Episode 12-
Rick Campbell
Dr. Rick Campbell on ‘Understanding The Two Legged Animal’
Pets are, in many ways, a mirror to ourselves. If we care for and invest time in them, you're going to see that reflected back at you ten-fold. And today's guest certainly understands the complex world of animals and how to keep them happy. Dr. Rick Cambell, the owner of Willow Creek Pet Center, the largest veterinary group practice in the United States. In the world of veterinary medicine, Rick is extraordinary. He's treated thousands upon thousands of animals across his career and was one of the first people to recognize the importance of early years training for puppies.
For Rick, it's never been about the money. Like many extraordinary people, he's always sought to serve. He's been described as a "continuous learner that strives to be the best in all he does''. After a difficult childhood, Rick spent time in the military before deciding to pursue a career in veterinary medicine.
Resources
Follow your curiosity, connect, and join our ever-growing community of extraordinary minds.
Willow Creek Pet Center Website
What's In This Episode
-
Rick opens up about his difficult upbringing
-
How does Rick approach leadership?
-
Rick’s proudest career achievement
-
How to understand the ‘two legged animal’
Transcript
Recording:
Extraordinary.
Leader.
Innovative.
Integrity.
Courageous.
Curious.
Thoughtful.
Brave.
Unafraid.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
There is a place where technology and art meet, where work and play are one and the same. When the threads of curiosity are pulled in this place, the spark of innovation ripples across industries. Those who make this place their home are giants. Titans, who pursue creative passion while leaving their mark.
Recording:
Creative.
Flexible.
Brilliant.
Clever.
Confident.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
They are courageous thought leaders set on changing the practice of dentistry and their corner of the world. More than the sum of their parts, we deconstruct the traits that bind these uncommon innovators.
Recording:
Humble.
Daring.
Disciplined.
Playful
Principled
Spontaneous
Open.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
To discover what makes them Contrary to Ordinary, where we explore the extraordinary.
Hi there. I'm Dr. Kim Kutsch, host and founder at CariFree. I'm fascinated by what makes the paradigm shifters, world shakers and art makers, tick. Let's embark on a journey. Extraordinary is a place where ordinary people choose to exist. Together we will trek the peaks of possibility, illuminate the depths of resilience, and navigate the boundless landscape of innovation to discover how some of the most innovative dentists and thought leaders unlock their potential and became extraordinary.
On this season of Contrary to Ordinary will continue to explore the motivation lives and character of the innovators who see limitless potential around them. In this episode, we're going to be talking about the four-legged creatures that bring so many of us, joy, our pets. We'll be returning to dentistry soon enough, but I'm excited to include some conversations with extraordinary people that will expand your horizons and make you think a little differently. Pets are, in many ways, a mirror to ourselves. If we care for and invest time in them, you're going to see all that reflected back at you tenfold. If you neglect them, well, you get the idea.
My guest today is Dr. Rick Campbell, the retired founder of Willow Creek Pet Center, the largest veterinary group practice in the United States. In the world of veterinary medicine, Rick is extraordinary. He's treated thousands upon thousands of animals across his career and was one of the first people to recognize the importance of early years training for dogs. For Rick, it's never been about money. Like many extraordinary people, he's always sought to serve. He's been described as a continuous learner that strives to be the best in all he does. Rick and I actually studied together at Westminster University, and I'm so blessed to be able to call him my friend. But let's go back to the beginning.
What did growing up look like for a young Rick Campbell?
Dr. Rick Campbell:
I was the middle child of three. I have an older sister who passed away recently and a younger sister. And I grew up on the East Bench in Salt Lake City, which at that time was kind of a rural neighborhood because we had orchards around us and things like that. And sadly, it was a very, let's say, religious neighborhood to Utah. And my parents ended up getting a divorce and consequently leaving my mother, who hadn't even finished her high school education to raise three kids and put the roof over our head. And my father, who was told to pay $50 per child per month, he never paid a nickel. I was basically told to, Hey, you better get a job. You need to work. So I started out mowing lawns and delivering newspapers and doing all kinds of things to earn income. And when it came time for new school clothes, I paid for them. That's the way it was, the way I was growing up. My father basically disappeared from my life from the age of 10 till 25. And during that time, I was fatherless, so I had to make my way by myself.
