How to take Military Skills into the Civilian World with Joshua Araujo | SOURCE

We're recording and, uh, again, we'll just take it easy. Hey, I wanna welcome everybody to The Source Podcast, man. It's an honor to be here sitting here with Josh. The funny thing is, is like me and Josh go everywhere together, but we're always working separate and we never get time together. The last time I saw Josh was we were at the symposium this year. And we were in the airport and, you know, crossing paths, flying out to other places in the country, and then have the privilege to jump online together and feed a little bit of information to our listeners.

That's awesome.

Yes, sir.

Thanks for the opportunity, by the way. I appreciate it, man.

It's, you know, I say it's more of a blessing for me and our people than it ever is for you. So absolutely. But I'll take the full honor with that for sure.

I appreciate it. Thank you.

All right, so everybody, welcome to our long-form podcast, which we release every Friday. As you guys know, those that follow us, those that, you know, listen and learn at least one thing on our podcast each and every Friday. And, uh, again, I'm, I'm honored to be here with Josh. I'm gonna give him the floor for just a minute so he can introduce himself, and then we're gonna dive into making that transition, moving from military life into the civilian world. And I think, man, that's a topic that probably millions of people are wondering what they're going to do next when they leave the military. Hopefully you shed some light on that. So, Josh, take the floor for just a minute.

I appreciate it. It is scary. But first and foremost, hey everybody, how you doing? My name is Joshua Raggio. I am the co-owner of Paws and Footprints Training Academy. First American born in my family. My family is from Brazil, which is why you see this this, uh, who are you face, right? You can never pin the ethnicity on it. Um, Marine Corps veteran, trained dogs of the Marine Corps, worked dogs of the Marine Corps. I was part of the program, I was part of SSD, Specialized Search Dog. And then after that, transitioned over to, uh, TSA. I did that for 4 years, and my wife and I created Positive Footprints Training Academy since 2021. Um, been at it since then, love it. It's a blessing. I'll tell you that I'm not a bite guy. All of that stuff is for the cool kids. The psychology of things in detection is like my bread and butter. That's my forte. That's my passion.

Man, that's awesome. I have to ask you before we like really jump into this, where did the name come from?

Positive Footprints?

Yeah.

You know, it's hilarious. So my wife and I, we sat down and we were just thinking about how to be creative with the name, right? How to stand out. And I have to give kudos to my wife, Rachel Stude. And she literally sat down, she's like, what about paws and footprints? What about just like the minimalist idea, right? Not saying that the idea itself is small, but like the style of minimalism. And I was like, paws and footprints. Well, if you want to forego the bureaucracy, right? Well, we're not alpha, alpha canine or whatever. How about just really focus on what we care about, which is the paws, the dogs, of course, and the footprints, the people walking that path, man. So my wife created that name, Positive Focus Training Academy. It had a ring to it. At first it sounded kind of soft, right? As I tried to digest it, it sounded kind of soft. But then I saw it was actually like poetic in its own nature because it's simple. It's what we focus on and it's what we care about.

Man, that's awesome, man. And, you know, I think it's a hard thing, right, for you not only to create something, but you create something with your spouse. And, you know, I would be the first to talk against that because of, you know, I've just seen—

I get it—

relationships ruined by it. But you seem to have grown tremendously, not only in a business but obviously with your wife, by giving her kudos to even just start this today.

Yeah, man, I'll tell you right now, look, um, I understand the advice, by the way, and I'll tell you, for most people, or if not for everyone, I would say always err on the side of caution. Right. She might be coming through the door right now, smacking me. So just one second. Just keep recording, you know? But no, man, look, I married my best friend in 2016. This is like— this might get too personal, but in 2016, I had like a cancer scare while I was in the Marine Corps. Didn't have anybody. All my family's in Brazil. Didn't have anybody take care of me at that time. Rachel, who was just a friend of mine, stepped up to the plate and took care of me. And more importantly, she was taking care of my Dutch Shepherd, who— that's all— that was my focal point. I was like, hey, don't worry about me, just take care of my dog. And while I was in that month of bed rest, man, like, I had nothing to give back, and she gave me everything. So like, to be here today saying, hey, that she's my wife, saying we did a business, and that's just a small success due to her from all the sacrifices she made prior to that, you know what I mean, man?

That's awesome, man. That, that story right there in and of itself preaches, right? That's That's awesome. Yeah, for sure.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, she, she's awesome. You, you gotta meet her sometime. I actually look forward to seeing you meet her sometime.

Yeah, for sure, man. I'll, I'll have to take a special trip down there to, to meet you guys. That's nice.

Please do.

Yeah. My wife is, uh, involved and not involved, you know, she gets to pick and choose now, but I remember the ideas of starting CCU and, you know, I just thought it was great to make it a family thing. But we have also learned that we needed separation just because of being around each other all the time, and those types of things also put a strain on relationships. And so we have— we find that happy medium to, you know, when I'm traveling or even when I'm in town, we, we kind of work separate, separate locations and such because, uh, she needs it. She needs to get away from me at times, and I need to get away from her, and But married 28 years, you know, so that's a blessing.

Yeah, teach me the way, teach me the way, teach me the way. No, but time is needed, man. Like, separation is needed. Like, I think the fact that you guys can talk about it— so most people, if they're new, most people that are mature into a relationship, when they see distance, they see it as an issue. And it's not. It— distance is just essentially allowing you to step outside the box refresh yourself, refresh who you are, and then move on, right? So like, I'm a psychology guy. Even though you— even though there is— even though in a relationship there's two people together, you still need your individuality. Yeah, right. So because your, your identity, just like in dog handling, your identity starts molding in. So in a marriage, it molds. At the same time, you still need that individuality, that breath of fresh air. You can still be a husband co-owning a business Yeah, but you still have to be Josh, right? Or you still have to be AJ. So, yeah.

Hey man, people didn't think they were gonna get marriage advice on this podcast, but they are. That's great. That's great.

My bad. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

No, that's, that's the spinoff, right? Hey, call Josh if you need marriage advice, everybody. I mean, that's the— I mean, he's giving it, like, how to stay together. Awesome, man. Awesome. So how, how did you first get into— I know you were in the Marine Corps. But now my understanding is the Marine Corps doesn't have its own MOS like the Army does now.

No.

How did you get into the DAW program, the SSD program?

Man, okay. The short version to it is I was just blessed, man. I got lucky. When I got to— when I graduated MP school, I got my orders to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. At that check-in, it was just myself and 6 other, you know, brand new Marines. And I remember Sergeant Daniels, he walks in and he's asking, hey, who wants to go K-9? I already thought about that before. I've heard about it when I was in the schoolhouse. That kind of lit a little spark. And then once I look, fast forward about a month or two, once I knew K-9 had a vacancy and they wanted to take in that, they were looking at people to take in, I put my name in the hat. And then thankfully, Staff Sergeant Griffin, Whitmire and Sheridan. Those 3 people were on the board, man. And, uh, I went in there, I believe I did good because I got it, and it was just right place, right time. But I, I can tell you it wasn't just off of me. Like, I'll never say it was off of me. It wasn't like I was this cool story. No, those people saw something in me, they were willing to invest in me, and because of them I got it.

