Empowering Pet Parents: How the New Pet Parent Course Can Transform Your Pet's Health Journey

Welcome to Healing Tails. I'm Dr. Ruth Roberts here to help you become the best pet parent you can be. With simple, natural care that works for real life, real budget and real pets.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:

[00:00:22] Hey, y'all. I'm Dr. Ruth Roberts, and welcome back to another episode of Healing Tails. And today, we're joined by another amazing person who's making a difference in the lives of pets and their people.

Beth Hrnciar founded and followed Follow My Lead Pet Care, combining her expertise as a dog trainer and holistic pet health coach to empower pet parents to create stronger, healthier bonds with their furry companions. Through her work, Beth has become a trusted guide for pet parents looking to take a more proactive role in their pet's well-being, blending behavior training with holistic health practices to create a transformative approach.

Beth also helps lead the charge with the Whole Pet Academy, a new course I am launching designed to equip pet owners with the tools and knowledge they need to provide the best care possible. Beth, welcome to Healing Tails, and so happy to have you here. How are you?

Beth Hrnciar:

[00:01:22] I'm good. How are you doing today?

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:01:23] Oh, unbelievable—super! You've got a pretty interesting background. Can you talk a little bit about how you got into working with pets and ultimately the path that led you to become a holistic pet health coach?

Beth Hrnciar:

[00:01:39] I've been working with pets pretty much my whole life, but it was not until I adopted my boy Tucker about 20 years ago now. I walked into the shelter one day, it was my first time volunteering, and there he was, so I fell in love with him instantly. And he was my constant companion for almost 16, just shy of 16 years.

So I learned everything I know, basically, from him, because I had him from when he was six months old, so just shy of his 16th birthday. So everything I learned, I learned because of him, basically. So it set me on the pet food journey. So when I first adopted him, he had patchy fur, and his fur was literally falling out, and somebody suggested to me it's the food, because it was science diet at the time. And I changed the food, and I did the whole trying all new kibbles. This kibble's better than that kibble. Back in the day, it was California Natural was the way to go.

And then I found fresh feeding, and it was just all the difference for him. That was later in life. He was maybe 10 when I found raw feeding and fresh feeding, and I started delving into that. And I think one thing led to the other. And then I ended up at the Raw Natural Conference in Chicago. It was the first one of its kind back in, like, 2016, maybe, 2017. And I met Julianne Lee and all those guys and learned about CB*, and it just kind of snowballed.

So everything I learned along the way, I learned to train because of him, everything. And I just realized that the more holistic natural approaches just seem to work better, seem to last longer, and my animals are better for it. They just live longer. So that got me on this journey, and as a trainer, it's been important all these years with behavioral work to really get them healthy, because gut health matters for that. I've seen that a lot.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:

[00:03:31] That makes total sense, right? Because, if the gut’s producing 90% of neurotransmitters, if it aint right, then the behavior’s going to be almost impossible. 

Beth Hrnciar:
[00:03:41] Yep. Wow. Yeah.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:03:42] So how did you go from there into holistic gut health coaching? I mean, we had the opportunity to meet at Feed Raw in 2003, I think was the first year.

Beth Hrnciar:
[00:03:52] That was it. I mean, I was into it before that, but then when I met you and heard about the course, I was like, oh, my God, this is amazing. This just ties everything together for me. Because it was always kind of like just piecing stuff together. So this was kind of the answer to tie all the—everything that I've been up to together and streamline it into one thing. So it was a no-brainer. I took the course, and it was great. I mean, it actually was easier for me just because I'd been doing it for so long. Also, I have a biology degree, so I have that background as well. But it was life-changing, taking the course. So I'm happy I did it.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:04:25] Amazing. So we're starting off on the Whole Pet Academy, which is launching on June 15th, finally. We're getting this thing off the ground.

