Join the leash reactivity mentorship starting this September 7th. Spots are going quickly!

Reactive dogs face a lot of stressors in their daily lives, and for many, their ability to "bounce back" gets worse with time. 

What is resilience? What is going on when a dog's resilience is low? How can you help condition your dog to increase their resilience?

In this episode I talk with Bobbie Bhambree CDBC, CPDT-KA on her and Dr. Kathy Murphy's Reframing Resilience framework. We cover:

• The neurobiology of resilience
• What factors contribute to low resilience in dogs
• Considerations for building resilience for reactive dogs
• The importance of physical and mental health as the pillar of resilience
• And so much more

About Bobbie:

CATCH Canine Trainers Academy Instructor 

Agility University Instructor 

Co-founder of Brain Camp 

Co-creator of the Resilience Framework

Bobbie Bhambree (CDBC, CPDT-KA) is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant and Certified Professional Dog Trainer. She is a faculty member of CATCH Canine Trainers Academy and Agility University. Additionally, she is one of the founders and regular contributors to a passion project called Brain Camp, where neuroscience, behavior, and dog sports intersect. Bobbie founded her business, Dogology Behavior Consulting in 2024.

To learn more about the Resilience Framework: https://journal.iaabcfoundation.org/the-resilience-rainbow/

What is going on when a dog can stay responsive on their walk, UNTIL another dog comes around?

I'm back with another solo episode, where I break down this scenario and help you better understand why your dog cannot respond to you, and what you can do about it. I cover:

• Proofing behaviors and why you probably haven't prepared your dog as much as you think you have
• How to be more effective at teaching your dog to respond to you around distractions
• How to understand the criteria you are setting, and how to be fluid in any given scenario
• The dance between criteria and thresholds
• And so much more

For dog professionals: Join the leash reactivity mentorship starting this September 7th. Spots are going quickly!

Pet parents: Struggling with your reactive dog? Work with me 1:1 and get the help you need to move forward with more success.

Follow the Rethinking Reactivity Podcast on FB and IG and join me for behind the scenes content, resources on how to help reactive dogs, and more!

Follow the Rethinking Reactivity Podcast on FB and IG and join me for behind the scenes content, resources on how to help reactive dogs, and more!

Sign up for the leash reactivity mentorship for professionals that begins September 7th. 

Imagine a world where the average dog is healthy - both physically and behaviorally, for the majority of their lives. Imagine a world where shelters aren't overflowing with dogs because there are plenty of suitable homes for them. Imagine a world where it is the norm to live with a dog who goes through life without experiencing chronic behavior challenges. Where would these dogs come from? 

We'd have to breed them. In this episode, I bring in Dr. Jessica Perry Hekman, a behavioral geneticist and one of the founders of the Functional Dog Collaborative, to discuss why this is one of the solutions to bettering the lives of dogs, and therefore, ours. 

We discuss:

• What the Functional Dog Collaborative is 
• Behavioral traits and how they get passed down
• Physical traits and how we can breed away from ones that aren't serving dogs
• Are there really more dogs suffering from behavior challenges these days? We both chime in on this one. 
• Environment vs genetics
• What influences a puppy's development
• And so much more!

About Jessica Perry Hekman:

Jessica Perry Hekman, DVM, PhD, is a behavioral geneticist. She is one of the founders of the Functional Dog Collaborative, a non-profit which seeks to change the conversation around dog breeding in the dog loving community. She also teaches behavioral biology at the Virginia Tech online Masters program for Applied Animal Behavior and Welfare, works with Hecht Lab at Harvard, and offers webinars online and consults with breeders about genetic testing and breeding choices. Perry lives in Raymond, NH with her husband and two dogs.

Check out the Functional Dog Collaborative's podcast and Facebook group. 

Follow the Rethinking Reactivity Podcast on FB and IG and join me for behind the scenes content, resources on how to help reactive dogs, and more!

Join the waitlist for the leash reactivity mentorship and be the first to know when registration opens AND get $50 off. 

Thresholds are a concept, not something concrete, so it can be difficult to have a consensus as to what they actually are. To make this even more confusing, there are many types of thresholds that a dog can cross. In this episode, Sarah and I do our best to break this topic down. 

We discuss:

• Sarah's framework for helping her clients understand the threshold of perception and the threshold for behavior
• How changes in the environment cause changes to thresholds
• How vocalizations are not always a helpful metric for a dog "going over" threshold
• The correlation between increased stress and lowered thresholds, and what to do with reactive dogs when they in various stages of stress
• How the intensity of a trigger influences a dog's threshold
• And so much more!

About Sarah:

Dr. Sarah Shapiro-Ward CPDT-KA, KPA-CTP has lived and worked as a professional dog trainer in two of Canada’s most densely populated downtown communities: Toronto and Vancouver. Sarah is best known for her viral trick training videos with her Cockapoo Percy, including tricks such as playing Jenga, Connect Four and Painting on Canvas. She also has a standard poodle, Eleanor, and a horse, Niamh.

