Kelso was first. I loved agility but through his love for obedience I shifted my focus there. I showed him in agility but obedience was our game. He loved it, I loved it, and we shined together in that arena. I trained hard, I competed hard, and I was very proud of the consistent high … More Hey Change, Come On In
Confession: I’m a recovering perfectionist. I work hard every day to break free of the perfectionism chains I’ve carried for far, far too long. I’m not recovered. And I try not to beat myself up about that, too. That a recovering perfectionist feels shitty about not being recovered is pretty comical; it’s what makes her … More The Next Right Thing
I just went on a two hour walk with seven dogs. Two of mine, two with one friend, and three with another. For two hours we had a lot of normal dog-dog communication and zero incidents in which anyone was hurt or uncomfortable. This normal communication sometimes included barking, snarling, snapping, and body-blocking. It also … More Healing by Doing
In the past two years I have moved away from teaching what I will refer to as “default impulse control.” This is typically taught in the form of food games (think “it’s your choice”) that teach our dogs NOT to eat available food via a negative punishment procedure. When the dog is fluent with food … More It’s REALLY Your Choice: Why I stopped training default impulse control
I sat down today to write about my new course for Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, but you can read about that here. Maybe I’ll tell you more next week, but I’m fresh out of a vet appointment and I want to talk about something else. I make all kinds of choices for my dogs that … More Does One Size Ever Fit All?
I talk about consent a lot. Most of the time I am talking about it in a dog training context, but I think its pretty important all the time–don’t you dare insist my niece give you a hug, for instance–and its value extends so much further than can be seen at first glance. In … More When “No” is the Answer
When I was at The Ranch a few weeks ago a common conversation came up–common amongst positive reinforcement-based trainers. The topic was something along the lines of “how do we (the “good” trainers) help the public transition away from aversive techniques and methodologies?” Whenever this question comes up (in any of its various forms) discussions … More Shut Up and Show Off
