All publications (609)

It's never too early to begin building a positive conditioned emotional response to the ring. Laura and I discuss exactly how to go about that in the latest podcast episode.

The moving down is incorporated into both obedience and rally exercises. Having a prompt response to the down cue, even in motion, is important but sometimes difficult to achieve.

Let's talk through some games that you can use to teach or improve your dog's moving downs!

Sara and I talk about training for Mondio Obedience - including who can compete and how varied the trials can be!

National Agility Competitor Dresden Graff joins me to talk about his training journey and share some tips for training the see-saw when you have a more sensitive dog.

Ever wondered how The Play Way differs from other methods for treating reactivity? Amy and I talk about how she developed the ideas from her work on her PhD in Psychology.

Common advice is that a green dog just needs more ring experience but... is that really true? What's going on when a dog gets gradually worse the more they compete? Sharon and I talk about breaking that down and more!

Failure is a word that has a bad bad bad rap. I mean the poor word really did get the short end of the stick. People just have it all wrong. They see failure as something bad. Failure means you're not good enough, you didn't try hard enough, people look down at you, you're a loser.

Failure evokes a host of negative feelings… depression, unworthiness, fear, anxiety, shame, disappointment, being less than, not measuring up, thinking that everyone else has achieved while I have not… I have "failed". We obsess about how it makes us look in other people's eyes. We define our self-worth by external accomplishments and when we don't achieve them, once again we have failed.

The truth of the matter is everybody's got it all wrong.

Ashley and I talk about what led her to become interested in fitness and she shares why cavalettis are such a powerful tool for canine fitness.

What skills do you need as you build from the basis to more advanced levels in nosework? Stacy and I talk about breaking that down and more — PLUS we share an exciting new announcement from FDSA!

Your dog's structure factors largely into how long they can compete in dog sports — this week Dr. Chris Zink and I talk about how to judge structure in a puppy when choosing your next sports partner!

If you have an active, busy, clever dog (like Felix, my young Border Collie) you're probably often looking for ways to tire them out. Many people use repetitive 'fetch' to achieve this but it's not an ideal game to be playing.

Remember this picture? Little bundle of fluff happily following at your heels, sleeping quietly when you settle in the evening and always coming when called? It's now 6 months down the track, pup is 8 months old and what do you see? Raging hormones, endless energy when you don't want it, destructiveness and a complete disregard for your rules, regulations and for that matter, your very presence.

There you are, totally engaged with working your dog, when someone comes up to you to ask a question. What you do next will make a HUGE difference to how your dog views working with you and the quality of the focus he'll give you in the future.

"But I don't want to compete!!!"

I hear it all the time. People take their dog to training classes or see a private trainer to fix problems and get the basics. And then they stop. Just like that. The problem is fixed. The dog civilised. Why do more?

Well, there are some VERY good reasons to continue training after 'the basics' have been installed. Let's look at some...

Walking into the competition ring comes with pressure! Petra and I talk about how to create a positively conditioned emotional response to pressure... and how to prep for Utility with your obedience dog!

Fronts are one of those behaviors that just need practice. There's no way around it. However, practicing fronts doesn't have to be boring! I play all sorts of front games with my dogs to keep fronts fresh and fun!

You can play these games with or without props, depending on what stage your dog is at. Play with several different props to increase generalization skills. Pick and choose which ones you like, or play them all, just have fun!

This year is the 6th anniversary of the founding of the Fenzi TEAM titles program — and we take a look at how it's grown and reveal a new, up-and-coming addition!