Honestly, man, that's awesome because even to this day, many years later, you still remember the people that influenced you, right?

Oh, that's for sure.

Remember my name or what I did? Yesterday, one of the key people in my life, and I think that's an important thing to remember, right? Because Josh, you're going to touch a lot of people, you know, training dogs now. And even from the pet side of things, people you don't even realize you touch. And I think that's what's so rewarding about what we do every day is we have the opportunity to minister to other people, let people see what we do and how we do it. And live lifelong or give lifelong impressions on them, just like your 3 board members gave on you. For sure.

For sure. I think it's cool, man. I think the fact that, you know, here, here's the thing, right? When people present issues with you in K9, in life, or the focus is K9, there's vulnerability and there's an opportunity there where you can either— let's talk about training, right? As a trainer, the, there's an issue with the K-9 team. I can either take that vulnerability, that point of vulnerability of saying I need help or I don't know what's going on, and either make myself be bigger than I am and make myself sound like a cool kid on the block, or I can actually dissect what's going on, help them navigate. And obviously with the experience that we have, we probably already know how to fix it, but help them unravel how to fix it.

Yeah.

Right? So like causing these footprints, no pun intended on the name, but causing these footprints, man, and like being able to show people how we can help them and navigate them. Hopefully we do leave a, a lasting impact. If not, I don't care about myself, but the information to do it can be relayed on, you know what I mean?

Yeah. Yeah. Well, 100%, like I don't do this for me. I don't do it to be honest with you for anything other than the people that I get to meet.

For sure.

Dogs bring people together from around the world. I know you know, but our listeners don't know, I'm in Mexico right now and obviously I'm Mexican, but that's not why I'm here. I'm here because dogs connected me with somebody here and I have the opportunity to further that relationship because of dogs. For sure. It's such a remarkable thing to look back over the years and realize that opportunity. Training is important, but the relationships we build are much more important than anything else. For sure.

Yeah. Actually, yeah. K9, K9 Med is a blessing. I can't complain about it.

So when you, when you, you know, you're, you delving into training, right? And you've already brought up some very valid points. You know, from the training side, right? But when you consider principles of what you operate on, and you've already told everybody that your foundation, your bread and butter is detection, right? That's what you live and die for, which I commend you for that. 'Cause everybody wants to be the— bite work, right? But when you see a dog working, a detector dog working, I mean, that's art, like, at, at the purest form. And so when you look at the principles of training, uh, what are some things that Josh lives by? And if someone comes and visits you, what are they going to see as your essential principles?

Man, okay, so obviously we talk about the whole, like, we know classical conditioning, we know operant conditioning, like, that's just, that's textbook. The principle I live by, if you were to go by me specifically, is always viewing it through a student lens. And what I mean by that is not that I don't know what I'm doing. It's the fact that I will never dismiss the fact that dog is doing something that I may not know. Right? So, so now it's like me, me observing a dog and having that student lens. I think it almost keeps me more engaged and me more like in tune with what's going on. But I'm also just trying to listen to that dog and see what that dog is providing me, right? So I think here's what I'm trying to get to is I see too many trainers having the one-size-fits-all type standard. And I do believe that we have to have a system in place because we need to have a baseline. However, when we do not deviate from that baseline because we believe all of them are uniform, the K-9s are uniform, we lose that student lens. So with me, although I do have a training style in my mind already kind of like ingrained, whenever I talk, whenever I get a dog, you'll even see it, man, my head kind of tilts and I'm just like, cool, you're doing this, but why are you doing this? What happened this? And I'm just trying to listen, if you know what I mean? I'm just trying to listen. Like you said, it's an art form. I'm just trying to see what the, what the paint, where the paintbrush is going in what direction.

Yeah, man, that's awesome. I think we can probably end the podcast with your last statement that too many trainers or people take a stance as to what's right and what's wrong.

For sure.

Oh, I, I want to do all positive training. Now, in my belief, all training should be positive, even if we're using some compulsion or some discipline, because think about you in the Marine Corps, right? You grow and you got stronger and you became a better soldier. You became a better handler through the right discipline.

For sure.

Discipline was tailored to your specific needs and the influence that had on you. It wasn't one size fits all. There was many forms of discipline that came through to make you a better soldier, make you a better handler. And in training, the same principles apply. But I also see a lot of trainers that, oh, it's only this way and that's the only way we can do things. No, it's always about the betterment for the dog and the handler. For sure. We're not taking that student loans, like you say, we're gonna miss the opportunity to make them better in some form or fashion. Not to fix every problem they have in one session. Not to, you know, get people to follow us. Because we're the best trainers ever, but really to make that impactful influence that's gonna last a lifetime, not just— for sure. Yeah.

Yeah. 100%.

100%. I mean, that's good. It's just, it's refreshing to hear that. And no, we didn't precast this on the call and talking about it, but though that principle stands true with us too, like it's, it's so important. And, but that's also wisdom, right? That's, that's your shining through.

I see, I see a lot of people, man. So yeah, 100%. It's like you can't have a one-size-fits-all with anything organic in life. You can't have a one-size-fits-all to it, um, especially when it comes to dogs, because you're dealing with the versatility of the handler in conjunction with the canine, right? All that good stuff. But like, one thing you said that, that was really cool was how all training should be positive, right? And I think that's cool because a lot of people— and I see this Obviously, because of the business, we have to be active on social media, right? And so with that, it generates a certain group of canine people within our feed. And I see a lot of people, they don't really understand the concept is if you get away from the quadrant, just because there's positive punishment in something doesn't mean you can't have a positive association to the task, right? And, and this is something like, this is something that people who oftentimes they get like their brains get fried. When I have these conversations with, and it's like positive punishment. And here's a cool thing, you think about it, uh, prong collar. I, I've used, I feel, I use prong collars. I have a prong collar on my lab, he's my cadaver dog, and I taught him to essentially follow the pressure whenever it's on. It's just follow the pressure, like I'm not going to fight you, I'm not going to pop you, it's just when it's on, right, the context, it's on, follow the pressure, man. So if the pressure, if he's going too forward and the pressure's back, lean back a little bit, right? So although in concept— now, how do I do that? Every time he associated pressure and followed pressure, I gave him food, right? So I created a positive association. Giving food is positive reinforcement, but the pinch collar itself is a positive punishment. Where people get brain fried is that they don't understand that nowhere does it state that positive punishment equals force or equals something. Yeah, right. So people tend to get like lost in this. We're like, yes, I can apply positive punishment. So essentially, don't pull on lead, follow pressure. He listens, give him a treat, positive reinforcement. But that task in itself has a positive association.

Yeah, right.

So, so super cool that you say that. You said it like all training should be positive, 100%. And like, because one thing going big based off of what you were saying earlier, man, is like Erik Erikson, right? He's a psychologist. He basically, to put it short, says at a point of contention, you can either build good behaviors or build bad behaviors. So if you look at it in a humanistic lens, take the animal out of it, is you're hungry, you're starving, you have nothing. Get a job or steal.

