Hey everyone, welcome to the Houndations podcast. I'm your host, Tony Peterson, and today's

episode is all about putting yourself in a position to watch talented dogs and trainers do their

thing and why this can help all of us level up.

I know this episode probably seems pretty obvious on the surface. If you witness good dogs and

skilled trainers, you'll understand what dogs and people are capable of. But it's not enough to

acknowledge that. It takes more. I know in my life, when I've been exposed to people who could do

something I can do, only way, way better, it has always changed my perspective.

This goes for the outdoor stuff, playing guitar, running, just about anything I thought I was pretty good at until I saw someone who was actually pretty good at it.

Now, it's no different in the world of dogs, which is what I'm going to talk about right now.

You've probably heard of a felon named Machiavelli, or at least heard the term Machiavelli thrown around in conversations about politics, which I won't get into here because I,

like I'm guessing every one of you, is just so tired of having that shit interjected into our lives nonstop under the guise of being informed, but mostly under the pretense of selling ad space on digital platforms.

Machiavelli was born 556 years ago in Italy when the world was a much different place. He was a diplomat and historian,

philosopher, and an author who came to be known for his works regarding political science,

which, fun fact, is what my college degree is in and has been about as useful to my life

as a 10-foot unicycle

would be. The interesting thing about Machiavelli is that his name has become synonymous

with shady and unscrupulous political maneuvering. It's interesting because even back in the

late 1400s and early 1500s, he observed that the more politically savvy members of society, you know, the ones who seemed to be able to make things happen, whether viewed right or wrong, weren't what you'd call super ethical folks.

He called it as he saw it, I guess, and actually, according to some historians in their interpretations, encouraged it.

Now, was he nefarious and just like the slithery politicians he encouraged to keep snaking their

way into higher positions of power and more enrichment for themselves? Maybe. There is a good

case to be made for that argument, but he was also commenting on human nature and he didn't

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