Before becoming a dog trainer, Sarah completed her Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 2015. Though she has long since left the laboratory behind she still enjoys keeping up with the literature and applying her skills of critical analysis to dog training scenarios.

Sarah is a frequent guest on the live call-in radio show CBC BC Today, answering Vancouver’s dog behaviour questions. She has also been featured on Jimmy Fallon, The Daily Mail UK, NHK Japan, Good Morning America, The New York Post & others.

Besides training tricks, Sarah teaches group classes and private lessons for city dog owners across Vancouver. She can be found on Instagram and TikTok @prancingpoodles.

Read her blog post on thresholds here. 

Follow the Rethinking Reactivity Podcast on FB and IG

Join the waitlist for the leash reactivity mentorship and be the first to know when registration opens AND get $50 off. 

What happens when you get two behavior consultants and long time friends talking dogs, behavior, and life? In this episode, I talk with Michael Shikashio CDBC on a wide range of topics, while getting a bit philosophical along the way. Hear us discuss:

• How he differentiates reactivity and aggression
• Thresholds in behavior
• Why empathy is so important with clients (and everyone)
• My recent move to Germany
• Living through Hurricane Helene 
• Why Mike can't participate in discussions on sports at the barber shop
• And so much more

About Michael:

Michael Shikashio, CDBC, is the founder of AggressiveDog.com and focuses on
teaching other professionals from around the world on how to successfully work
aggression cases. He is a five-term president of the International Association of Animal
Behavior Consultants (IAABC) and was the Association of Professional Dog Trainers
(APDT) Member of the Year in 2020.
Michael is sought after for his expert opinion by numerous media outlets, including the
New York Times, New York Post, Fox News, USA Today, The List TV, Baltimore Sun,
WebMD, Women’s Health Magazine, Real Simple Magazine, SiriusXM Radio, The
Chronicle of the Dog, and Steve Dale’s Pet World. He also hosts the popular podcast
show “The Bitey End of the Dog” where he chats with the foremost experts on dog
aggression.
He has been a featured keynote speaker at conferences, universities, and seminars in
more than 200 cities and 20 different countries around the world, and offers a variety of
educational opportunities on the topic of canine aggression, including the Aggression in
Dogs Master Course and the annual Aggression in Dogs Conference.

Website
School
Facebook Business
Instagram
YouTube
Podcast

There are very few people who purposefully seek out a reactive dog to bring into their home - for most people, they find themselves in that scenario unexpectedly. And so their journey begins, seeking help for them and their dog, while trying to navigate a wide range of emotions about their situation. 

In today's episode, I bring in a client I worked closely with, to get her perspective on life with her reactive dog and what that journey was like, including the time we spent together. 

For Pet Professionals:

The Reactivity, Refined course and mentorship is designed to transform the way you work with reactive dogs, and help you connect the dots with your reactivity cases to help your clients reach their fullest potential. Registration for the September cohort opens July 15th, sign up to join the waitlist and get $50 off, AND be the first in line to register. With only 15 spots available, they go quickly!

For Pet Parents:

Struggling with your reactive dog? I guide pet parents toward real, lasting solutions by asking the right questions and addressing what’s often overlooked. Ge the help you need today. 

Submit a question for the show here!

Utilizing set ups with an assistant and a helper dog, rather than relying on dogs from the general public, can be a critical component for many reactive dogs and their progress. 

In this episode I discuss:

• What set ups are 
• What you need to execute a set up successfully
• 5 common mistakes to avoid when executing set ups
• How to know when a dog is ready to move beyond set ups and into real life applications  
• Q&A from listeners

Resources:

The 3 Ds in dog training articles:

Blog by Susan Garrett

Blog by Nicole Wiebusch

For Pet Professionals:

The Reactivity, Refined course and mentorship is designed to transform the way you work with reactive dogs, and help you connect the dots with your reactivity cases to help your clients reach their fullest potential. Registration for the September cohort opens July 15th, sign up to join the waitlist and be the first in line to register. With only 15 spots available, they go quickly!

For Pet Parents:

Struggling with your reactive dog? I guide pet parents toward real, lasting solutions by asking the right questions and addressing what’s often overlooked. Ge the help you need today. 

Submit a question for the show here!

The notion of pet dogs being captive dogs is sure to stir up some emotions. But the truth is, the lifestyle of your average pet dog in the U.S. has changed dramatically over the past few decades, and this hasn't been a long enough time for our dogs to adjust. Could this help explain why there are so many dogs with behavior challenges these days? 

In this episode, I bring in Kim Brophey FDM, CDBC, CPDT-KA to discuss how our modern lifestyles aren't matching up to the needs of our dogs. 