Yeah.

Point of contention, starvation. Right. So now you have to put— that's a point of stress. Now do you go and rewarded how? With a negative action or a positive action?

Yeah.

Same thing with dog training, bro.

Yeah. No, you're— man, it, it, it's great because again, I go back to our title, moving and making that transition. But for sure, in these first 5 or 10 minutes, I mean, we've unpacked so many things that our listeners can learn from. And it's perspective, right? Because we often get caught up in, in training as a whole. And I'm, I'm using the industry as a whole, not individuals, right? That, you know, we follow somebody or we learn this point from this person and they have an influence on us. But rewinding it back to you saying, well, you know, we got to take this lens and then we got to take the lens of just, it's not a one-size-fits-all. And from that approach, We also learned that what you're going through in your head when you're making decisions in training on the outward appearance may not look traditional in the box or the way that I may do it, but because of your perspective and utilizing a tool, utilizing pressure, your overall training plan builds the excellence because it's your training plan that gets them there. So when we step in and go, well, why are you doing that? That's wrong. This is that. We really take away the fact that it's the trainer's training plan that's gonna reach the goals that they foresee as excellence. And there's nothing better for a dog to have than to have consistency in a training plan to reach an ultimate goal, right? When we start changing a bunch of stuff and we start, you know, oh, do this or change this. It throws all that off and you never realize the pendulum, if you will, for sure, getting over the hill of changing behavior and modifying behavior because you're always just getting up to the top of the hill and sliding back down. And so realizing that and hearing it from you, your, your, your goals are realized because you're very consistent with what you do and utilizing being a master of the tools that you use. For sure. Portrayed a lot of times, man. It's crazy. The Mona Lisa.

No, I appreciate it.

Right.

Um, so I often tell people is, uh, I often tell people this is everyone complains, everyone complains on how a highway is built until it's built.

Yeah, yeah.

Once it's built, everyone's like, oh man, this is awesome. But while it's being built, man, what's taking— what is— what's going on? You know what I mean? Look at what they're doing. They always critique it, but once it's done, that highway is flawless. Everyone's enjoying it.

Hey man, I live, I live just above Atlanta, so I go through Atlanta like all the time. So now I'm gonna realize that every time I'm complaining that I'm stuck in traffic because of freaking road work, so I'm gonna give them some, some leeway now because just hearing that from you now, I— that's always gonna pop in my head now.

I appreciate it. Yeah.

So, man, geez, I kind of want to stay on the training thing, but we can't do that. Like, I gotta follow, like, what, what our script is and kind of what—

yeah, my apologies, my apologies.

I love it, man. That's the point, is like, we're gonna have to rewind this in a later podcast and bring you back, and we're gonna talk some, like, get in, delve into some, some with it and psychology on, especially on detector dogs, because again, man, that's I love it, man. I love that perspective. We do bite dogs, we do protection dogs and all that stuff, but really the psychology of a true detector dog is to me, I can sit up and watch that all day long.

I mean, yeah, I appreciate it. Yeah, I love it. I love it.

But let's talk a little bit about the MWD programs and I'm gonna use it as an overarching term.

Of course.

Dogs, all branches and such. You have a lot of experience in that. Obviously you told our listeners that you come from the Marine Corps side of things. But like I said, we were at the 2024 MWD Symposium, which has not just all the NATO partners, but all branches of military, US military and such. So what are some common misconceptions that you hear that you come across about the MWD program? Because I hear a lot like people, and I'll share this with you because I think it's kind of funny. I hear a lot of misconceptions from people that say they work with MWDs or that's what I do. But then it's, what, what do they call that? A, um, stolen valor type thing, you know? Ah, if I, if, if I've made a dollar from everybody I've heard that trains military dogs and trains police dogs, every trainer, I, I, I would be rich right now. But the, the reality is, is that you have a lot of experience in that. So, Can you tell us some, maybe some misconceptions that people have with military working dogs?

Um, I think, I think so. First of all, stolen Valor, man, I can tell you stories about that just in Texas alone, right? Like, that's, that's something that's totally different. But, uh, that's a whole different— we need a different podcast for that one right there.

That's another one. So that's true. We're gonna—

but misconceptions with military working dogs, I think people do not give enough credit or do not understand how much goes into getting that type of genetic in that specific breed, right? Like, and I, and I believe I'm hitting the mark on the question with this one. So it's like, I think a lot of people want Malinois.

Yeah.

But they don't understand what it's like to— they don't understand what it's like to have that high caliber of a Malinois that most DOD has. Nor the maintenance routine that has to be done. So I think, um, in the fad or the, the fashion of wanting all these high-speed breeds, the biggest misconception is they don't understand the reality of how high quality those dogs are. Now mind you, mistakes happen. Sometimes dogs are going to be medium drive, but even those medium drive dogs compared to the average person in civilian, that's a lot of dog for them. So I think the misconception is oftentimes of how easy it can be to handle, right? Or yeah, just how easy this can be or how easy it is to get in the market. I think people think that's too easy to, oh, I can do that with my dog. And it's like, man, there's a skill behind these guys. These guys go through, and they do, man, they go through a lot of training. They have people like yourself, people like ourselves who go there and try to help them out as much as we can. And they have all these resources. But I would say, long story short, the biggest misconception would be, um, how easy it is or how difficult it is to get that high caliber of dog, if you want to call it.

Yeah, yeah. And I think you're absolutely right, right? People don't understand. They see TikTok or social media, right? And they just think that it's fun playing with dogs. But the reality is, is that these guys and girls live and die with those dogs. And, and I don't mean that in a, in a graphic way, but I, but their training, their missions matter for sure. You know? And I think sometimes we get lost in the caption that, you know, dogs are cool and it's great to be on social media and to show these things, but they're training for a whole different purpose that sometimes we lose ourselves in unless, you know, It's Veterans Day or something like that, right? So, yeah, every training session matters for these guys and girls, um, and for these dogs. And they don't get a chance sometimes to make a second impression 'cause it's all for real. You know, we don't get to set up the box and go, okay, well, this is, this is the problem you have to solve and these are the parameters. It's wide open. The world is is ugly, and there's no rule in what they're— in the game that they're playing. So they have to prepare for so many things that can be thrown at them. And like you said, the countless hours that go— that goes into that, it's, it's, it's remarkable.

We see it, man. And, and sorry, forgive me, but we see it all the time. Like, even military side. Now, I'll share stories. I have a bad habit of liking to share stories, but Um, I have, I have my own cadaver dogs, right? So my wife has one, I have one. You don't know how many people say, hey, I want to have a cadaver dog. And it's like, no, you don't. You know, I say, no, you don't. And they're like, why? I said, well, if you find the body, the parents, the parents or the loved ones yell at you. If you don't find the body, they still yell at you. The news wants your face, right? Like, it's just one of those things where people think I think people are so fixated to, to the time back to military working dogs. I think people are so tied into the title that they don't understand the work.

