Advertise on podcast: The Long Leash with James Jacobson

Service members in the United States face unfathomable difficulties throughout their careers. The last thing they need to worry about is their pet's care while they are away fighting for their country. The unconditional love of a canine companion can be one of the best things in the world, and those in service shouldn’t have to miss out on that. But what happens to their dogs when they are deployed? Speaking with us today is Alisa Johnson, CEO of Dogs on Deployment. She and her husband, Sean, co-founded the nonprofit “dating service” that matches military personnel about to deploy with volunteers to care for their pets while they are away. Sean served as a Navy helicopter pilot, and Alisa as a Marine Corps, KC-130J transportation pilot and aircraft commander. Together, they have helped over 2,500 pets find boarding homes and have granted more than $850,000 to military pet owners. About Dogs On Deployment DoD is a 501(c)(3) national non-profit which provides an online network for service members to search for volunteers who are willing to board their pets during their owner's service commitments. Dogs on Deployment promotes responsible, life-long pet ownership by military pet owners by advocating for military pet owner rights, providing educational resources and granting financial assistance for military pet owners during times of emergency. https://www.dogsondeployment.org/ About Alisa Johnson Captain Alisa Sieber-Johnson served active duty in the US Marine Corps for nine years and was a KC-130J transportation pilot and aircraft commander. During her service, she found herself in need for a program like Dogs on Deployment (DoD) for her own dog due to a military commitment, when none existed. With an entrepreneurial spirit and the support of her husband, Shawn, she launched and grew DoD while simultaneously serving. Now a veteran, she proudly runs DoD full time. She is also a mother of two young daughters, two dogs, and one cat. About The Long Leash Thank you for joining us! Dogs know that the most delicious and nourishing treats are often found on the ground. In “The Long Leash,” we rescue tasty scraps from the editing room floor in an unscripted interview show If you have enjoyed listening, please SUBSCRIBE so you’ll never miss out! Check out Dog Podcast Network for other dog-adjacent shows. Follow us in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Martha Teichner's journalist career started in 1977, and she has reported on every topic you can think of. Her incredible voice and poised presence has been the vehicle through which we’ve learned about war, apartheid, pandemics, politics, and so much more. Since 1993, Teichner has entered our living rooms every week as a correspondent on CBS Sunday Morning. So, when Teichner’s first book was published, many were surprised. It wasn’t about politics, or behind the scenes at the network, or about her work overseas. For decades Martha Teichner brought us the world, but in her memoir, she brings us her world. When Harry Met Minnie is a “tail” of love and friendship. A chance encounter leads to Teichner’s brilliant new friendship with a dying woman named Carol Fertig, and a love match between two bull terriers. They say that we don’t rescue dogs, but they rescue us … and it often feels like we are fated to be together. For Teichner, the guiding hand of fate is evident from the first moment she hears Carol’s name to the bonding of Harry and Minnie. And all along the way, this remarkable storyteller details how she came to understand the real meaning of love and saying yes to fate. Whether you believe in fate or not, if you believe in friends, and you believe in dogs, this episode is a must-listen. About Martha Teichner  Martha Teichner has been a correspondent for “CBS Sunday Morning” since December 1993, where she’s equally adept at covering major breaking national and international news stories as she is handling in-depth cultural and arts topics. Since joining CBS News in 1977, Teichner has earned multiple national awards for her original reporting, including twelve Emmy Awards and five James Beard Foundation Awards. Teichner was also part of team coverage of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, which earned CBS News a 2014 duPont-Columbia Award. Teichner was born in Traverse City, Michigan. