If you've ever had a dog that couldn't train around food or who stopped eating in certain environments... you know that training with food isn't always as simple as "Click, Treat, Cookie!" In this episode Sharon and I dive into the ways food can interfere with teaching behaviors and what we can do about it.

In honor of the upcoming multi-dog conference, we have several of the presenters — Christina Young, Kim Palermo, Karen Deeds, Irith Bloom, and Dr. Amy Cook — on the podcast to talk about the realities of living in a multi-dog household.

What do cues and mechanics have in common? A lot, it turns out! If you've ever asked your dog for a behavior you'd have sworn they knew, only to have them stare at you like you're speaking Greek, this episode is for you. Behavior expert Karen Deeds shares how conflicting cues come to be and what we can do about them.

Laurie Huston joins me for a conversation all about crosses — from what they are (for the non-agility folks), to how she uses her course map and her time walking the course to plan out which cross to use where... and the elements that determine if a cross looks like dancing with your dog or ends in an on-course collision.

Nose work is about so much more than setting and finding hides — in this episode, Michele and I dive into how you can be more intentional in skill building for your nosework dog, both by developing your own observation skills and by thinking through the challenges you set them a little differently.

It's no surprise that jumping is hard on your dog's body... so what can you to minimize that impact and keep them moving (and competing) as long as possible? This week, Kelly and I discuss the impact of jumping on sports dogs, how different sports impact things differently, and how handlers can approach fitness with jumping in mind.

Wondering what it actually means to be a good nosework handler? Join Julie and I for a conversation on how your handling impacts your nosework dog and what you can do to become as good at your role on the team as you expect your dog to be at theirs.

Ever wondered how leading competitors build the incredible engagement we see in the ring, where the dog stares up at their handler and the team looks totally in sync and in step? Petra Ford joins me to talk about how she builds engagement strong enough to win Obedience Nationals with mulitple dogs.

Teaching our dogs the concept of "stillness" is more complex than we sometimes realize — after all, how do you teach a dog that what we want is the absence of a behavior? In this episode, Nicole and I talk about how she teaches the concept, and then how it serves as a foundation behavior for teaching rock solid stays to her competition dogs.

In this episode I interview clinical psychologist Dr. Jennifer Kunst about the intersection of dog training and psychology. We look at how her three-strand approach to living a good life—embracing reality, choosing change, and surrendering control—applies to dogs and dog training.