Yeah. That's right.

So that's like, man.

Yeah. It's a huge commitment, not just financially, but also time-wise on what it takes to maintain these dogs and at the caliber that you're, you're providing those services. They don't, yeah. You're, you might be on a search for, you know, a day or two, but the countless hours that went into being able to, to provide that service for that duration of time and at the level of reliability that they need to— people don't see all that work that you put in to, to get to that point. You don't just pick up the doll from the shelf and take them out and then put them back on the shelf, right?

Yeah, no, you can't. Your house will be destroyed.

That's right, that's right. And so now, you know, you took all this experience in the military, part of the SSD program. Could you briefly just share what the SSD program is? Because I don't think a lot of people, or there's gonna be people that don't know exactly what that is.

So, um, SSD stands for Specialized Search Dog. It's, uh, it was a beautiful program. I know they since evolved and modified it into something, as any program should, right? Um, It's— they modified something else, but specialized search dog is an off-leash detection dog. It has an on and off-leash detection capability with radios. The area of focus was to work with flight discipline for the Marines and sound discipline for the dogs, meaning the dogs aren't always barking, always in that like, like barking, right, profusely. They knew how to search in environments that required a little more discipline.

Okay.

I loved it. My first— I was trained with an old Israeli dog. Her name was Yonah, tattoo number Kilo 517. Man, best dog, worst handler, right? Like, honestly, taught me so much. I learned so much from her. When I went to Lackland Air Force Base in 2014 for the SSD program, we had just— in 2014, the Army and the Marine Corps pulled away from the IDD program.

Yeah.

So we got an excess of their dogs. So we had to convert those dogs into SSDs. And then in 2000, effectively at the end of 2014, we evolved it into SSD. At that time, it was called Alpha and Bravo, which is its own program in itself. But talk about versatility, talk about adaptability. Uh, very cool program. Went from MALS German Shepherds and gradually evolved to your hunting dogs, right? Your Labs, GSPs.

Yep.

Um, and from what I've understand— from what I understand, that's kind of the cycle. It went from MALs into GSPs and labs, and it just kind of rotates. But yeah, SSD, long story short, on and off leash capability, uh, radios on dogs, really honing in on the EOD capability as well with those K9s.

Nice, nice. And so all that experience from working and training and, and all that and going through the Marine Corps, that discipline, that lifestyle, right? There comes a time when every career ends, you know, whether it's a 20-year career or 4-year career or 5-year, whatever it may be, but it always comes to an end. And now, as a soldier, now it's time to transition to the civilian world.

Yeah.

Was that hard for you?

Was it— forgive me, you cut out. I'm sorry.

No, was that difficult for you to make that transition, thinking back now?

100%. I think, um, so transitioning from— well, like, you know, they always say once a Marine, always a Marine, but the reality of it is, like, once you let go of the uniform, you're no longer Sergeant Araujo, Sergeant so-and-so, you're just Josh. And the reality of it is, once you get out Nobody cares about what you did in the military, right? So for me, it was extremely difficult. I danced, I danced the devil a little bit, man. And this means just being transparent, as transparent can be. I danced the devil a little bit. It was difficult. If it wasn't for my wife and my dogs, honestly, I don't know if I would be here today to have this conversation with you. It was tough because ego, ego was my— ego is the enemy in any aspect, any circumstance. I didn't realize that until I got out, right? I was Sergeant Rajo. I was the supervisor over the SSD program. I was giving briefs to NATO. I was this guy who, if anybody had questions within the realm of SSD, ask me, right?

Yeah.

I get out, no one cares.

Yeah.

Like, and then more importantly is, I'm telling you right now, man, when, when I got out, that circle wasn't big. There was no circle, right? There was maybe a triangle, maybe there's like 3 people, maybe a square. But I had a few people who kept in contact. And yeah, man, it was difficult. It was difficult trying to find a purpose. Like I said, I, when I got out, before I got out, I was this guy, right? Any questions you had, I'm giving the briefs, I'm making decisions, I'm buying the dogs. And I'm, I used to have all this importance, or so I thought. Which was part of my identity. And once I got out, there was nothing. Um, so yeah, it was extremely difficult, extremely difficult. And I'll tell you, if it wasn't for my wife, if it wasn't for the dogs that I have, and, uh, my, my Dutch Shepherd that passed away this year, I wouldn't be here today, man. Honestly.

Yeah, that— but you know, that's, that's a story that many veterans can tell, right? Like, making that transition is different going from the atmosphere of military or police, right? You always have a group of people around you. It's very team-oriented. And then when all that just goes away in an instant, it's hard to make that transition. The dark humor, the, the way that we joke and play with each other, right? Nobody gets hurt. And you don't find that in other job functions. And I go back to a lot of veterans that work for us. And I remember talking to Brandon Martin, which is one of our trainers. When I first met him, and on a phone conversation he says, man, I just can't do this no more, man. I'm working in an office, working around these people that don't get me, that don't understand me. I can't joke, I can't play around like that's what I'm used to. I'm used to that camaraderie and I don't have it anymore. I said, well, man, you've come to the right place, because if there's nothing else that we're going to do, we're going to poke fun at you, make fun of you, make you feel the worst that we can make you feel. Like, but, uh, but that's what we miss, right? That's what we thrive. That's the type of community we thrive in for sure. And when, when it's time to, to do work, you know, we're on it. And, uh, so making that transition, taking all those skill sets that you learn in the Marine Corps and now giving them off, and, and I'm gonna chastise you for just a moment because when we started this podcast, you said, well, I'm playing with the civilian dogs, or I forgot how you put it exactly.

Yeah.

But you made it like it was almost a negative connotation and not that you meant to, but I think that your experience and what you're doing now is a blessing for the, the industry that you're working in because they don't get this. They don't get a decade of experience working in the most critical areas, making the most critical decisions. Making dogs reliable because people's lives depend on it. Like that's a whole different outlook. And now you're giving it to the industry and they would never get this if it wasn't for that. So how are you now taking that stuff, right? The Marine Corps, the discipline, the structure, and then the training, and then now making that transition for the civilian side of things. How does that make that transition? How do you bridge that gap now?

Man, it's so— I love it. So I'll say I love it. It's an awesome thing to— in order— what am I doing to bridge it is essentially, I think with everybody, you have to find your why. And if it's cool with you, man, I'd love to just tie it back. Like my first 2 years were the toughest 2 years out of the Marine Corps, but As I started like getting into psychology, right? I'm keep talking about psychology, but as I, as I got more and more psychology, once I developed individuality and I knew who Joshua or Rajo was, yeah, man, like light year difference, right? Like the— I see stuff in people today where I'm like, man, if only you knew what you are by yourself. And I'm like, damn. So, so yeah, horrible 2 years, light at the end of the tunnel. Where I'm at today, man, 2024, I got out in 2017. So in 7 years comparison, I would tell, I would tell myself in 2017, you got this, you know what I mean?

Yeah.