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. She attended the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business Administration. Teichner resides in New York City.  https://celadonbooks.com/book/when-harry-met-minnie/ Social Media Links @CeladonBooks @CBSSunday About The Long Leash Thank you for joining us! Dogs know that the most delicious and nourishing treats are often found on the ground. In “The Long Leash,” we rescue tasty scraps from the editing room floor in an unscripted interview show If you have enjoyed listening, please SUBSCRIBE so you’ll never miss out! Check out Dog Podcast Network for other dog-adjacent shows. Follow us in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The war is reaching far beyond Ukraine's borders. Fear and loss can be felt across continents and oceans. But what can also be felt is the incredible resiliency and determination of the Ukrainian people and those who want to help. One helper is Irish mom Debbie Deegan. She is no stranger to Russia, having traveled there over 500 times in the past 25 years. Her non-profit To Russia with Love (later renamed To Children with Love) worked to help improve the lives of Russian orphans. She even received Russia’s highest commendation for foreign nationals for her work and dined with Vladimir Putin as an esteemed guest. On today’s show, Debbie tells us how she and her team transformed the lives of Russian children, the challenges of winning the trust of the locals, building self-confidence in the children, and teaching how to nurture. By chance, Debbie closed her non-profit mere days before the war in Ukraine began. But it turned out that her work on behalf of children wasn’t complete. When she heard about a fleeing Ukrainian family that was forced to leave their dog, Debbie jumped to help reunite 86-year-old Granny with her beloved fur-kid, Tasha. Whether it's helping orphans or reuniting an elderly grandma refugee with her beloved dog, Debbie’s compassion and pragmatic, action-oriented nature is inspiring … and an excellent role model for dog lovers in any nation. About Debbie Deegan Debbie is the Founder and CEO of To Children With Love. She has been working tirelessly in Russia since 1998 with the orphaned and abandoned children of the Bryansk Region. What started off as one woman’s promise to a child that she would come back to hug and kiss them has grown into a successful charity, doing life-changing work with thousands of orphaned and abandoned children across the Russian Federation.  In 2018 Debbie received the highest honor in Russia when she was given the Order of Friendship Award by President Vladimir Putin at a special ceremony in the Kremlin.  Debbie has a Diploma in Child Psychology, has studied Life Coaching and has taken many personal development courses during her years running the charity. She does not feel it is necessary to have letters after your name to make a huge difference in this world. Passion, combined with hard work, is her personal motto.  Debbie Deegan’s website: https://www.debbie-deegan.com/ Debbie’s blog: https://www.debbie-deegan.com/blog-2 Video of Tasha and Granny reunion: twitter ruinion About The Long Leash Thank you for joining us! Dogs know that the most delicious and nourishing treats are often found on the ground. In “The Long Leash,” we rescue tasty scraps from the editing room floor in an unscripted interview show If you have enjoyed listening, please SUBSCRIBE so you’ll never miss out!  Check out Dog Podcast Network for other dog-adjacent shows. Follow us in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Bomback had never made anyone cry with previous films. He is best known for action-packed movies like The War of Planet of the Apes and Total Recall. But after reading the best-selling book The Art of Racing in the Rain by author Garth Stein, Bomback did two things: adopted his yellow lab Jagger and wrote a tear-jerking-screenplay. A golden retriever, Enzo (voice by Kevin Costner) believes that after dogs die, they are reincarnated as a human. This philosophy drives Enzo to learn everything he can from his racecar driving human played by Milo Ventimiglia. Enzo helps his family navigate moments of joy and great sorrow, paying close attention in the hopes that next time, he can be one of them. Join host James Jacobson for a moving and funny conversation with Mark Bomback about love, dogs, and Enzo’s philosophy. About Mark Bomback In 1994 Mark Bomback got his first job: as an assistant for Eagles' guitarist Glenn Frey. He held that job for a year before going on to become a screenwriter. His first credited screenplay was The Night Caller (1998). He has since gone on to co-write the scripts for numerous blockbuster films, including Live Free or Die Hard (2007), The Wolverine (2013) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014). He's also done uncredited rewrites on several other high-profile films, such as Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), Logan (2017) and The Mummy (2017.) His most recent project is the crime drama miniseries Defending Jacob produced by Apple TV+, and the American war drama film White Bird: A Wonder Story (2022). The Art of Racing in the Rain on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1478839/ About The Long Leash Thank you for joining us! Dogs know that the most delicious and nourishing treats are often found on the ground. In “The Long Leash,” we rescue tasty scraps from the editing room floor in an unscripted interview show If you have enjoyed listening, please SUBSCRIBE so you’ll never miss out!  