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Agility puts a lot of strain and stress on our dogs' bodies... but fitness training can go a long way to ensuring they still enjoy a long sports career. Join me and Ashley for a conversation on how workling on canine fitness can improve your dog's agility skills, especially when it comes to technical jump training!  Transcription Melissa Breau

Ever have a situation where your dog refuses to move forward? In this episode Kathy Sdao and I talk about what balking is, why we think dogs do 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 Sports Academy, an onli

It's easy to fall into the habit of only practicing skills you know that you and your dog are good at — in this episode, Julie and I talk about how to avoid that issue, and how to continually evaluate where your nosework dog is strongest, identify holes, and ensure you continue to progress in your training together.   Transcription Meliss

If you're working on heelwork, you're going to encounter mistakes. Crooked sits, forging, lagging, loss of attention — they're all part of the process. The key to handling heeling mistakes is recognizing that errors aren't failure; they're feedback. When a dog makes a mistake during heeling, it usually means the criteria were too high, the environm

In this episode Ashley walks us through why she's turned to conditioning to help her young dogs develop impulse control, body awareness, and precision — and how she's adapted it to help any dog that would benefit from strengthening those three skills.    Transcription Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breaux and you're listening to the Fenzi

It's common to ask, "Does my dog understand the cue?" — especially when a dog performs a behavior perfectly at home but struggles anywhere else. Often, we assume our dogs have a deeper understanding of a behavior than they actually do. When a dog can't perform a cue to criteria, it usually means a building block in the training process was skipped,

Join me as I interview Erin Lynes about building confidence in our canine partners — we talk about clear communication, natural levels of confidence (and how much you should expect to be able to move the needle), the "Mr. Rogers" technique, and more!    Transcription Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau and you're listening to the Fenzi D

Join me for a fascinating conversation with Denise on the ins and outs of engagement — from pre-engagement strategies to help young dogs to prepping for competition. We talk about the importance of acclimation, how the process differs for low drive vs. high drive dogs, and more!   Transcription Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau and you

With the Active Dogs: Fitness and Injury Prevention one day conference happening on Jan 10th, we took the time to sit down with 2 of the presenters to talk about what it means to keep our sports dogs in good health so they can play our games as long as possible. Transcription Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau and you're listening to the Fenzi Do

Have a differently motivated dog? This episode is for you! Sharon and I do a deep dive into what it means to train and compete with these dogs.    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 school dedicated to providing hig

Amy and Josefin have been working together on a new program designed to help us rethink every interaction we have with our dogs... and they're calling it "The Social Approach."   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

In this episode Erin and I dive deep into the benefits of thoughtful movement through puzzle games and movement puzzles. Whether you have a dog who moves without thinking (adolescent labrador?) or a dog who needs to build confidence in movement, Erin argues this type of training offers significant benefits for sports and life.   Transcrip

Erin Lynes, Kim Palermo, Crystal Wing, and Denise Fenzi, all presenters from the upcoming one day conference on Building the Bond join me to talk about what goes into building a bond with a dog.   Transcription Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breaux and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports podcast brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports

Dr. Sue Yanoff specializes in canine sports medicine. In this episode we discuss the importance of getting an accurate diagnosis for canine sports injuries and how to advocate for your dog if the right diagnosis isn't immediately clear.  Transcription ​Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast, b