Um, but tying it into the pet sector, I think, I think with this transformation of 7 years, right, knowing what I'm capable of because of the Marine Corps, and like a lot of guys get out and they complain about the military, I'm not one of those guys. The Marine Corps gave me the tools I have today, gave me a baseline to be where I'm at today. And there's people in there that left their footprints in my life today. You know what I mean? Like, that's— I'm here because of them, man. So within the pet sector, I think having that discipline first and foremost on work ethic, knowing how to present myself, knowing what I'm capable of, knowing what I've done and being proud of my— of who I am. What I accomplished and who I am is, is a cool bridge because obviously in Texas we have a lot of veterans. So I'm able to connect in, in ways that most people can't, which is, is favorable. And then I'd say purpose. You know, I think everyone tries to find their why. Mine isn't being a cool kid. I make fun of, I make fun of myself in terms of the detection because I'm not a cool kid. I'm okay with that. I, I, I say, I say, you know, 'Cause if you look at my Instagram, it's nerdy stuff, man. It's not gonna be like, not gonna be this motion shot running away, right? But I think it's just finding my why. And my why was the canines in every aspect of it, the psychology behind your pet dogs, the psychology behind your working dogs. On the pet sector, we actually made a name for ourselves with aggressive dogs. And we've had, man, honestly, it's a blessing. We've had so many clients come from, California, Florida, West Virginia, Oklahoma. Just like we're in Texas. Texas is big enough, but we have people coming from everywhere because they want that. And I think finding my why is one, helping. I am a helper. I like to be a problem solver, but really just nerding out about dogs and being able to peel back those layers and build the dog's confidence back up and build the client's confidence back up too, right? Make them understand that you, I can do it. Yeah, that's cool. But so can you. So to answer your question in a very long-winded way, it was just finding my why, getting direction from the Marine Corps, which is like, keep pushing, right? Persevere, adapt and overcome. That's like the Marine Corps mantra right there. Um, adapt and overcome and then just really grow, man. Just keep growing.

Yeah, man. That's awesome. But with, with that approach, right? And I understand you're an individual and, but there's obviously, and you mentioned just your board members, but there's also other people that have influenced your training out.

100%.

Yeah. It's not common to find a trainer that's open to, to continue to learn, but also open to various techniques and various approaches in order to get the most out of a dog. Right. So where does that come from? Or is that just you?

No, no, no, it wasn't. Um, I'll tell you, if you met me in 2017, you probably wouldn't even want me on the podcast, man, honestly. Like, the ego, ego was at its all-time high, right? And, um, there's 3 types of ego, so I'll go with that. Um, and when I was in the Marine Corps, I had ego. When I was getting out of the Marine Corps, I had the ego of aspiration. I'm going to be something great when I get out, right? Then you have the ego of success, which is I went to TSA, and to most people, you transitioning out and going to federal entity, that is success. And then here's the key factor, and this is what I give most of my credit to, was no one caring about what I did before. The ego of failure, man, that did not taste good. So, so with those 3 egos in mind, I had to humble myself. And more importantly, I had people like Jason Law, Pat Yeoman. I had amazing people in my life who understood where I was coming from and said, hey, yes, you're good. Yes, you're capable, but chill out, relax, right? They were able to communicate with me in a way that I was able to understand. And basically, they had to translate the world to me. Because I didn't get the world, man. And like you said yourself, most people can't live that life. And so I had, I had a numerous amount of mentors, and if I'll call them mentors, is that were able to translate the world to me. And once I was able to translate it and understand it and read it, I could digest it. And because I really liked what they were able to do for me, that inspired me to want to do that for others.

That's awesome. Yeah. And so what advice would you give to other veterans that are looking to pursue this career in dog training?

That's a, oh, that's a, that's a great question. I would say first and foremost is find your why. Like why do you get here, right? Um, and, and here's why, here's why I say that is hold on to it. You know, there's some people out there who just want the money, and I would say if, if you're going for the money, I don't, I don't recommend it. There's good sides to this, but there's also the bad sides. So if you embrace the bad, then yes. But I'll say find your why and really just focus on that. For me, for me, this is— I don't wanna speak on anyone else's behalf, so I have to default to myself, and hopefully it's a good example— is my why ended up becoming just understanding dogs more. And at that point, I'm not too concerned about the money. I'm not too concerned about if I'm training the pet sector or the military or law enforcement, I'm not, I'm not concerned about status. I'm concerned about the dog. And with that, what I've actually seen for me is everything else just coming into play. And it's like pieces just coming together because people have enjoyed— I mean, here I'm having a podcast with the man, the myth, the legend, and it's because of the why, man. It's because, it's because for me it was because of my why, which is the dogs.

Yeah, man. You know, the, the awesome thing that, that puts me in the mind frame of is the fact that I get so many calls, or we do, on people asking us or telling us, hey, I want to learn to be a police dog trainer, or I want to be a military dog trainer. And I, I'm, I guess I'm bewildered by the fact that people think there's a separation there. Yeah, I train dogs, man. I, I, I train people. I love that part of it. Every one of our trainers has to train in the pet side of things. You know why? I learned a long time ago that that's the best market to be in to really learn to train dogs, right?

100%. How to train a dog that doesn't have drive for anything, that doesn't have a want for anything, right? Yeah.

And with an owner that doesn't want to do anything.

Yeah, for sure. For sure.

Make it all work, right? Problems, probably. Like, you learn so much about problem solving, how to talk to people, how to bring the best out of people and the best out of a dog when you have nothing. And, um, so every one of our trainers are required to work in the pet sector because it's so much of a learning process. Um, that's where you learn to train dogs, man. Like I can put a dog in drive and make 'em do whatever I want to do. That's easy. Like give me a prime selected dog and man, I'm gonna make 'em into the best thing ever. Now gimme that pet that's trying to bite everybody that's barking at the door, that's doing this and doing that. And let me figure out how to fix all that.

100%.

So I go back to your negative connotation, Josh, and you may not have wanted to do that. But I promise I didn't want to—

for anybody watching, I did not want to do that.

You're the best trainer, man, because you know how to problem solve. You know, anybody can go step by step, watch a YouTube video and teach a dog to sit, but we make our money on problem solving, bro. That's number one thing that we do is problem solve every single session.

100%.

People just don't realize that. They don't. You make it look easy because you've been doing it so long and you just, you're able to process things very rapidly, right? But that takes skill, that takes practice, that takes knowledge and, and a knowledge without thinking, right? So unconscious reactions that you don't even think about, you just do it, right?

For sure. Yeah.

Reading those minute details that the dog is giving you that you're able to piece together and chain them together and then come up with the fix, if you will. Uh, that, that's a skill. That's a professional skill all by itself. I don't give a crap what anybody says. Like, you're in the best position to make the best difference and probably have the hardest job. I want to be a trucker, right?

I think, I think that goes in that— no, I agree, 100% agree. And I think that goes into like finding your why. So I'll give you an example, man. I— this is— this happened What happens, not frequently, but it happens. I have this dog, he's not— it's a German Shepherd. Owner doesn't understand dogs, but because he has a German Shepherd, he wants it to be military standard. And this dog is not close to that at all.