Check out Dog Podcast Network for other dog-adjacent shows. Follow us in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Loki the Wolf Dog is officially Instagram Famous with nearly 2 million followers. The gorgeous Husky/Malamute/Wolf takes his human Kelly Lund on grand nature adventures, from crunching through hard snow in Grand Teton National Park to wading through the calm waters of Baja California. Kelly’s girlfriend Ally Couke and her dog Bailey trek beside them, while the rest of us scroll their stunning feed and drool. Their mission? To get us OFF our phones … so we can explore the world and make memories with our dogs. On today’s episode, Kelly reveals what it REALLY takes to make your pup photo-famous. He also digs into the unique challenges that arise when you include a wolf mix in your pack. Want to “hear” Loki’s Instafeed? Listen to our sister show DOG EDITION to hear some gorgeous audio postcards we created to narrate Loki’s Instagram adventures: Back to Nature with Our Dogs About Loki the Wolf Dog Loki the Wolf Dog is one of the most famous dogs on Instagram. His feed is chock-a-block with outdoor adventures with Kelly Lund, and his girlfriend Ally. The photos and videos they create are journal entries in a life well lived. Whether running through meadows or across beaches, snowboarding or driving 10,000 miles to Alaska, Loki and Kelly inspire us to get out, explore the world, and make memories with our own dogs. Must-follow for gorgeous images. Loki the Wolf Dog: https://www.lokithewolfdog.com/ Loki on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loki/ About The Long Leash Thank you for joining us! Dogs know that the most delicious and nourishing treats are often found on the ground. In “The Long Leash,” we rescue tasty scraps from the editing room floor in an unscripted interview show If you have enjoyed listening, please SUBSCRIBE so you’ll never miss out!  Check out Dog Podcast Network for other dog-adjacent shows. Follow us in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly Conaboy was an accomplished New York Magazine writer when she fostered – and quickly adopted – Peter, a small black dog. The quintessential New Yorker (currently writing for Gawker) found herself obsessed with her new roommate. As she rearranged her life to share it with Peter, she generated endless ideas for magazine stories … all of which were based on her own obsession with this amazing, soulful creature. Her editors indulged Conaboy’s story pitches … to a point. When they finally told her “No more Peter-inspired stories,” she had to find another outlet. She turned to “dogoir” and penned her own canine memoir about her life with Peter. The book is, like Conaboy, very funny. It’s also heartwarming. THE PARTICULARS OF PETER: Dance Lessons, DNA Tests, and Other Excuses to Hang Out with My Perfect Dog, takes the reader on a journey with Peter and Kelly as they seek to understand the very essence of Peter. Along the way they encounter and engage veterinarians, ghost hunters, dog dancers, and ethicists. In this wide-ranging conversation, Conaboy reveals how her specific writing style is driven by her own quirky view of the world – and how Peter’s entrance amped up her unique blend of humor, reportage, and memoir. The Particulars of Peter: Dance Lessons, DNA Tests, and Other Excuses to Hang Out with My Perfect Dog by Kelly Conaboy is available everywhere books are sold. My Dog Tulip by J.R. Ackerley is available everywhere books are sold. About Kelly Conaboy Kelly Conaboy is a writer living in Brooklyn, NY. She is author of the book The Particulars of Peter, and is currently a senior features writer at Gawker. Website: https://www.kellyconaboy.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/kellyconaboy Instagram: https://instagram.com/kellyconaboy About The Long Leash  Thank you for joining us. If you have enjoyed listening, please SUBSCRIBE so you’ll never miss out!   Check out Dog Podcast Network for other dog-adjacent shows.  