And this was back in the sixties when we had the good old Vietnam War going on, and consequently, the draft was looming over my head and everybody and their brother was running from that. And we had this lottery system. And lo and behold, I was trying to work full-time and go to school, and it just wasn't working. So I thought to myself, why not enlist in the Navy? So I did. And first of all, they gave me these entrance tests and I scored really, really high on them and so high that they said what you'd be best suited for would be in top-secret communications.
So I got my clearance and I went to this A school in Florida, and it was a very, very competitive intense course for eight months with 25 classmates. And at the end of the eight months, I missed the boat by one point where the person who came in first in that class got to declare where in the world he wanted to spend his enlisted life. So he got to go to London, England, and do embassy duty there for the next four years. And me, on the other hand, well, they dumped me in North Africa, which at that time I was thinking, oh gosh, this has got to be a horrible place. Horrible, horrible. Well, while all of my friends were at home listening to the Marrakesh Express, I was over in North Africa riding the Marrakesh Express. And consequently, the military gave me something that a lot of young guys don't get, is discipline. And when I met you, Kim, you had not only discipline, but you also had direction, a goal you wanted to achieve. I got my discipline, which I hadn't had before from the military, and that also gave me the GI Bill, which helped me pay for my education once I was discharged from the military.
But it also gave me a way to continue on with what I wanted to do. So after the military, I came back and I was just energized. I was what, 23, 24, 25, something like that. And I got accepted the University of New Mexico where I really, really excelled. I mean, I was off the charts down there, but it wasn't home. I wanted to come home. And my family had dispersed. And so I ended up coming back to the University of Utah, which sadly I got rather disgusted with because here I was 25 years old sitting in classes, which were taught by television with 17 and 18-year-olds. And when you raise your hand with a question in a television class, nobody calls upon you. I ended up transferring to Westminster where I met Kim on my first class there at the interim class in January, and we hit it off really, really well, and we both had these goals and he had a better direction than I did. But anyway, I kept on pursuing top grades in mathematics, biology, physics, et cetera, and I achieved those goals.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
I'm listening to your story here. So you were fatherless really from age 10 to 25.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Correct.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
I look at that age period, particularly teenage years for boys. Those are really critical years to have a male figure in your life. So did you have any kind of mentor or somebody in your life at that point in time that mentored you?
Dr. Rick Campbell:
I did have some father-like figures. One was an uncle of mine, several of them were past employers of mine. I learned early on that I really, really enjoyed work. My uncle, he kind of took me under his wing when my family fell apart and said, "Here kid, come on down here and you're going to work with me in the shop." And he had an automobile dealership right down here in downtown Salt Lake.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Oh, wow.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Only about four blocks from here. And my uncle was a unique car dealer. He never came to work in a flashy suit with a flashy tie. No, no, no, no. Uncle Milt, he was decked out in his blue greasy monkey suit, and he was always in the back shop, and he was a master mechanic. He could fix anything, and I marveled at what he could do, but he was, let's say he had a short fuse. And so consequently, I knew it and I'd seen what had happened. And so I never, ever wanted to cross Milt who was, I don't even think he made it to 5′ 2″ whatever he wanted, I got it for him immediately.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
What kind of things did you learn from him that you carried forward in your life that you would consider that was a really valuable learning experience or a valuable trait that had an impact on you?
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Well, the funny thing was his service manager, because Milt was the master mechanic in the back. His service manager, his name was Kermit, and Kermit was this ... he used to be the Mercedes-Benz National Mechanical instructor. Okay.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Oh, wow.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
And then he came back to work and he just went to work for Milt. And Kermit was an amazing man, and I saw how he had to deal with people. And the two-legged animal is a difficult one to understand, and here again, you don't want to cross them when their car's not prepared at the time that you promised. So everybody had to hustle to get things done so that clients would come back the appointed time and have their car finished to their satisfaction.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Rick's certainly right about the two-legged animal being challenging to understand At times, we can be irrational, hardheaded, and completely immovable for reasons only known to ourselves. But then again, there's a lot of joy to be had in working with people. I've certainly found a lot of satisfaction in the small moments of hope and happiness I've had with patients on their care journey. When I was growing up, I lived on a farm.