Yeah.

Now, here's the cool thing. For most people, that client, that individual client, can be burdensome. And I, and I understand, mind you, I sympathize the situation, but because I love the dog training aspect so much, I now view that client as a positive challenge for me. Like, how can I get him to want it? How can I get him to step up? And it does, it does encourage me, and I'll say encourage, I won't say it lights a fire, but it does encourage me to train that dog to the best of my ability and now make him want to do it as well. Him, the client, right? So like even the negative association that people have on the pet sector or dog training in general, because my why is charged with so much value, which is the dog, it shines to me, in my opinion, shines in a positive way everywhere else in the aspect of it. You know what I mean? So now those clients aren't burdened. So now it's like, hey, cool, I can do this. I'm gonna train your dog, but I also need you to want it. Well, Josh, what can I do? I said, well, that's what I'm here for. You know what I mean? And I do it with a smile. I don't do it with like a, Oh man, here you go again. Does that make sense?

Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, think about it like this, Josh, if you're not taking those clients in, that means they're going to someone else that's probably has far less experience that is not gonna do and influence them. And again, I go back to for a lifetime, right? Every trainer that comes after you is gonna be held to your standards. So if that client leaves or moves away or gets another dog and goes to another trainer, They're always gonna remember you in the way that you approach things. And at the end of the day, if you don't take that client on, there's a risk that they lose their dog. There's a risk that the dog gets put into a bad situation or does something bad, or the client gives up on the dog altogether. So it's remarkable that we have people in our industry like you that view that so passionately and use your experience for that, because most people, coming from your background is going to say, oh, I only want to train police dogs or military dogs. That's it. And so it, it's just remarkable to see that. I'll give you a short story because I'm going to take your lead on stories, right?

Yeah, please do. Please. I got plenty of those. So yeah.

Yep. My, my background is law enforcement. I came, that's where I got my start, right? And when I first got trained as a trainer, I took 2 years to do pro bono work. To work in the pet sector because I realized very early on that again, it's easy to work a dog and drive, but now I got to problem solve all these other dogs. Anyway, I'm getting to a point. So then I decide at a stage and I'm going to leave government and go full time into training. And I had the ego that you talked about, right? I'm only training police dogs. You know, I had this Field of Dreams mentality. If I build it, they will come. And I quickly realized within 6 months, and I'll vivid— I can vividly remember me depressed, laying on my couch in Christmas time trying to figure out what I'm going to do. And I had no money in my bank account. I had nothing. And I'm a religious person. I believe in God. I believe that I believe I'm sitting here today because of what the Lord has done for me in my life. And I believe that wholeheartedly. And I'm sitting there on my couch depressed, man, and thinking, what am I going to do with my life? Like, Lord, I know very clearly this is what you wanted me to do. But it was like the Lord spoke to me as clear as me and you were speaking right now. And he said, yeah, that's because you're too good to train any other dogs. You just want to train police dogs. And you're not gonna use the skills that I've given you for the betterment of all dogs and all people. And it hit me like a, a ton of bricks, man, that my skill sets shouldn't be segregated to one. Yeah. Do what I, I excel at and what I'm good at. But at the same time, when I push people away because I'm too good in my own head to do that, And I have that negative connotation on civilian training, if you will, because of my background. Like I should be slapped in the face. I should go through the problems that I'm going through personally because how dare I think I'm too good for that. And then come to the realization that our skill sets need to be used for that industry. And that's really who needs it the most, right?

No, I get it. Ego is the enemy. I say it all the time. Ego is the enemy.

Yeah, yeah, that's great, man. So in your opinion, now this is Josh's opinion.

Uh-oh, here we go.

Well, because you've been in the industry for some time and you've seen some evolutions, right? Both professionally and now that you're in the commercial sector. And I say there's a vast difference between government and commercial sectors, right? Where is dog training heading in the next 5 or 10 years? Where do you see the trends taking us? And maybe those that are listening that are in the industry, because you've seen a decade evolution from what you're doing from selecting dogs. Now think about it like you were selecting and training dogs back then, right?

Yeah.

10 years ago and handling dogs. And now you're coming full circle to seeing where dogs, even the breeds, even drives, even outlooks. Like 10 years ago, you would never see training on social media.

No.

And I'm talking about military, right?

Yeah.

That was one of the things that surprised me the most when I first started working with the MWD program was how much we were able to film and how much the Army wanted us to push stuff out on social media.

I'll say this right now. I'll say this right now. Thank God TikTok didn't exist during my generation. I would be in trouble. So yeah. So thank God that didn't exist.

So I'll be okay. Yeah, I mean, you're absolutely right. So, but where do you see, where do you see this industry going over the next 10 years?

Man, that's a good one. I, so I think that let's, let's talk about the military and law enforcement side. I think that we're in this mid-process, which is, which is cool, which is really good for my, my style of my thought process and my style of training. I think we're going to this evolution right now for the military and law enforcement that we understand psychology and, you know, the least conflicting methods actually have a place, and the military and law enforcement can benefit from that. So I, I think we're evolving into more of the true definition of balanced training.

Right?

And I'll say that in its true essence of balanced training. For the pet sector, I would say, were on the opposite side of the spectrum and coming to the middle as well. So there's a lot of people who want to talk about purely positive, purely positive, purely positive. And I think we're going into understanding that balanced training is a necessity, right? So I think, I think, and to no fault, I'm not blaming anyone and I'm not saying anyone's better or worse, but I think a lot of people in the past, they tend to be a little more heavier-handed when it came to law enforcement, military dogs. And they're understanding the evolution to meet in the middle. And I think in the pet sector, they're starting to see now that foo-foo having treats all day isn't always the answer and that there is such a thing as balanced training, right? And then to sum it up, I think that's where we're going. I think we are reaching an evolution where we understand the happy medium of things. And that's my personal opinion.

No, that's a great perspective because I've seen the same thing. You know, and we're in different parts of the country, but I've seen the same thing. You know, I don't fight and have to explain, you know, the reasons for why we would do things and why treat only would not benefit this particular dog, right? There's certainly a place for those things.

Right.

But it's not the catch-all. For sure. So that's great. So for those that are getting in the industry, I think your challenge to them would be to be a more balanced trainer, to learn from, learn the various techniques, learn from people that think outside the box, think, you know, that there's not just one way to do things. And I think being mentored by somebody like you would be a tremendous thing for any new trainer coming up because you definitely have that happy balance what you do on a day-to-day basis and make money doing it. That's—

well, I appreciate that. I appreciate it. Appreciate it. Yeah, I think, I think, you know, anybody trying to get in the industry is like, get somebody who— get somebody who you can learn from. Key factor number one. Like, I can't— you can throw out 20 names of top trainers. If on a personal level I cannot understand, or I don't feel like that we're, we're jiving or we're in sync, then having that title of the best trainer is going to do nothing for me. So I think go with somebody that you can, that you can follow, right? Find, identify somebody, get that template, understand your template, and then from there modify, right? Modify the best. And that's what I've done is I don't have a Josh training method. I don't have a book on this is my way to do it. I've had people who've shown me enough and I'm like, I like that idea, but I also like this idea, and I start creating not, not my style, but I start creating a blend of everyone into what fits my needs at that time. Does that make sense? Yeah. So I think, I think that's the biggest thing to do.