Follow us in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Angela Medlin is a design expert who designed products and directed creatives at brands like Nike, Adidas, Levi Strauss, and the North Face. But this self-described closet-entrepreneur always had side hustles … and in 2017 her dog, Wubbi, inspired her to start House Dogge, a collection of thoughtfully designed, sustainable, safe products for dogs AND their people. There are literally thousands – tens of thousands – of steps every designer takes on the road from idea to product creation to market, and Medlin has thirty years of experience to light her way. She also has something else: fifty years of closely observing her own dogs, and her own self in relation to them. Today Medlin joins us for a deep dive into the mindset behind her “overnight success” in her new business. She shares how taking Oprah’s advice to be authentic to herself and use intuition to guide her steps helped her at every step of her career … and to eventually draw the attention of Oprah’s Favorite Things. She also discusses the lonely experience of being a person of color in a field with fewer than 1% POC … and the way things have changed in recent years, as more Americans have come to appreciate the achievements of her and other BIPOC talents. Medlin also reveals how her English Bulldog, Wubbi, taught her not only to care about carcinogen-free dog toys, but also how to greet new friends and how to choose the best spot in the room. This thoughtful, absorbing, and clear conversation is, like Medlin’s toys and clothing, well-crafted, carefully considered, and refreshingly uncomplicated. About Angela Medlin Angela Medlin’s career experience as a professional product Designer and Director at brands that include Nike/ Jordan Brand, Adidas, Levi Strauss, The North Face, and other global companies lead her to this moment. She spent the majority of her career leading design teams in creating products that solve problems for the human consumer. Now, Medlin is using this same passion and extensive career experience to do the same for the canine consumers in House Dogge. The well being of dogs (and the people who love them) is prioritized in these nontoxic, sustainable, and beautiful products that address both consumers holistically. The brand has been featured in Oprah’s O magazine, Sunset, Better Homes & Gardens, Design Milk, and others. Consumers can purchase product on HouseDogge.com, dog boutiques, select home interior stores, and design specialty shops. Creating products that support dogs and their people is priority for the House Dogge Brand. The small batch collections continue to evolve prioritizing comfort, sustainability, and modern simplicity. In addition, Medlin is a creative mentor, serves as a design leader on multiple advisory boards, and is the Founder of the FAAS DESIGN COLLAB (www.faasdesigncollab.com) which provides creative and professional development to underrepresented creatives desiring to enter the product creation industry. House Dogge website: https://www.housedogge.com/ House Dogge on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/housedogge/ House Dogge on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/housedogge/ FAAS Design Collab: www.faasdesigncollab.com About The Long Leash  Thank you for joining us. If you have enjoyed listening, please SUBSCRIBE so you’ll never miss out!   Check out Dog Podcast Network for other dog-adjacent shows.  Follow us in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ward Serrill wore three-piece suits and thought it was normal to go without touch when his accounting firm sent him north to a small town in Alaska. In that wild place, however, he touched a wild force within himself, one that called him to go further. Further up the river, into the wilderness, into the cold, into himself. And his companion on this years-long self-isolation experiment? A Labrador named Woody, the pick of the litter, the prize pup he wrangled out of the breeder’s hands. Alone in a shack and finally confronting his childhood demons – his mother’s suicide attempt while pregnant with him, his father’s alcoholism and violence – Ward found himself relying on Woody for basic lessons about being human. The dog, raised in a loving and positive environment, became a model for the man. Ward learned what companionship, touch, and authenticity can do to the heart. Ward’s extraordinary story of emerging from the devastation of a terrible childhood by following the lead of a dog is captured in his extraordinary memoir, To Crack the World Open. The award-winning documentary filmmaker joins us for a heart-to-heart conversation about love, dogs, healing, and how imagination can often conjure up our best self-therapy. To Crack the World Open on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Crack-World-Open-Solitude-Alaska-ebook/dp/B08XZMFY7C Ward Serrill’s website: https://wardserrill.com/ Production House website: https://woodycreekpictures.com/ Ward Serrill on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2024238/ Ward Serrill on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wardserrill/?hl=en Ward Serrill on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ward.serrill Ward Serill on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjCICnd1LaoPHNn9wNVXYuw About Ward Serrill Ward Serrill is the award-winning writer and director of The Heart of the Game, released by Miramax to wide critical acclaim as well as The Bowmakers. He has created more than ninety short films including Building One House with Robert Redford and Wild America with Sissy Spacek. His fourth feature, Dancing with the Dead: the Life and Times of Red Pine, is in production. Ward’s memoir, To Crack the World Open – Solitude, Alaska, and a Dog Named Woody is published by Girl Friday Books. About The Long Leash  Thank you for joining us. If you have enjoyed listening, please SUBSCRIBE so you’ll never miss out!   