Beth Hrnciar:
[00:04:35] Ready to be a part of it.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:04:37] Cool. And that’s it. I mean, because you know this material backwards and forwards. So let’s talk a little bit about what it actually is. What it is. So we’ve got eight modules. So we’re—food is the first one, obviously, working on gut health. And then skin, brain health, kidney disease, and then brain and behavioral issues. So the way we set it up, it’s actually some of the course material from the full Holistic Pet Health Coach course. But it’s kind of like the chunks that are going to give pet parents, I hope, the information they need to really start moving forward. So out of all those modules, what do you think is going to be most useful to the average pet parent that’s just getting started in holistic care?

Beth Hrnciar:
[00:05:28] For the people that are just getting started, I would say gut health and learning how to cook for dogs or animals in general, because most people are just doing the kibble thing. So just that alone—switching your animals off of kibble onto fresh feeding and addressing the gut health—is going to be a game changer. The rest of the stuff kind of falls into place, but those are the two that I’m really excited for people to learn.  Animals don’t die if they don’t eat kibble.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:05:58] Well, until much, much later.

Beth Hrnciar:
[00:06:00]  Exactly.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:06:01] I mean, if we can make them not die, then—ooh—we could get a Nobel Prize and all sorts of weird stuff. Right on. So what do you think makes this unique compared to other courses that are out there?

Beth Hrnciar:
[00:06:14] You. Well, you and having access to me and the other coaches. The one-on-one coaching stuff—I'm excited to do the parent end and be kind of a conduit, because if it’s something that I can’t work through, we have access to your magnificent brain. So that, definitely. And also, I haven’t seen any things that are really focusing on gut health and empowering owners to be able to feed their animals better. I haven’t seen really any of that. Like, I know that Feed Real has something, but that’s all raw. And I like raw—I like cooked—I use it for different reasons. But I think cooked is a really good segue for people to really learn more about other ways to feed, too. It seems like a no-brainer to me.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:07:06] Amen to that. And one of the other big things is actually—you are the person that will be the point of contact. And there’s kind of two ways people can get help while they’re taking the course. One is within the community. So we have a private community set up so that if you’ve got questions, you can ask them, get support from Beth, get support from other folks kind of hanging out in there—but mostly Beth and her brilliant brain. And because this is a community and it’s not on Facebook, then you can ask whatever you want. We can’t guarantee we can answer it, but you can ask whatever you want. It doesn’t get you in trouble. It doesn’t get us in trouble.

And then there’s weekly live Q&A calls with Beth, so that if you’ve got like, “Oh my gosh, I don’t understand this part,” or “Oh my gosh, I tried this, and this is what happened. What do I do now?”—you’ve got that backup. Because I think that’s critical. There’s tons of courses out there, but what I feel is really lacking is that ability to ask questions, get feedback, and be able to really improve what you’re doing based on the feedback that you get.

Beth Hrnciar:
[00:08:23] So I think that... because when you're asking questions in, like, a forum, you have to wait for answers. And, you know, if you're trying to troubleshoot, it takes longer because you're like, I've got to wait for this to answer, and then I've got to get back to them, and then I've got to wait for the answer again. So the quickness of it is going to kind of be cool. And I'm excited everyone can learn from each other, because every time, you know, every time I have a problem, I bounce it off the group, and everybody gets to learn from my science experiments of dogs. And so it's a good learning experience.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:08:52] Yeah, right on. And that’s it. And I think there’s a lot of power, because even if you’re really brand new to holistic pet health, you’ve had some experience with your own pets that you’re like, “Oh yeah, this happened,” and “Is this why this happened?” And then, you know, you can help support somebody else in understanding, you know, what a trajectory of, say, kidney disease might look like.
So I think there’s just so much value in that community to be able to support each other. And there’s—you know—there are so many pets that are so sick, and it gets overwhelming. Gosh, yeah. I mean, that’s part of the other reason we decided to do this, too, is that, you know, you go to the vet and you get the pat answer on, “Well, your dog has kidney disease, feed this bag of kibble, and come back and, yeah, he’s going to die, and come back in three months, and we’ll see if it’s worse.”

