Samantha Johnson - Everyday Kindness & Pawsitive Change
I cannot wait for you to hear this week’s guest who may be a bit of a kindred spirit to some of you animal lovers out there. Her empathy spans from human to canine. It's Samantha Johnson of Pack Life LA. She's a rad dog trainer. And I'm going to go ahead and call her up puppy pack activist.
Samantha started her business with the help of her business partner and pup, Baloo. It was catalysed by her rescue pit bull, Lily, who was abused, reactive, and transformed into a completely different dog after being rehabilitated and socialized in a pack alongside Baloo.
Samantha has shadowed and worked with various trainers and was a trainer at Caesar Millan's Dog Psychology. From pre-med to dog training, Samantha's journey is one of somebody who cares deeply about everyday kindness, healthy relationships between humans and animals, and creating realistic goals and expectations for both people and pups.
Samantha and her family always have a foster among the pack, and one of her passions is creating more awareness for our relationships to our dogs, more fostering opportunities, and positive impact beyond the home pack life. She helps dogs, families, rescues, and prison populations. Yep. You heard that right. And prison populations. It's just as interesting as it sounds.
As a former dog mom and aspiring to one day again be a dog mom, I've learned a ton from following Samantha and Pack Life LA online and I think you will enjoy what this empathetic soul has to say in this episode of the podcast.
Key Talking Points of the Episode:
Meet Samantha Johnson
Being born empathetic
Privilege and the responsibility of those who have it to create more equity in the world
The intersection of human and dog psychology
Two birds one stone; dog and inmate rehabilitation
The positive influences in Samantha’s life
Samantha’s advice to people who care a lot
Key Milestones of the Episode:
[04:00] Meet Samantha Johnson
[07:00] Samantha’s entrance into the rescue world
[10:00] An innate sensitivity to the world
[13:00] Having privilege is having a responsibility to help others
[15:00] Getting dogs for the right reasons
[17:00] The intersection of human and dog psychology
[19:30] Samantha’s passion; Marley’s Mutts Pawsitive Change Program
[22:00] Dog and inmate rehabilitation
[25:00] Men’s prison vs girls’ juvenile programs
[29:00] The impact of dog training in prison
[30:00] Awareness; the dog at the end of the leash is a reflection of how you’re feeling
[32:00] Samantha’s mindset and the power of the consumer
[37:00] Everyday kindness, and someone Samantha looks up to
[39:00] How inmates have changed Samantha’s life
[43:00] Samantha’s advice to listeners; rest
[46:00] Boundaries, balance, and letting yourself lean on others
[49:00] More about supporting the Pawsitive Change Program
Standout Quotes from the Episode:
“I think that when you’re more affected by things, or open, you have more of craving to change it.”
“And I just remember being like, I'm going to change the world. Like, I always like wanted to do that but had no idea, you know, how I would.”
“From a young age, I understood that that was I was born lucky. I didn't do anything to deserve this. So, if someone else is born in a different situation, they didn't do anything to deserve that, but they had a harder deck. So, like, it's my responsibility to help them with that.”
“You know, we really just don't necessarily take the time to understand dogs… I mean, literally you could scroll your Instagram and the amount of memes you see that like honestly encourage unhealthy behavior in dogs. Or I think nowadays, we really think that all dogs can handle being our emotional support and it's just not- or they're being labeled as that or being required to do that and it's, you know, it sounds harsh but it's really unfair to put on all dogs.”
“All anyone really needs is knowing that somebody cares about them.”
“Prison is a great way to make a criminal to be honest… It’s a problem when prison becomes a business, which it is in America.”
“If a dog has separation anxiety, the best thing you can do is help it be ok not being around you. Not cuddle it and worry about why it has separation anxiety and allow it to be next to you all the time.”
“The dog at the end of the leash is a reflection of how you’re feeling.”
Mentioned in the Episode:
Marley’s Mutts Pawsitive Change Program
Pawsitive Change Program on Instagram
Connect with Samantha:
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Created, Produced, Hosted & Edited by: Randi Johns
Music by: Tefty & Meems