Check out Dog Podcast Network for other dog-adjacent shows.  Follow us in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leo Trottier isn’t the first scientist to get interested in inter-species communication – he credits Charles Darwin as the first modern mind to recognize that animals are not “dumb beasts” but our intellectual cousins. But this life-long animal lover has done more than most cognitive scientists and learning experts to confirm it, with his “talking buttons” that help pets communicate directly with their human partners. It turns out that you’re not crazy to think that you and your dog are communicating nonverbally. It’s possible, in fact, for dogs to ask for their preferred treats (even when there is no button for it), make a plan for the future, talk about their dreams, and even express grief. Today’s conversation is rich in fact and meaning and emotion, just like a dog’s mind is. In this fascinating discussion, an excellent science communicator explains how and why better inter-species conversations are important … not just for the personal lives of the animals involved, but for the broader collective good. Our companion animals may lead lives of quiet frustration. By speaking with each other, could we alleviate the epidemic of human loneliness that medical professionals consider a huge risk factor? Reduce behavioural problems that result in huge levels of euthanasia for companion animals? Increase the empathy levels in humans for our own and other species? Dog brains are not dramatically different than human brains … and yet, we feel surprise and delight when our dogs do something unexpected. Welcome to Leo Trottier’s world, where he and his teams give dogs (and other animals) the tools they need to connect with us. Don’t be surprised if, in a year or two, you’re getting a text message from your dog. See the video of the cat grieving their friend here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PetsWithButtons/comments/rr0fwq/pets_grieve_too_i_had_to_put_down_two_of_my_15/ FluentPet website: https://fluent.pet/ Tips, Tricks, Do’s and Don’ts from the community: https://www.theycantalk.org/ Forum where you can ask questions: https://how.theycantalk.org/c/home The original talking buttons on CleverPet: https://clever.pet/ FluentPet on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fluentpet/ FluentPet on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FluentPet FluentPet on Twitter: https://twitter.com/fluentpet About Leo Trottier Leo Trottier is a unique blend of cognitive scientist, software engineer, product designer, and entrepreneur. He is founder and CEO of CleverPet, a startup that uses smart hardware to teach pets automatically through advanced cognitive and behavioral science techniques. Leo is an alumnus of San Diego’s EvoNexus and the Qualcomm Robotics Accelerator (powered by Techstars). He has a degree from the cognitive science and A.I. program at the University of Toronto, and started CleverPet while a PhD candidate at UC San Diego. Before CleverPet, Leo ran Scholarpedia, Wikipedia’s academic equivalent, where he worked with Nobel Laureates to “wikify scholarly canons.” About The Long Leash  Thank you for joining us. If you have enjoyed listening, please SUBSCRIBE so you’ll never miss out!   Check out Dog Podcast Network for other dog-adjacent shows.  Follow us in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tracy Rosensteel, the entrepreneur behind Pooch Papers, got the idea for her product while walking her Frenchie, Indiana Jones, in New York City. There they were, on every corner – garbage cans stuffed with single-use plastic bags filled with methane-emitting dog poop. Not only was it stinky, it was very bad for the environment – and soon would be illegal, as single-use plastics are starting to banned in the U.S. Rosensteel, a super-savvy business woman, knew there was a better way to pick up poop. And she was right. Her Pooch Papers are made from recycled paper, are completely biodegradable, and cut back on both methane and PFAS – those terrible micro-plastics that are polluting our soil and water. In this wide-ranging and delightful conversation, Tracy talks about her work in the financial industry, her love for her dogs, and what it was really like to appear on Shark Tank and make her pitch. About Tracy Rosensteel A passionate entrepreneur, Tracy has spent the last twenty-five years launching businesses spanning industries from Wall Street to travel television shows, authoring children's books and her most recent endeavor, Pooch Paper. Made in the USA, Pooch Paper seeks to replace plastic doggie waste bags by offering a PFAS-free paper alternative to plastic, reducing microplastic, methane and plastic waste in landfills each year.  