Beth Hrnciar:
[00:09:51] Yeah Exactly.  Really? Try him out more and see if it’s going quicker. It’s frustrating, because regular vets have nothing. And I’ve got a decent amount of experience with kidney stuff. I had a dog that the vets wanted to kill for two years—like, begging her to put her—“Oh, her values, her kidney values are terrible.” She lived comfortably for two years before eventually she succumbed to it, but it was completely outlandish, what they were trying to do. Two years of quality time with her owner—and vice versa—had they just listened to their conventional vet. Not that you’re not supposed to listen to your vet, but in certain things, there’s other things you can do.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:10:30] Right on. And that’s the point—is that this is here to give you options. Because, like Dr. Xi at the Chi University says, you know, the student showed him this piece of paper: “Oh my gosh, Dr. Xi, this horse’s kidneys are failing and blah blah blah blah blah. What should we do?” And he looks at the paper, and he looks at the students, and he looks at the horse, and he says,  “The paper has no chi,” tosses it over his shoulder, and goes and sticks needles in the horse.

But that’s the thing. I mean, the numbers are a guide, but they’re not your pet. And so that’s the other thing we want to help you understand, is you do have power over your choices. And even though the numbers look horrible—if you’re looking at your pet, and the pet’s, like, happy, wagging its tail, eating, drinking, wanting to go outside and play, even though it may be slower—there’s still good quality there. So that’s precisely it—is just helping somebody to get the perspective that there are other options, so. 

Beth Hrnciar:

[00:11:33] And it’s okay to move the goalpost. I know when Tucker was getting towards the end of life, at 13, he had dropped all his body weight. He was a 100-pound pitbull mix, and then all of a sudden he was 65. And they were like, “Oh, he's got cancer. He's a goner.” And I was like, “no, no, no, he's not”. I wasn’t ready to lose him at that point. Not yet. Yeah, and I mean, it was slow going. It was day by day. And I built him back up to 85 pounds, and he didn’t have cancer. He actually ended up having a primary lung tumor, which are very rare. But that wasn’t what actually ended up taking his life. It was just old age that got him. But there was no help back then. That’s why I got to where I’m at. Because my conventional vets are like, “We can’t help you. You might want to start preparing yourself.” And I’m like, that’s not happening. You figure it out. I’m excited about this because people that might be in that situation can take this course and learn about skin. Skin is the number one thing that animals are getting put down now for because of allergies. Everything’s itchy. So if you have an idea of how the skin works, and that it’s the largest organ in the body, and how to nourish it—and knowing that once something hits the skin, it’s actually pretty bad internally… The skin is kind of the last thing to show what’s going on. So that’s all stuff the average pet parent isn’t told by their vets.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:12:52] Right. And unfortunately, many of my conventional colleagues don’t quite understand the connection between a problem in the gut and a problem in the skin yet. But that’s just so profound, right? Because you had to figure all of this stuff out by yourself with Tucker. And thankfully, things have changed. There is more information that’s readily available, but still, there’s a lot of folks that don’t even have an idea that there are options. So one of the other cool things is that, you know, you take the course—there’s all these modules—but if your dog is itching to beat the band, you can go straight to the skin module. We’d encourage you to go through the first two just because that’s going to give you a background, right? So understanding how to cook, understanding how the gut works, and then go do the skin or the, you know, anxiety part or whatever it is that you’re struggling with at the moment. And I think that’s going to be amazing for a lot of folks. There’s some things you may not need at the moment, but we encourage you to go through all of the modules so you have an understanding. So if you need them in the future or you’ve got a friend that’s like, “Oh my gosh, my dog has been having diarrhea for three years, and my vet’s given me drugs, it gets better and it comes back—what do I do?” Then you can help point them in the right direction and really start to get a handle on what some options are.

So, I think that will be super useful for a lot of folks. And this is it. I mean, we’re wanting you to stay engaged with the community. So, I think that’s part of what makes it unique. The Q&A calls, the live calls will be amazing, but then you can do follow-up and sort of post questions that you want to get answers to on the Q&A. So, I think that will be super, too.

