Our guest Corey McCusker leads the charge in helping humans and dogs excel. Corey works with
business leaders and high-performance athletic teams on mental performance, plus she coaches canines and their humans. Corey describes how she came to start two coaching companies and how these seemly different businesses are interconnected.

Together we chat about how recreational and high-performance athletes can improve success by building mental strength – 80% is mental, and 20% is physical and technical. Most people however, spend 80% of their time trying to improve the physical and technical paying little attention to mental performance.

We explore techniques that can help with visualization for success and talk about how to centre ourselves to mentally prepare for the athletic (or work) task at hand.

We are joined by Kate Kurtz, our host’s dear friend and fellow dog-lover. Tina, Kate and their daughters have experienced joy, connection and confidence by participating in several of Corey’s Muttz with Mannerz dog training programs.

In her youth Kate was a high-performance dressage athlete. She talks about how she applies the mental strength techniques she learned in riding to her work life and how her daughter Alison carries the confidence-building dog leadership skills she’s learned into school.

Shifting gears, we talk about dogs and the impact of the pandemic on canines and their owners. Corey gives advice to new pandemic puppy owners on what they can do today to minimize canine anxiety when the world opens up and owners are spending less time at home.

Our hosts and guests have a heart-to-heart about the unconditional love of dogs and the amazing results that can be seen when people take a leadership role in their animal’s lives. We hear about the St. John’s Ambulance Dog Therapy Program and the new ways that dogs are helping with trauma, anxiety and more.