Well, that was the first thing I noticed about your title of your company. It wasn't Josh's Training.

100%.

It's about me. You know, I can care less. I want this legacy to live on, and I want trainers to understand that they got to have balance. That you do what's best for the dog, you do what's best for your client, and even sometimes telling them no, you're not gonna do that, or no, we're not going that way in training. Like, so, um, it, it's refreshing to talk to another— and again, this was not like preset up, right? That's—

no, no, no, for sure.

Yeah, we didn't set this up. I didn't go out and seek out Josh because he thinks the same way, or we have this— we're in line right here, right? Great people just come together, man. They're— they just get— they're like magnets, man. We just— we come together.

Yeah, I appreciate it.

So now, thinking back, what do you see some challenges that trainers may face nowadays? What are some of the biggest challenges?

The excess of information. Yeah, that to me is— that to me is a kryptonite. And I I mean, I didn't even let you finish the question before I said it, but I was like, yeah, I think the excess of information. I think, you know, for anybody trying to get into training or anybody who is a trainer, you have so many people telling you to do different things that they don't enjoy the path they're on at this point, this current time. I've seen people, you know, man, they don't even make it till they turn left, you know what I mean? They don't get to enjoy the view. They— there's too many inconsistencies due to the excess of information. It's like me having my iPhone GPS on, Google Maps, Waze, and they're all telling me to go different ways. Like, none of them are wrong. I'm still going to get there, but I have to pick a single path to get there. You know what I mean? So I think the excess of information.

Yeah, man, that's great. Because as you're saying this, right, I would have never thought that. See, I'm thinking from a business perspective, we cope with from a business perspective, and I just— I was sure you were going to go somewhere in that realm, but you hit me from left field. But as you were saying that, man, I was thinking of some of the worst students that I've had, that I've seen, right? And not worse as in bad people, but ones that had the hardest trouble or the, the most troubles trying to grasp how to train and, and even at times being a handler. But it was ones that were getting fed from a, a lot of different areas. Understood. Consistent. And we have a, we have a saying at the facility because we have a, you know, quite a few trainers. When whoever the trainer is that's in charge or who's on the field, Nobody interrupts them, nobody says anything. We compliment them and we help them, but it's their show. Because what we have found, when you have a lot of trainers out on the field, everybody's giving their points and, and the student is just all over the place. They don't know where to turn, they don't know who to listen to, and it becomes mass confusion and you don't accomplish anything. So I think you're absolutely right. Like, I mean, at your fingertips, you can probably get 20 podcasts. You can probably get 400 books. You can, you know, I had a student not too long ago cry because he found something on Google that contradicted what we said. And I said, yeah, that's absolutely right. But you do realize everything on the internet is not true, right?

Oh, 100%. Yeah.

Is backed by facts and science and all these things that we do our due diligence on to teach from. But the reality is, is you're absolutely right. That information overload can certainly hinder a trainer as well.

And I think, I think even then, and the worst part is, is if you get somebody— now bear with me as my thoughts try to develop this sentence, right? It's like, if you get somebody who's smart and they're new to canine, they absorb enough to become dangerous, right? Because they know they know terms but don't understand them, or they understand— are they— yeah, yeah. And it's just one of those things where I did an eCall course here in Texas not too long ago, and this lady, I was trying to talk and trying to get this, this gerbil going, right? This gerbil just running. And she was like, oh, so free shaping? And I was like, hey, just wait, get off the names real quick. Let's just, let's just make sure we're on the same page. So it's like she knew enough to the point where she was like trying to, she was trying to put it somewhere in a category in her brain, but it almost made her dangerous because she knew a little bit of everything but didn't have a puzzle in itself. Is that it? Yeah. So for sure, I think that was too easy for me.

No, that's great. That's awesome, man. So as we wrap up, man, I gotta ask you a question, right? Like, oh, here we go. What's your new— what can people look forward to with you and your company? And, you know, what's the next big thing for you guys? What direction are you going?

Yeah, I would say getting better at the craft, right? I think in not trying to— I could talk about positive footprints and we're trying to do this and that, I think, but for us, just trying to be better at what we do, just really trying to nerd out more and more You know, we have our cadaver dogs, I mentioned that, but being a better handler. I think a lot of people when they become a trainer, they kind of let go of that handler mentality or they let that go a little bit. Me and my perspective where I'm at in my life today, I think being a better handler adds value to what I view and how I am as a trainer. So just trying to better ourselves honestly. And then with that, you know, honing in on our craft And I think with outdoors, we're open more and more. Obviously we have some contracts lined up for us and all that good stuff, but in the horizon is just be better for ourselves so we can be better for everyone else out there.

And that's awesome, man. That, that's great. And again, you surprised me again. I'm, I'm thinking, you know, increasing revenue, increasing clientele, bringing on 25 trainers within the next 6 months. But man, you just keep it so simple, man. And, but it's refreshing.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Great to hear that, right? We don't have to be some kind of business juggernaut to really make a footprint in this industry. And you're definitely doing it. I mean, everywhere I'm at, you're at, like, I can't get away from you, right? Like, I feel like a lot of times, but it's great because I also, you know, I say I'm one of the trainers that just sit back and listen to people. I listen to people talk. I listen to what people say, how they say it. I watch people's actions from afar when they don't think I'm watching them because I learn so much from them, just like I do with dogs, right? I have a very keen habit of just backing away from everybody and seeing them work. That's important to me because I take in that information. But people are the same way. And it's amazing how many conversations I hear where your name comes up. That's awesome.

Thank you.

That, you know, don't know that I know you, and they're like, oh man, I just went to his class or his lesson, and man, it was great the way he communicated with me. And, and if people— as you should hear on this podcast, you're very easy to talk to. You're very, you know, your ideas flow. You're a smart guy. You have a very strong grasp on psychology, obviously. But it doesn't come off in a way that's, oh, I'm the smartest dude on this podcast, which you are.

But no, I'm not. No, I'm not.

But it doesn't come off that way. It, it flows within a conversation where I'm, I'm tracking what you're saying, and I don't need to be an expert to track what you're saying because you're teaching from a, from a layman's status. That's not a bad thing. That's a, that's, that's an art that a lot of trainers don't have. They want to tell it and show everybody how smart they are. But it's not about that. It's about communication, right? It's about how you communicate and how they grasp that communication. And I'm tracking everything you're saying, and I know our listeners are too, because, uh, just the way you present, man, that's awesome, man.