Beth Hrnciar:
[00:14:51] I’m hoping that people can learn from each other. That’s my hope within the whole thing. And imparting some of the knowledge that I’ve learned over the years—I kind of become the go-to for my personal clients. They call me before they call the vet. “If someone says doing this, what should I do?” And I’m like, “What?” Kind of nice.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:15:10] Yeah. But, I mean, that just speaks to your knowledge base, and that’s why you’re leading this course, essentially—because you do have such a wide berth of information. So, you know, in terms of that, then what do you think—like if somebody’s just getting started—we talked a little bit about the modules in terms of going through and making sure you understand concepts with whole foods and then gut health. How would you suggest people sort of go from there? So, in terms of like, do they go check out a module, come back and ask questions? How do you think people could best use the course?

Beth Hrnciar:
[00:15:49] If it’s someone that’s just starting from scratch, that really has no background in this at all, I would say I would spend time on each one—really absorb the information, because there’s a lot of information in there. And there’s two ways you could do it. Either—if you’re like me—I like to go through everything first and then go back and learn it more, because I kind of like to know what I’m dealing with.
But then there’s some people that just want to spend the time and really get to know each individual thing. And the beauty of that is this course can allow you to jump around. So if you start with skin, which is kind of heavy, then you might jump into musculoskeletal—muscu... am I saying that right?

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:16:27] You got it.

Beth Hrnciar:
[00:16:28] Which is a little bit lighter, but, I mean, it just kind of depends. It’s super flexible.
And if you’re stuck on something, you can leave it—“Okay, that’s too much for me, let me go to a different—let me start something—let me start GI just for...” That’s gut health. “Let me just start something else just to kind of...” and go back to this. That way I can better absorb it later. So there’s a lot of flexibility, which you don’t see in a lot of programs. In a lot of programs you have to complete one module and go to the next. And this way you can jump around and kind of learn what’s best for you, basically.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:17:01] Right. Right on. So, if somebody was thinking about this—so the cool thing is, too, is because this course is launching June 25th—we’re offering—excuse me, June 15th—we’re offering $150 discounts. So the course itself, plus the community, plus the live calls with Beth, is $449. And this is a six-week course. You’re going to get so much value out of it. You’re going to have access to the community, I think, for a total of 12 weeks, and then you’ll have access to the course materials as long as the site stays up.

So I wanted to put that out there so you know what’s up. And if you’re interested in it—and there will be a link in the show notes—you just head over to drruthroberts.com and then search for the Whole Pet Wellness Academy. You’ll be able to find it there. So I think that’s going to be fun. But if somebody is on the fence and they’re like, “Oh my God, my dog has been itching for four out of its six years,” what would you say to them to kind of help them jump off the fence and encourage them to join in?

Beth Hrnciar:
[00:18:14] So, if they’ve been itching from, you know, four out of the six years, then you’ve obviously probably tried everything that a conventional vet can give you. And the definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So, this is—I would say this is a no-brainer for somebody that’s just had ongoing chronic conditions. Because this way it puts the power in your hands, plus you can also go back to your conventional vet and be like, “Well, I learned this. What do you think about this? Can we try that?” There’s so many different things that your conventional vet may not know, simply because they’re busy focusing on what they’re good at. So, I’ve had multiple instances where I’ve found things myself and brought it to my conventional vet, and they’re like, “Oh, I never heard of that before.” So, now you’re helping them expand their knowledge base, as well as being able to involve them continuously in the care.

So, knowledge is power. And it’s put me in a situation—at least personally—where I’ve been able to find things on my animals that my vet didn’t even think was there. And I’ve been able to save my dogs from chronic conditions because we find stuff early, just because I’m aware and I know what’s out there. So, it’s just a tool for your tool bag. And you get to know your animals better. And when you know what your animal’s—you know what you’re looking at, which is when your animal’s healthy and you’re looking at it and you can say, “This is what my healthy animal looks like,” then you’re going to know when there’s something that’s not right. And you’re going to be there before anyone else would notice, so...

