Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast

Dr. Amy Cook and Josefin Linderström, founders of the Social Approach, join me for a deep dive on the topic of touch and our relationships with our dogs. In this episode they share some of the research that's been done on the benefits of touch, their take on how much of our dogs' preferences are nurture vs. nature, and how they'd add touch to training (including as a reinforcer!).

If you're like most dog trainers and handlers out there, you've started training lots of different behaviors that never quite reached a finished and fluent state. In this episode, Julie and I discuss why that happens, the phases behaviors need to go through, and what it takes to get them there. And, of course, she answers the question of whether it's even possible to "finish" training a behavior.

Does your dog have big feelings about dog agility? Whether they love the sport so much they can't contain themselves or have big feelings about new environments, other dogs, or strangers, in this episode Bronagh and I talk about how big feelings impact your dog's agility performance and what you can do about it.

Want your dog to come running when you call them? In this episode Crystal Wing steps in as guest host to talk to Melissa Breau about her upcoming class on building a reliable real-life recall, including why reps matter, how reinforcement history builds a better recall, and what to do if you have a recall cue that your dog has learned to ignore.

Curious why and how to teach a contact heeling behavior? Contact heeling is a transport behavior distinctly different from formal obedience heelwork or loose leash walking – and in some instances, it offers significant advantages over either of those other options. In this episode Sarah Rida joins me to talk about why she teaches contact heeling, when it can be helpful, and how to actually begin training this useful skill.