No, thank you. Well, first, thanks for the opportunity once again. And I'll tell you, man, it's not— if you like anything that we— that I've been talking about, it's first and foremost, like, and I mean this wholeheartedly, Thank my wife, right? Like, she— once you meet her, man, you'll love her. But she kept me grounded. I often reference this to everyone, is like, I'm the optimist, she's the pessimist. However, you know, the optimist built the airplane, the pessimist built the parachute, right? Like, you need it, man. And everything that you see here today, obviously there's that individuality that we talked about of who I am. But at the same time, like, understand there's people who laid that path forward for me, right? So there's people who took their time and saw something in me, and they were willing to dedicate that time to mold me and shape me and guide me to being this today, right? This person I am today. And all, all I want to do, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, is pay it forward. You know, if I can create, if I can give somebody tools or resources for them to come back after deploying.

Yeah.

Man, like, that's awesome. If you look at my, my biggest— my biggest achievement in the Marine Corps will never be hung up on the wall. It was the fact that all my students who deployed came back. And that's, that to me is, I love that. Um, on the pet sector, I have a lot of clients who give us, you know, they give us gifts and they say thank you. But seeing that we trained their dog and now their quality of life has improved, that dog is now inside their home. Like, that to me is the byproduct of people who were willing to guide me. So, man, thank you for everything, but if anything, thank the people who inspired me to be better, man. Honestly.

Oh, for sure, man. I'll bet there's a, there's a list of them that you could probably name personally, right? Sure. But if I had to take a mold of a trainer, right, to form one, then I don't want them to be you, but I want them to take those qualities because that's the true essence of being a trainer. You know, you already mentioned not doing it for the money, but doing it for the true care of what you're putting out there, because everything else falls into place. Your life is easy after that, right? I mean, it really is.

Keep it simple.

But before we go, we're going to take a little bit of time. I want people to know how they get a hold of you. How can they reach you? I mean, put out a full plug— your website, your social media, your phone number. Is your wife around? Is she somewhere around here?

I can get her. You want to give me like 5 minutes? 2 minutes real quick?

2 minutes?

I gotta— we gotta— we've heard so much about her, we gotta get her on here.

Give me one second.

Why?

All right, she's coming. Sorry about that.

No, she, she has to get ready. I, I said when you were gone that she's probably slapping you around because now you're surprising her with this.

100% sure.

I was not prepared for this.

So that's what I said. That's exactly what I said. When Josh is gone, she's not prepared, and now he's getting beat down right now.

110%.

Keep recording after this, okay? Keep recording for proof, please.

Right, right. Hey, there's a hotline for, um, battered, um, husbands that you can call. I'll give you my number and I'll walk you through on the steps on how to get through this.

I need it. I need it for sure.

Oh my gosh, we've heard so much about you in this hour, so we had to meet you. That's the first thing. All right. Yeah. So very nice to meet you.

Yes, sir. Pleasure to meet you.

Take like 3 minutes just to tell us about yourself real quick.

Oh, goodness gracious. See, now I'm in the hot seat. I'm not good at this type of thing.

No.

First and foremost, obviously, my name is Rachel. A little bit about me. Started my whole canine career in the United States Marine Corps. Had the pleasure of having a badass narcotics dog. She was amazing. Her name was Dahlia. Learned a lot from her. She was a green dog. I was a, a boot when I picked her up. So we, we developed a, a strong bond and a lot of training together. So I learned a lot from her. Then had the pleasure of being a chief trainer out in Iwakuni, Japan. Learned a lot in regards of helping a lot of teams develop. That's where I found my, my true calling in the sense of canine training. I always thought I was going to be a K-9 officer growing up, but I leaned towards the development of K-9s was something truly what drove me. So, I had the pleasure of finding out that there. Then I went to DTS at Lackland Air Force Base. Had the pleasure of working alongside of a lot of different branches. Developed a really cool bond in the sense of both a lot of different training aspects, of course, as well as the K-9s out there. Got out, had the pleasure of going to CTC at Lackland Air Force Base as well. Had the pleasure of then again developing a lot of just OSOs and the LEOs. Had the pleasure of, in regards of building up teams again, there's nothing better at the end of the day of developing, good passion in regards of both the team aspect of the handler and the dog and seeing them develop and then being able to execute and, you know, protect and have a mission and do great things out there. So, had the pleasure of being a canine ever since I've gotten a, I like to say, a real job. So I've been very, very grateful and I've had a lot of, a lot of passion in regards to every aspect of the camp.

So super, super grateful for everybody I've met and keep achieving down this journey.

Man, that's awesome. I would like just to be on the training field with you one day because you would inspire me so much. Just your energy. Like, it would be amazing. I could just see you yelling across the field and directing people and just getting the most out of it.

Trust me, she can yell, right?

Right.

A lot of people have a lot of aspects of saying I talk too loud and maybe I curse a little too much for their tasting, but I like to say it just builds character.

There you go. I love it. Well, to see the founding members of Paws and Footprints. I mean, it's just amazing to have both you guys on here. I mean, it is. But I need you guys to take a moment and give a plug about your company, where people can get a hold of you, how they can get a hold of you, the whole nine. So I'm going to give you the floor. You guys handle it.

I'll have you take over from that.

All right. All right. Well, um, that's awesome. So any questions you guys have, uh, first and foremost, contact us directly. My phone number is 954-501-3624.

Rachel, my number is 720-665-4473.

And then any questions you have regarding our company, Paws and Footprints, you can put our own site, pawsandfootprints.com, or you can email us at info@pawsandfootprints.com, as well as our social media pages. Uh, Instagram is Paws and Footprints LLC, Facebook's Paws and Footprints, TikTok's Paws and Footprints. Anything else? No, that's pretty much it.

What, what part of Texas are you guys in?

So we're in, uh, just northwest of San Antonio, Texas, in Bandera, Texas.

Okay. All right, guys, we're gonna put all your information in our show notes. Maya, the voice of reason, will take care of that for you. She's going to put a link to your website so everybody listening on all the popular— I guess that's what they call them, the podcast networks or whatever it's called. As you see, I'm not a social media person, but I know right? So, uh, Maya, uh, she'll put the links everywhere so all you guys listening, they'll be readily available, man. Reach out to these guys. I mean, I, I kind of want to just go get a dog so you guys can train it for me because it's awesome, for real. Josh, I know I'll see you soon somewhere.

Yes, sir, of course.

Somewhere not in Texas and not in Georgia. We'll just be somewhere Always random, right? Go back and see you, I'll be like, oh damn, Josh is here too. But that's refreshing, man. I love it, man. I, I really do. It inspires me, man, so much. So I appreciate you, man, and I appreciate what you're doing, Rachel, keeping him in line and, uh, and, uh, just being there for him. It, it's, it's, it truly is amazing. And you just don't know what you're doing for him, um, because it just comes natural to you, but you're doing so much for him, and I can just see his passion for that by the way he talks about you. So that's awesome.

Appreciate it, sir. So thank you again, man. Thanks for the opportunity. And then, uh, yeah, man, come to Texas, or we're gonna cross paths. But if y'all ever need us, man, just hit us up.

That's what we're here for. Well, all right, guys, I appreciate you very much.

Yeah, man, be safe and have— when do you fly back? Uh, tomorrow night. Okay, well, have a safe flight back, man. I'll see you around.

All right, take care.