After school, me and my sister would play with our dog for hours and hours. I would say that he was probably my best friend. These- were the days before computers or smartphones, of course. So we'd stay outside until it was time for dinner. So did Rick have a moment where he decided he was going to dedicate his life to animals?
Dr. Rick Campbell:
That's a very good question because when I was 10, I had a friend named Dwayne. His grandfather had a ranch, farm, whatever, up in Northern Utah, and I'd go there periodically every Saturday with he and his grandfather, and we'd work all day long on the farm, and then his granddad would take us down to the local store and we'd get a Nehi Grape, and that was the greatest thing ever. But we both talked about becoming a veterinarian then.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
So this is something in your life journey. Early in your life, you thought about being a veterinarian?
Dr. Rick Campbell:
I thought about it, but the thing was, because of my circumstances, I didn't think I was worthy of it.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Sure.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
And that's what I had to change. And honestly, you were there when I broke it to the world. We were sitting on your combine, and I told you, I said, "I'm changing direction from this way to this way."
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
I think you were heading into oceanography or something at the time. Yeah, yeah, I remember that. Well, kudos to you. I mean, Rick, you've made such a huge impact as a veterinarian on so many people's lives and so many animals over the years, I think of 146 employees and 10 veterinary doctors that you got to mentor, what a loss for the world that would've been. I'm sure you'd have been an unbelievable oceanographer, but you certainly had the skill and that inner drive and that talent. Like I say, I call you the dog whisperer, and I think that title is well-earned.
Looking back, you had some real challenges growing up. How did young Rick deal with challenges?
Dr. Rick Campbell:
I learned early on that if I worked, I could earn. If I could earn, then I could survive. And so consequently, I didn't want to get muddled down into the family's income, so I would go off and work. That was my escape, and I kept on working at all these varieties of jobs in all types of things.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Looking back at your life and where you are today, do you ever just look back in amazement and go like, wow, how did this happen? How did I really get here?
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Yeah.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Do you ever look at that?
Dr. Rick Campbell:
I do. I stand in amazement. I never ever thought I was going to have this large veterinary practice. That was never the goal. The goal was having clients come in, addressing their problems with their pets to the best knowledge I could give them, and go home and be happy that their pet is healthy with the greatest best outcome. And that's what I mentored all of the staff because, in a lot of ways, a lot of people that work in the veterinary business are introverts.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Well, that's true. I think in a lot of healthcare professions, which is kind of ironic.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
It is. And so what I would have to do is teach them, okay, what job do you want to do? And if they came in as a veterinarian, I would have to say, okay, you're looking at me. You're signing a contract with me and you're expecting all of this from me, but I got news from you. It's going to come from what you do and how you please that client and how you please that patient because as we all know, especially in this day and age, it's very easy to get a one-star review, but it's near impossible to get a five-star review.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
And the bad news there is somebody that leaves a one-star review tells 11 people on average about you, and the person that leaves a five-star review tells two people or less.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Agreed.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Bad news travels faster than good news, I think. We as a human race tend to be so critical and so quick to judge.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
No one's perfect. The funny thing about it, now that I'm retired, I intentionally go out there and put five-star reviews everywhere I can. And every time somebody asks me, how did I do? And I'll tell them simply, you did great here. Maybe you need a little help here, but at least I'm pushing them in a positive direction. And that's what I did with our staff, and that's how the staff grew. Let me tell you about one thing. We were the first veterinary hospital in the state of Utah to become computerized. Then we were the first veterinary hospital to provide benefits for our staff. And we invested in their training. Consequently, our staff was very, very much sought after by all of these neighboring veterinary hospitals.
And by golly, every few weeks or month or so, somebody had come and knock on my office door and say, Hey, Dr. Rick, can I have a few words with you? And I'd say, sure, come on in. Sit down. Can I get you a cold bottle of water? And they'd say, well, I've got some bad news to tell you. And I'd say, what's that? And they'd say, well, so-and-so veterinary clinic down the road there, they've offered me a far better deal, a far better job and everything like that. They were expecting to have me blow up. And I simply looked at them and said, the one thing I've always wanted you to do was climb the ladder of success and become successful at what you're doing. So if by golly, if going down there for a better job is going to be better for you, I'm all at for the whole thing.
