What Animal Training Can Teach Us About Ourselves with Dr. Chris Pachel [Episode 290]

In this episode, Ryan Cartlidge welcomes back Dr. Chris Pachel — veterinarian, veterinary behaviorist, educator, speaker, business owner, and lifelong problem solver with a passion for understanding the complex relationship between animals, people, and their environments. Chris runs the Animal Behavior Clinic in Portland and serves as Vice President of Veterinary Behavior at Instinct Dog Behavior and Training, and he speaks internationally to veterinarians, trainers, and pet owners about behavior, relationships, and well-being. Grounded in curiosity, collaboration, and a desire to move beyond simply fixing behavior towards truly understanding it, Chris brings a fascinating perspective to a conversation about how we can apply the principles of animal training to ourselves.

Together, Ryan and Chris explore the idea that many of the skills we admire in experienced trainers, clinicians, presenters, and communicators aren't innate talents — they're behaviors that can be observed, broken down into approximations, practiced, and strengthened over time. Chris shares how skills he developed through music, performance, drama, and working as part of an ensemble have shaped the way he communicates with clients, audiences, colleagues, and animals. He explains how recording and listening back to his own veterinary consultations became a powerful way to identify patterns, experiment with different choices, and build greater fluency, while Ryan explores how these same principles can be applied to developing our own skills through deliberate practice.

The conversation also dives into the role of community, belonging, safety, and the challenges of navigating emotionally charged interactions. Chris shares the story behind Lima Beings, a community created during the uncertainty of 2020 to explore what it means to show up in the world in ways that are least intrusive and minimally aversive, while remaining curious and invitational even when people disagree. Together, Ryan and Chris consider the parallels between animals going over threshold and humans experiencing overwhelm, burnout, and emotional fatigue — and how identifying an appropriate "stimulus gradient" can help us find opportunities to practise skills without becoming overwhelmed.

Chris also shares practical strategies for working with our own behaviour, including the "ask why five times" exercise, recognising patterns before they take over, using small approximations to build new skills, allowing ourselves "10,000