Hello everyone this is Krista with episode #134 on the Wag Out Loud pawdcast. According to a new survey released by Netflix when it comes to watching TV, four out of five members have watched Netflix with their pet, and the majority ,which is 61% finds pets to be the best binge partner, beating out parents, romantic partners, friends and kids. What series do you binge watch with your dog?

Welcome to the Wag Out Loud pawdcast, where we are obsessed with bringing you helpful tips on canine health care, nutrition, and overall wellbeing. If you'd like to support the show, check out the amazing online events, products and resources that I personally recommend on the Wag Out Loud website. I'm your host, Krista and I'm super excited to be bringing you yet another tail wagging episode.

Debra Hamilton is an attorney/mediator/author who helps passionate animal loving people have constructive discussions.  She gets enormous pleasure when people use her process when in conflict, to start listening for understanding, really hearing an alternate point of view and recognizing what they have in common.  This helps everyone find an easier path to working out differences.  Starting from common ground enables differences to be more collaboratively addressed in a constructive & positive manner.

Hello there dog lovers! I am so glad that you can join us for yet another tail wagging episode of The Wag Out Loud pawdcast. And I am thrilled to be joined by Debra Hamilton, and she is going to cover how to have a conscious conversation in discussions over your dog. Debra, I want to welcome you to the Show and for sharing this very important information with us. Can you please introduce yourself and tell us why you enjoy focusing on mediation for animal conflict?

Well, thank you, Krista. Thanks, everyone, for joining us here today because it is such an interesting concept, especially now, post COVID, where everyone's last nerve is frayed. And sometimes we're not our best selves. So when we have a conversation, it doesn't always turn out the way we'd hoped. And sometimes you don't have to put the genie back in the bottle. So when I was a litigating attorney, the genie back in the bottle wasn't really a concept. But I found that a lot of people who were friends, who had been friends for years, would fight over a dog and lose that relationship. And had they just had someone in the room to help them look back at the good times they had look forward at what they had hoped to have in the future, and help them address what was bothering them now really had them save relationships. So I stopped litigating. I relegated my pumps. And I actually help people explore how they feel in conflict, how they would like to feel, and also explore how what they might have done, impacted the other party and reflect on how the other party might feel. And then we have a conversation. So I either do conflict coaching for one party to help them resolve it with my help, or I mediate both parties to still get together and have them resolve their conflicts.

Sounds like you're a psychologist as well.

Well, no. I don't play one on TV. I simply know that everyone has one common ground when a disagreement over an animal occurs. And that usually is that they think they want to do what's best for the animal. And what you need to do is pull that out and see how we can find a common ground.

Well, Deborah, when you and I first met, you mentioned that many people don't really have a clear understanding of the different methods of resolution that are even available to them. And that's why they just go right to litigation. So with your help, let's break it down. Who are your typical clients? And what kinds of disputes are they having over their dogs.

So my typical clients are pet owners, any kind of pet owners, but for purposes of our audience here, I'll stick with dogs, when you're getting divorced, or your relationship is breaking up. If you make a plan on how to share the pet bef