But if you get down there and you find out that hey, hey, hey, what they told you, what they promised you did not come true, then remember one thing. And they'd say, what's that? And I'd say, the door you're walking out of will always be open for you to return. And after all those years, decades as a veterinarian, I had 146 employees, and I swear over two-thirds of them had left and come back.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Oh, wow. That's a real testament.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Well, guess what? When they came back, they were even better than they were before. They appreciated it.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
I was going to say they didn't know what they had. They appreciated it more when they came back and probably felt even luckier to be in the position that they were in.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
It goes back to this negativity. People need to have choices.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
I think not condemning people for making the best choice for themselves is such a fresh and much needed approach, and it ultimately caused a lot of talent to boomerang back around into Rick's world. I think a lot of people in positions of power can learn from Rick and how he's fostered the talent of the future with kindness. You can probably tell already that Rick is a pretty optimistic guy, but has he always been a positive person?
Dr. Rick Campbell:
I believe I am. But it's become more and more programmed and learned too, because everybody and their brother's going to have hard times in their life that that's what life is all about.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Everybody gets it. Yeah.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Everybody. Rather than having you say, oh gosh, why is this happening to me? We should be saying, gosh, what did I just learn from this experience and how can I move on in a better direction? That should be our response, and it's something that you'll enjoy. Okay. When I was in veterinary school, boy, it was intense learning, science, pharmacology, surgery, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, lots. And then when I got out, I went to work in the San Francisco Bay Area, and then I learned, wow, there's a huge difference between the academic life back there at Colorado State University where every animal that came into that hospital was the creme de la creme. They were the best of the best. So you'd have these enormous bulls and these enormous stallions and attack-trained dogs and all kinds of animals like this that were, guess what? They were all well-behaved,
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Wow. Right.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
And then I get out in the real world in California and the animal becomes, oh yeah, he lives out in the backyard. He's our backyard ornament. We don't care for him. We just throw him some food and water once in a while, and that's that. And then they're wondering why on earth is he so misbehaved? So you hear about all of these no-kill shelters and things like that. Well, Dr. Rick solved that problem back in the eighties. The thing was, there was that story about Marley & Me.
Everybody had watched that movie called Marley & Me about the most misbehaved Labrador there ever was. And way back then, you were not allowed to take your dog to training until they were seven months of age. And that's like telling a parent of a child, your kid cannot go to school, can't go to preschool, can't go to kindergarten, can't go to elementary school, but the first day of school for that child will be the first day of seventh grade.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Right?
Dr. Rick Campbell:
They're teenagers.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
And they better be well-behaved.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Well, that's the problem was all of these dogs had to wait until they're seven months of age to go to training, and they all got booted out of training because they were so misbehaved, just like Marley. Right. Okay. So the funny thing was I noticed that and I said, I'm going to start a dog training center, and this is clear back in 1983, and I partnered with two women that belonged to the local dog training club, and they were the leaders of the club. And I said, Hey, do you want to do this just every Tuesday night or do you want to make a career out of this? And they said, boy, we would love to make a career out of this. I said, well, come and join me. And they did. And they put together this obedience training package that lives to this very day.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Oh, that's cool.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
And we had over a dozen dog trainers. The first trick they did was they lowered the entrance age down to 10 weeks, and then they lowered it down to eight weeks. So we were receiving puppies at eight weeks of age and every dog training facility in all of North America way back in the eighties, long before Caesar and all that bunch, they came down on us hard. You can't do that because they're too young and they were going to get sick because they're going to have Parvo or December or something like that. We never ever had one sick puppy.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Wow.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
But we trained thousands and thousands and thousands of dogs to be obedient and well-behaved.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Today, training puppies at a young age seems like a no-brainer, but there always needs to be someone there to think outside the box and challenge the status quo, even if that challenge seems like an appeal to common sense. So what does Rick see as the greatest achievement of his career?
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Once upon a time, not many decades ago, but the Humane Society was opening up their brand new multimillion dollar facility. And who did they call? They called Dr. Rick. "Dr. Rick, can you have a dog trained to go up and untie a bow for a grand opening?"