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:19:37] Right on. And since you said that, I mean, I think that’s one of the other extremely valuable tools in this course. You have done a video that does a nose-to-tail exam. And that’s it—is that if you’re not doing this sort of thing and checking your dog out, your cat out, on a regular basis, you don’t know where they started and when there’s something new that’s not so good, perhaps, that’s present. So, I think that’s incredibly valuable. The other thing we’ve got are some sheets for you that are fillable PDFs, or you can print them out if you want to. But for you to set up a journal so that you have, “Okay, this is how everything is right now.” And then if I add this in, what happens in two weeks? So that you can see, “Yep, this symptom got better. This one got better. This one got—oh no—this one got worse, actually.”

So, I think that’s something that’s really critical, is the ability to have a record of what’s going on so that you’re not guessing:  “Well, golly, did he have a problem with this or not?” So, I think that will be super helpful, too. Because I get lost. If I’m not writing stuff down with HIO, it’s like, “Wait, what happened when we gave her this again?” And I have to go back to my calendar.

Beth Hrnciar:

[00:21:01] It’s not an exact science with holistic and supplements, things like that. And like what happened with Ty, my dog Ty, who has a skin issue that she’s been dealing with—gave her an FMT pill, which is a fecal transplant, and it made it worse. And I was like, “Oh, God, it’s not supposed to make it worse, it’s supposed to help.” So we had to back off. We had to cut it down into minuscule doses and start small and build it up. And so keeping track of how long you’ve been doing this and seeing results, and then it got too much, so we have to back it back off again—it’s much easier than trying to guess.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:21:34] Right on, right on. Sure. Yeah, keeping notes. That’s so critical, so critical. Cool. So if somebody, even if they’ve got experience using holistic methods to support their pets or if they don’t, what is the one piece of advice you would like to leave our listeners with when they’re starting to think about taking charge of their pet’s health?

Beth Hrnciar:
[00:21:57] Ooh, that’s a tough one.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:21:58] It is.

Beth Hrnciar:
[00:22:00] We kind of just went over it, talking about just knowing your pet. It’s so important—even just knowing how they walk. I advise taking a video of your dog or cat walking and how their gait is. That way, you can detect—God forbid—bone cancers developing, and all of a sudden they’ve picked up just a slight limp. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked up for clients as I’m walking their dog, and all of a sudden I’m like, “So-and-so has a limp today,” and they’re like, “Have you noticed that before?” And they’re like, “No.” And it’s coming from their shoulder. And shoulders can be notorious for bone cancers, things like that. So it could be a life-or-death thing that you pick up early enough that you can treat. And so that’s what I would—I think knowing your pet is the most important thing. Knowing what is normal for your animal. Also being able to shift on the fly, because now he’s a little bit older, so this is the new normal. It’s not unhealthy, it’s just where we’re at, kind of.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:22:59] Right on. Yeah, no, it does. God knows, I’m not doing the things I could do at 50, 10 years later. So, yeah, it’s like, “Ah, yeah.” So—and that’s it. I mean, just understanding what the new normal is is a great way to put it. Cool. So, Beth, in the short term, where can folks find you if they want to check out more of what you do?

Beth Hrnciar:
[00:23:20] I can be reached—if you want to email me—at beth@followmyleadpets.com. My website, which I don’t have a whole lot on yet because I’m too busy running around with the dogs, but that’s followmyleadpets.com. And if you join the course, I’ll be in Circle. So, you’ll be able to find me.

Dr. Ruth Roberts:
[00:23:35] Right on. Sweet. All right, y’all—thanks for listening in.
Check the links below, and the show notes are on YouTube. And follow over to the course—it is launching June 15th. We’ve got an early bird special, so to speak, available until then for $150 off. I am really happy with this course because I think it’s going to give pet parents the tools they need to really start to have a deep understanding. So, thanks for coming on, Beth. I appreciate you so much.  I’m really happy that you’re out here sharing your wisdom with people. And for those of you that are following us, don’t forget to share this information with your friends. Like us. Click us. Subscribe us. All that good stuff. And we hope to see you soon on the next episode.