We talk about:

• How the restrictions we've placed on dogs over the past few decades have taken away much of their autonomy 
• How the environments we ask dogs to live greatly influence their behavior
• How restrictions such as leashes, fences, crates, etc contribute to reactive behavior
• What we can do to support dogs in our modern world
• And more!

About Kim:

Kim Brophey is an applied ethologist and accomplished behavior consultant and trainer who has been working with dogs and their families for over 25 years. Her L.E.G.S.® model of integrated canine science has been embraced internationally as her book- Meet Your Dog, and market-disrupting Applied Ethology Family Dog Mediation® Course and The Dog's Truth documentary continue to catalyze a worldwide initiative to welcome in a "welfare-first" approach to our canine relationships and professional work.

Send Me a Question for the Show

I love hearing from you, and I answer some of your questions on solo episodes of the podcast. Please leave your thoughts and questions in a voicemail here. Have a suggestion for a topic or a guest? Email me at [email protected].

For Pet Parents

Need Help With Your Reactive Dog? 1:1 Coaching with Jessica

For Dog Professionals:

Elevate Your Work with Reactive Dogs

The term reactivity is a label, that is used to describe a variety of behaviors. And because it's a label, your definition of reactivity is likely different from someone else's. 

In this episode, I bring in Laurie Lawless CDBC, CPDT-KA to discuss what reactivity means to each of us, with both pet dogs and shelter dogs. We also unpack the term by discussing:

• What behaviors are commonly described as reactive
• Why it's so important to look beyond labels for dogs and understand them as individuals
• How we determine a reactive dog's motivations to better understand the function of their behavior(s)
• The role of barriers, and how they influence a dog's behavior
• Assessment procedures for shelter dogs that are reactive
• And more!

About Laurie: 

Laurie Lawless, CDBC, CPDT-KA, (she/her), is a dedicated dog behavior expert with a passion for helping dogs overcome challenges. Canine reactivity is one of the most challenging issues that present to both her private clients and in her shelter work, and has focused much of her career on figuring out ways to reduce and resolve reactivity in a variety of contexts and environments. With a background in animal advocacy, positive reinforcement training, and sheltering, Laurie focuses on resolving complex behavior issues to keep families together and collaborates with shelters to create or enhance behavior programs. 

Send Me a Question for the Show! https://rethinkingreactivity.podcastpage.io/contact

Learn More:

Find a certified dog behavior consultant here

Canine Ladder of Aggression

Are you a dog professional that wants to learn more about assessing reactive dogs? Laurie and I have a 4 part, live event, Unpacking Reactivity starting 5/25! Learn more and register here

Need Help With Your Reactive Dog? 1:1 Coaching with Jessica

If you have a dog who is reactive on leash, you may have wondered if they were feeling frustrated. And you're probably right - frustration is often a big component for dogs who are displaying leash reactivity. 

But what exactly is frustration, and what is going on inside of a dog's body while they're experiencing it? What can we do to help dogs cope better with frustration?

In this episode I bring in Daniel Shaw, MSc CDBC to unpack the neurobiology of frustration. We discuss:

• What neuroscience is, and how it applies to modifying dog behavior
• The areas of a dog's brain and body that are influencing their emotions and behavior
• Why adolescent dogs have a difficult time coping with frustration, and how to support them during this sensitive period in their lives (hint - this is also a time where leash reactivity tends to develop)
• Is there a such thing as a secondary fear period during adolescence?
• The different types frustration
• What to do/what not to do to for dogs experiencing frustration on leash

About Daniel:

Daniel Shaw MSc CDBC is an animal behaviourist with expertise in psychology, animal behaviour, and neuroscience. As the owner of Animal Behaviour Kent (ABK), he supports dogs and cats with behavioural challenges, provides expert witness assessments for legal cases under the Dangerous Dogs Act, and has contributed to Parliamentary discussions on dog bite reform. With a master’s degree in neuroscience, Daniel combines research with practical applications and has been featured on BBC Southeast Today, TalkTV, and LBC News. He teaches internationally on a range of topics, including aggression, frustration, and trauma in dogs, helping professionals enhance their understanding and approach to complex cases. Daniel also organizes the annual ABK Dog Behaviour Conference and runs ABK Learn, a platform offering science-based education in animal behaviour, training, and neuroscience. 

Submit a Question for the Show: https://rethinkingreactivity.podcastpage.io/contact

Learn More:

Blog Leash Reactive Dogs: Frustrated Types 

The Canine Frustration Questionnaire—Development of a New Psychometric Tool for Measuring Frustration in Domestic Dogs

Need Help With Your Reactive Dog? 1:1 Coaching with Jessica

Are You a Trainer Wanting to Improve How You Work With Reactive Dogs? Reactivity, Refined Online Course - Leash Reactivity Cases From Beginning to End