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Oh, wow.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
And I said, "Yes, I can do that. And talked with one of the traders. She had a great dog and she trained the dog on her own free time, how to walk up to a bow, grabbed the loose end, and untie the bow.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Wow.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
They did it with this massive media thing across the television, newspapers, and the homeworks. And for weeks afterwards, the Humane Society got thousands of phone calls saying, I want to adopt that dog because he was well-trained and well-behaved. Well, it so happened that I had a little pow-wow with these leaders of the local shelters, pounce and humane societies, and I said to them, I know your secret. I know what you're dealing with and I have a solution for you. And the secret is 75% or more of the animals that are abandoned at all the shelters, pounds and humane societies are abandoned there while they're teenagers. That means less than two years of age for behavior problems. So it costs them their lives,
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
And they never had the opportunity to learn good behavior.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Correct. The two-legged animal couldn't take an hour out of their schedule once a week to take their dog to training. That's how bad it was. And they'd say, well, if you chew on my shoe one more time, hop in the backseat. We're going to the pound. That's that. And the thing about it is-
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
I'm sitting here thinking, Rick, good thing we don't have pounds for two-legged humans. Right, because there woa lot of teenagers going to the house.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Grandchildren are the reward for not killing your own children while they were teenagers.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
And that's the whole truth. Well, the funny thing was these directors of these shelters bouncing humane societies, they heard my message.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Wow.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
And they knew that this was happening. People are abandoning their ill-behaved pets for behavior issues. Anyway, so we partnered with them and said, listen, you adopt a pet out and you want him to have his forever home, but what we need to do is we need to make a pact that that new pet owner is going to bring that newly adopted pet to training. And when they get those problems worked out with their new two-legged owner, then everybody's going to be happy and live happily ever after. We had one dog that had been in and out and in out of his forever home six different times, and they were ready to pull the plug on him. And guess what? We solved it.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Wow. So that's got to feel really good, Rick.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Well, that's the whole point is you can be taught medicine and surgery, but you have to also take on these other things like behavior issues with the four-legged creature and the behavior issues of the two-legged creature.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
You're not just training a four-legged creature, you're training a two-legged creature at the same time.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Honestly, that was the most common statement people would come to me with. They said, I don't know about the dog, but I sure learned a lot. So we almost changed the name of the place, the Willow Creek two-legged training.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Obedience school for dog owners
Dr. Rick Campbell:
For humanoids, like a human.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
It's so funny to think that the owners often learned more than their dogs did in obedience training. Like I said at the start of this episode, our pets are a reflection ourselves and we grow together. Rick is retired now and married to his wonderful wife, Catherine. Catherine has played a really instrumental part in Rick's career development.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
The funny thing about it, since I met and married Catherine some 25 years ago, that's where it all falls. But Catherine was also very, very instrumental. And let's say she had a background in finance and banking and business and all this stuff. And she would say, "I would come home heavily laden with burdens and problems, and she'd know Rick spent 12 hours today talking to humanoids clients about their pets, and so he doesn't want to talk right now, so I'm just going to sit here and listen to him." And she'd listen to my issues and whatever would spew out of me. And then we'd say goodnight, and we'd go to sleep. And the very next morning she'd wake up and she'd say, Rick, this is what you need to do about this. She had slept on the problem and solved it, and she's always right.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Yeah. Funny how that is.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
The thing was early on, I was jealous of people that had normal lives and normal families and things like that because that's all I ever wanted. And then the military came along, school came along, everything like that, and it just didn't happen. And then I ended up working, and I enjoyed my work so much, I just fell into it and just really, really enjoyed it. But the funny thing was I was with another person once upon a time and it just didn't work out. And then I was single for a long time, and then I crossed bridges with Catherine who I had known for quite some time since 1986.
And anyway, we got together, we became pen pals first. She had sent me a Christmas card at Christmastime in 1995, and it was a picture of her with her little three-year-old daughter on it, and there was no picture of her husband or anything like that. And so we wrote back and forth letters and then all of a sudden, one thing led to another, I went and saw her and she came and saw me, and then we became an item, and we've been totally happy ever since.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
I think Rick is a very lucky man, but who else would Rick identify as mentors in his life?
