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What is a threshold? Does it matter? Join Amy and I for a fascinating discussion on how what we know can impact or enable our choices when we're out with our dogs.   Transcription Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau, and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast, brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, an online school ded

Mastering side steps in rally can be a source of immense joy for both the participant and the audience. While teaching a proficient side step may pose some challenges, the effort invested is worthwhile. In the world of Novice AKC rally, the side step leans more towards a diagonal movement while advancing forward. To illustrate this, take a look at

Shade Whitesel joins me to talk about how fluent toy play skills allow for more two-way communication during training, and how toy skills can be used to build a faster, better formal retrieve.   Transcription Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau, and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast, brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports

In prepping for the Adolescent Dogs One Day Conference, we brought on a number of the presenters and panelists to chat about what changes we see during adolescence and how we can best handle them.    Transcription Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau, and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast, brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sp

Dogs like us, dogs can experience frustration when they are not part of the action. This is commonly referred to as FOMO (fear of missing out). Understanding FOMO in Dogs​ FOMO, or the fear of missing out, can manifest in dogs in various ways. It's that uneasy feeling your dog might experience when they're not included in an exciting activity or se

Teaching your dog advanced commands can be a rewarding experience, and one valuable skill for rally is lateral movement in front of you. This blog post will explore a training approach involving mats or props to guide your dog through this challenging but achievable behavior. Setting the Stage: Start with One Mat To begin, start with one mat or pro

Why is it that dogs often disconnect after reinforcement? Have you ever noticed that your dog checks out after he or she has received a reward? This is a pretty common problem, and it can be exhausting to keep your dog in the game. So, why do dogs disconnect after reinforcement? Handler Disconnects After Rewarding the Dog​ How many times do we hand

Looking for another way you can teach your dog to use his nose? In this episode Lucy and I talk about teaching your dog to track! Join us to learn a little about training your dog for competition tracking.   Transcription Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau, and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast, brought to you by the Fenz

Join me, Megan Foster, Stacy Barnett, Barbara Lloyd, and Hélène Lawler for a continuation of our conversation about preparing young sports dogs to compete - including the good, the bad, and the ugly! Note: This episode ran long so we've split it into two parts.  Transcription Melissa Breau: Hey guys, just a reminder that this is part two of ou

In preparation for the upcoming confident dog conference at FDSA, I invited 4 of the presenters for the conference on the podcast to talk about what confidences looks like in our dogs, how much of it is innate vs. something we can instill, and what the process of building confidence looks like. Join us for this fascinating conversation!   &nbs

Join me for a conversion with Kayla Dever as she shares her story - starting in the service dog world, evolving in flyball, and now hosting and competing in nosework!    Transcription Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau, and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast, brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy an online school

This week Janice Gunn joins me to talk about how she evolved her finger follow method to encourage connection while competing in obedience — from ring entrances to exercise transitions to leaving the ring for your jackpot!   Transciption Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau, and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast, brought to

Behavior problems can wreak havoc on our lives with our dogs. So when issues occur what options are there? How do we decide which to pursue? Karen and I take a deep dive into what factors to consider when making those difficult decisions, including the choices no one ever wants to make: rehoming and behavioral euthanasia.   Transcript Mel

Position changes are a skill needed in both rally and obedience. Taking the time to teach a good foundation will make the more advanced position changes much easier. In this blog, I'm working with Excel, who wasn't quite two when I videoed these sessions. Excel is a dog who finds movement very reinforcing, and therefore, stillness is difficult. For

Ever wondered why canine conditioning matters, or why it's become so popular? In this episode Ashley and I dive into its importance for sport dogs of all types.    Transcription Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast, brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, an online school dedica

Have a pup that struggles to wait their turn? Nicole and I talk about the forms that FOMO (fear of missing out) can take when it comes to our dogs, how to prevent it, and what we can do about it.   Transcription Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau, and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast, brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Spor

Chin rests are useful for so many things! It's one of my favorite behaviors to teach. I use chin rests for obedience behaviors, such as teaching a close front and getting a quiet hold, but it's also useful for cooperative care, consent, and start button behaviors. In addition, chin rests help the dog be still, so it's helpful to settle the dog and

In this episode Pat Stuart joins me to talk about box feeding - a method he's helped popularize! We talk about what it is and how it can be used in training and distraction proofing.  Transcript Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast, brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, an online s

Join us for a panel discussion all about focus! What IS it? How do you train it? And what do we do if our dog doesn't seem to have it?   Transcription Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau, and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast, brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, an online school dedicated to providing high qual

Canine Fitness is one of those topics that can become as sophisticated as you want to make it! Today Kelly and I talk about what it's like to get geeky about fitness.   Transcription Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy. An online scho