Far Fetched – A Dog Podcast
The internet is a hairy place when it comes to our dogs. Like the furballs hiding beneath our couches, there all kinds of gems waiting to be discovered on the internet. But what’s true, what’s nonsense, and what falls in between?
In Far Fetched, host and long-time dog nerd, Crystal Dunn, is joined by a special guest each episode to unravel some of the hairiest (and sometimes hilarious) dog myths and misconceptions out there.
Join us on the 5th of each month to find out what’s real and what’s poop under your shoe while we swap entertaining stories from the dog world and debunk some real nonsense along the way. We might even have some good tips too!
Content Warning
We cuss a little and talk about poop and pee a lot. It’s mostly PG13, but we like to keep it real. Please hide sensitive ears if you need to.
Who Are These People?
Host: Crystal Dunn
The daughter of a woman who couldn’t pass up a stray on the side of the road if you paid her to, it’s no surprise Crystal grew into a real animal nerd. As a kid, she had an array of rescued cats, dogs, birds, rabbits, and even a prairie dog named Princess.
Later in life, while pursuing a career in the tech industry, she started volunteering at a local shelter in an effort to find purpose in life while battling extreme depression.
She found a lot more than purpose at the shelter.
In 2006 Crystal ditched a perfectly respectable career to pursue dog behavior full time. She hung up her high heels, donned muddy tennies and jeans, and hasn’t looked back since.
In 2008 she started Leaps N’ Hounds Dog Training, offering classes and in-home behavior sessions. Eventually, she and her team offered safety and behavior consulting for other pet-friendly businesses like boarding facilities, doggie daycares, dog bars, and dog toy makers. They even trained performance dogs like these cuties and worked with veterinarians, teaching safe and humane handling practices.
In 2010 Crystal moved to Austin and promptly got involved with Love-A-Bull, a nonprofit focused on educating and advocating for pit bull-type dogs. While running her own business, she helped start Love-A-Bull’s Pit Crew and has served as Instructor and Certifier for the award-winning program ever since. The team provides animal-assisted therapy to kids, college students, elderly people, and trauma survivors with an all pit bull cast. It is the first of its kind in the world.
In addition, Crystal served on the Love-A-Bull board from 2015 to 2020 and currently provides behavior support on their advisory board. There was also that time she helped overthrow a kill shelter, moonlighted as the world’s worst pet sitter, and almost went bald from stress while running a 24/7 boarding facility. But we won’t go into all that.
What you need to know about Crystal is that she a first-class mega dog nerd with a library of dog books and a fascination with seeing things from the canine perspective. She believes that the importance of dogs is understated, often misunderstood, and that our connection with them can teach us many of life’s greatest lessons.
Crystal is the type of person that may have stolen a neglected dog from a backyard once or twice (allegedly) and will stop traffic to make sure a stray finds safety. She will even make an entire podcast just to dismantle the misunderstandings that surround humanity’s best friend in an effort to save her family’s sanity because she just can’t shut up about it. “Please make a podcast,” they said. “Here is a microphone and a laptop. For the love of dog! Do something with all of this information!” Yeah, that’s about how it went.
These days Crystal writes full time and is working on a memoir about her adventures in the dog world. She also blogs for various websites and is regularly cited in magazines like Austin Woman for her expertise in pit bull-type dogs and dog behavior in general. She get’s her dog fix by snuggling her rescued pit bulls, volunteering, and offering online behavior consulting.
Crystal lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, daughter, a 110 lb pit mix named Bruenor Butterhammer, and a 50 lb pit named Winnie Pigglepie Jones.
Previous Certifications/Experience: CPDT-KA, CGC Evaluator, Therapy Dog Instructor
Email Crystal at farfetchedpod@gmail.com for episode questions, ideas, or behavior consulting requests.
Producer: Jason Dunn
Dog people aren’t typically known for their technical skills, but Jason bridges the gap as our Producer and co-conspirator on all things podcast-related. He’s also the patient man married to the dog-obsessed Crystal Dunn. It’s doubtful that he knew how much dog nerdery he was signing up for when he said those fateful words–I do–but he’s a good sport. It could be worse. She could have picked horses.
Jason is also a man of many talents including being a great father, photographer, writer, and collector of hobbies. He’s also pretty funny.