Dr. Rick Campbell:
I could say Dr. Barry Quinn definitely influenced your life and my life as well.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Oh, yeah.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
And I remember when it first started there with you and our class, we were scared to death of him. And then when we graduated, it's, oh, you can call me Barry.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Right. Yeah.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
But he was very regimented and very ... He was probably the finest educator I've ever met in my life.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
What kind of traits about him? Just a couple of traits that you identify.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Well, just that he took his job so seriously, whether he be teaching pre-med people like ourselves or nursing students or whatever, but he made sure that they got an education. And another mentor of mine is you.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Oh, well, thank you, Rick.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
We've been friends for years, and even though you're younger than I am, I've always looked up to you.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Oh, wow.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
And I've always appreciated you had direction and you had a goal and you wanted to achieve that. And I'll never forget that you applied to all these dental schools across the country, and he got accepted to every one of them. And I said, "What are you waiting for, Kim?" And he said, "University of Oregon."
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Right. And they were the very dead last school.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
I gained from your experience. That is what I'm saying.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Thank you, Rick. Thank you for sharing that. You're truly an extraordinary individual. Rick, was that something that you think is just a part of how you're made or is it something that you learned, or is it something that you chose, or is it all three?
Dr. Rick Campbell:
I have to go back to good old Mark Twain. He said, "I never ever let my schooling interfere with my education." We should all become lifelong students, whether we're in a school or outside doing something else, we should be learning all the time. It doesn't have to be ... I mean, there's all kinds of things you can learn to do. And I think with me, I never thought myself as extraordinary. Never, never, never. I was ordinary. That was me. I look back at that time when I left for the military, and I came back. When I left for the military up here at the University of Utah Huddle, there was a whole group of my friends sitting around the coffee table, and they were all sitting there playing cards, hearts. And I was gone for four years. I came back and I walked into that same coffee shop and guess what? Same people were sitting around playing cards. And I went over and said hi to them and goodbye. I've got things to do.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Yeah. You got a life that you want to go pursue.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Right. So it's one of these things where people really need to learn that they have innate abilities. Marriage, I mean, I've learned this over the years, is to be successful, you really have to be a partnership.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Truly a partnership.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
And she's always got my back and I've always got her back and she'll say, oh, are you mad at me about this? And I'm say, heck no. I'm not mad at you about that. That was perfectly okay. You did the right thing. How come you always did the right thing?
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Why don't you ever give me something to get mad at you about?
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Yeah, exactly. But I never do. I never do. I'll be 72 shortly, and I don't feel it. I exercise every day. I ride my bicycle nearly every day when the weather's good.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Physical fitness is important to you.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Oh, very much so.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
What's one thing about you that you would say most people don't know?
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Oh, goodness. I'm honest and trustworthy and things like that.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Yeah, yeah.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
And people that appreciate people like that, then we're great friends. I don't pull any punches or I don't like to do the negativity thing and can't stand victims. It's just like, get over it. Just get up and start moving.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Right. Exactly.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Motion is the potion. I appreciate having you invite me to do this. I am very honored to do so, but I still hold myself as ordinary. But now you've put into the back of my head, there may be this extraordinary thing, but I am ordinary.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Rick, you are anything but ordinary.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
I'm not ashamed of admitting it. Okay.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Humility is another really strong trait of extraordinary people. Rick, I want to thank you for being here with us today. I think my audience here at my tribe, here at Contrary to Ordinary really enjoyed learning about you and your life story and what makes you you. And I really appreciate you being here, and thank you so much.
Dr. Rick Campbell:
Well, thank you for having me. It was a great honor.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Whether you love animals or loathe them, I think you can appreciate what Rick's out-of-the-box thinking has done for veterinary medicine. In dentistry, we've really only just come around to the idea that what happens in the mouth is connected to our overall health. And I think Rick's commitment to animal training and discipline mirrors that holistic approach nicely.
Thank you so much to my dear friend, Dr. Rick Campbell for taking the time to talk with me. I cherish our friendship and really appreciate you being so open and honest with our listeners. And thank you for coming on this journey with me today. Around here, we aim to inspire and create connections. We can't do it without you. If this conversation moved you, made you smile or scratch that little itch of curiosity today, please share it with the extraordinary people in your life. And if you do one thing today, let it be extraordinary.