. We don’t try to solve everything. We stay with the questions, the stories, and the small things that happen when humans and dogs share a life. Come listen. And if something sounds familiar, you’re very welcome to join the conversation.
For those moments where a question doesn’t quite settle, some of the thinking continues in the Pawplexity Bookshelf.
Pawplexity Pawdcast episodes are published every other Wednesday.
Available wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Annika — the German
with her Shiba Inu girl Makenzie
Annika never planned on getting a dog. A move from Germany to Seattle at the very start of the pandemic changed that. My husband had fallen hard for the Shiba Inu breed, and despite plenty of people telling us this was not the obvious choice for first-time dog owners with absolutely no experience, we did it anyway.
Makenzie arrived with opinions and no interest in being managed. Independent, observant, and unimpressed by shortcuts, she forced me to learn quickly, mostly by ignoring anything that didn’t make sense to her. Since then, there have been international moves and a hip dysplasia diagnosis and our plans and expectations towards our life together changed. These days, Makenzie splits her time between Munich and Taormina, getting the best out of both worlds, squirrels and lucertole included.
She has been the most patient teacher, whether I felt ready for the lesson or not.
Ben — the Brit
with his Pomsky boy Bowie
Ben always wanted a Husky. City life made that unrealistic, so he went looking for the closest possible alternative and found a Pomsky puppy instead. Bowie arrived blue-eyed, confident, and very comfortable being admired.
Living in Canada, far away from his family dogs, made getting one of his own feel overdue. When Ben moved back to the UK, Bowie flew with him to London. These days, they move through the city like they’ve always been there, Jubilee line included. Bowie charms strangers without trying. He also pays close attention to who’s who in any room, especially if food is involved. At family gatherings, even his Malinois uncle seems to have accepted how things work.
The dog you picture at first isn’t always the one you end up with, and sometimes that turns out to be the point.
Bruce — the American
with his Pomeranian boy Judge
Bruce grew up with dogs in the US, but Judge is his first dog of his own. He didn’t ease into it. What started as a search for a Rottweiler ended with a Pomeranian puppy who came with a passport, a job, and a level of seriousness no one was expecting.
Judge is a registered service dog and goes wherever Bruce goes, no matter if planes, pubs, or busy streets. After two years in London, where Judge fell very obviously in love with Makenzie, they moved back to Jersey. Not long after, a tiny cat rescued from a hot parking lot joined the household. Judge watched and waited, and eventually decided Nipsey could stay. Since that decision was made, Max, a Chihuahua puppy and Patches, another rescue cat sister joined his happy family.
Sometimes responsibility arrives quietly and then reshapes everything.
E6: The dog you actually live with
We often begin with an idea of what a dog will be like. But living with them tends to shift that picture. This episode explores why breed descriptions rarely capture the full reality of the individual dog.
E5: When your dog doesn’t eat
When a dog doesn’t eat, the empty bowl can feel heavier than expected. This episode explores why appetite is not always straightforward, and how eating is shaped as much by context, environment, and experience as it is by hunger itself.
E4: Leaving your dog alone
Leaving your dog is often framed as routine — something they simply need to learn. But the experience begins long before the door closes. This episode explores how dogs perceive separation, the signals they read, and why absence is not just about time, but about presence, anticipation, and return.
E3: We are going to the vet
Vet visits are often described as routine. But for dogs, clinics can become powerful places of memory and fear. In this episode we talk about restraint, advocacy, and what happens when your dog says no in the exam room.
E2: The instructions we leave for our pet sitters
Pet sitter instructions often begin as a simple list. But many dog owners recognise the moment when the document quietly grows longer. In this episode we talk about why those notes often become more than logistics — and what they reveal about our dogs, our routines, and the difficulty of leaving.
E1: We thought we were ready - our truth about puppyhood
We thought we were ready. We had the books, the schedules, and the structure. What we didn’t expect was how unsettling puppyhood could feel — especially when everyone else described our dogs as “easy.” In this first Pawplexity Pawdcast episode, we talk about the early weeks that didn’t match the picture: mistaking quiet for calm, confusing predictability with safety, and the pressure to get everything right.