An avid adventurer, Tracy has participated in such hobbies as piloting single-engine airplanes, fly-fishing, competing in single, four and eight-man rowing sculls and playing on an all-men's ice hockey team. Passionate about life, Tracy is very excited about giving back to our beautiful planet with Pooch Paper, paving a cleaner way one pup at a time! https://www.poochpaper.com https://www.instagram.com/poochpaper https://www.facebook.com/poochpaper  https://youtu.be/YTeZI9oy3DA https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracy-rosensteel-a61b256/ About The Long Leash  Thank you for joining us. If you have enjoyed listening, please SUBSCRIBE so you’ll never miss out!   Check out Dog Podcast Network for other dog-adjacent shows.  Follow us in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want to learn more about dogs (and cats) without learning more about dogs (and cats)? Pick up an Amy Shojai thriller. She’s written several, and while they are gripping narratives, they’re also entertaining ways to learn about animal psychology. Her September and Shadow novels in particular are informed by decades of experience writing non-fiction pet books and helping clients as a certified animal behavior consultant (CABC). In this wide-ranging and entertaining conversation, Shojai explains how her constant self-reinvention helps her career, how her dog overcame her resistance to adopting during the pandemic, how the rise of the internet made new stories and storytelling possible, and why dogs are people with fur … and cats are space aliens. About Amy Shojai Amy Shojai is a certified animal behavior consultant, and the award-winning author of 35+ dog (and cat) care books. She also writes the pet-centric thriller series featuring an animal behaviorist and her PTSD service dog.  amy@shojai.com  https://www.SHOJAI.COM  https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/redwood-labs/showpage/uploads/images/1c028183ee1b491499ced1ec8f70d1dd.jpg  Author  https://www.twitter.com/amyshojai  https://www.instagram.com/amyshojai  https://www.facebook.com/amyshojai.cabc  https://www.youtube.com/amyshojai-cabc  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyshojai/  https://www.pinterest.com/amyshojai  https://www.tiktok.com/@amyshojai_cabc  https://www.amazon.com/Amy-Shojai/e/B000APBYV4  About The Long Leash  Thank you for joining us. If you have enjoyed listening, please SUBSCRIBE so you’ll never miss out!   Check out Dog Podcast Network for other dog-adjacent shows.  Follow us in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jenna Mahan has seen a few things in her fifteen years as a registered veterinary technician and her ten years in Claims at Embrace Pet Insurance. She joins us today for a sometimes hilarious, uncensored, no BS story session. She’s been in on some of the weirdest dog-related stories we’ve ever heard, from a bulldog whose vomit smelled like wine (but wasn’t) to finding a cat in the most unexpected place you can imagine. Along the way she has tons of advice about hazards our pets face during the holiday season and how to avoid them … from strangling Christmas lights to tinsel to pancreatitis problems. She also offers advice about how to evaluate your own pet insurance needs and touches on the business of pet insurance itself, and how the “wide open market” in the U.S., where only 2% of pet owners have it, is attracting opportunists. An enlightening and entertaining conversation with a woman who has dedicated her career to helping people in crisis help their pets. About Jenna Mahan After 15 years working as a registered veterinary technician, Jenna joined Embrace as a claims adjuster in 2011. Jenna was promoted to lead, then manager, and was made Director of Claims and Chief Underwriter in 2017, leading a team of nearly 50 Embracers. Jenna is responsible for implementing time-saving system changes and advancements that get Embrace policyholders’ claims processed quickly and efficiently. Jenna began her career with an associate degree in Applied Science in Veterinary Technology and went on to receive her bachelor’s degree in Biology with minors in Chemistry and Theater from Bowling Green State University. She has five Embraced fur-kids — dogs Hazel, Lou, and Charlie; and cats Quinn and Harry.  https://www.embracepetinsurance.com/  About The Long Leash  Thank you for joining us. If you have enjoyed listening, please SUBSCRIBE so you’ll never miss out!   Check out Dog Podcast Network for other dog-adjacent shows.  Follow us in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices