You want your dog to be confident, social, chill, adaptable — basically a furry therapist who also looks great in group photos?

Cool.
Then stop throwing them into overwhelming chaos and calling it “socialization.”

In this episode of Your Dog Isn’t Broken, we talk about what confidence actually is (spoiler: it’s not tolerance), why overexposure is not training, and how to build up your dog’s bravery without accidentally frying their nervous system.

We also shout out Pet Remembrance Day and National Dog Dad Day — because let’s be real, grief and growth usually show up holding paws.

Listen if:

• You’re trying to “socialize” a shy dog and it’s backfiring

• You’ve ever said “he’ll get used to it” and regretted it

• You want to stop confusing exposure with progress

• You’re grieving one dog while training another

Mentioned in this episode:

• How we build real confidence in Foster the Chaos

• What decompression actually looks like

• How grief affects your training more than you think

• Bruce’s approach to bravery: lean in, sniff everything, ignore the humans

🎧 Listen on Spotify
📚 Grab Bruce’s Book — part gospel, part snark manual
📲 Follow @brucebannersmash for judgmental wisdom and toe beans