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Clarity is critical for any learner. Whether we use an errorless learning approach, or we use a method of training that incorporates highlighting errors to our dog, it is still essential that we maximize the likelihood of success through careful set ups. It is also necessary to always be prepared to rapidly change strategies, as soon as we notice our dog is not becoming more confident, and more successful, throughout our training sessions.

Before we dive into the specific issues that can occur in our attempts to create successful and confident complex behavior chains, let's look at the broader area of managing errors.

Sara Brueske joins me to tell me why she teaches toy play with food — and all the benefits that come with it.  

 On Feb. 11th, 2022, the first day of The Lemonade Conference, our free lunch panel was on Mental Health for the Reactive Dog. Melissa Breau was joined by Amy Cook, PhD; Sarah Stremming; and Sophie Liu, DVM. The recording from the live stream is available below. 

Shade comes on the podcast to talk about training toy behavior to create cooperative play, and the process of shaping heelwork. 

Today Marjie and Denise join me to talk about what's new at this year's Lemonade Conference and why it'll be the last annual online conference.

Many dogs find teeter and weaves are some of the harder agility obstacles to learn — join me, Megan, and Barbara for a conversion on how they approach training them!   

PAALS founder Jennifer Rogers joined me to talk about how she got involved in assistance dog training and what PAALS seeks to do today. 

You may have heard of Look At That (LAT) but have you heard of LATTE? Leslie joins me to talk about her latest game for working with dogs who need a little extra structure to be successful. 

How do you set goals for your training? Ever wondered how leading sports competitors do it? Megan Foster, Petra Ford, and Sharon Carroll recently offered a free webinar on the subject, just in time for the new year — and we've shared it here for those who missed it live!

Erin and I chat about what it takes to keep our aging dogs living their best lives — and how even small adjustments can make a big difference in their lives. 

In this episode I catch up with FDSA founder Denise Fenzi and share a bit about what's happening behind the scenes at the school and what folks should keep an eye out for next year. 

Dr. Daniel Promislow joins me today to share a sneak peek of his Lemonade Conference talk and share his research on aging and his work with the Dog Aging Project.

Amy teaches three different classes, each with a very different approach — in this episode we talk about the what and why of each.  

Jane Ardern joins me to talk about training high drive dogs, share a bit about her own gun dogs, and give us a sneak peek at her upcoming webinar on release cues!  

 Today Jake and I talk about all things Bitey Sports and how being told it wasn't possible to train a dog for Mondio without the 'traditional' tools for the sport led him to do exactly that.

Heather joins me to talk about the AKC Canine Good Citizen program — including what it takes to go from the original CGC test to the newer, more advanced versions. 

This is an excerpt from the book Positive Herding 101: Dog-friendly training by Barbara Buchmayer, shared with permission.

As I read the short email in 2011, I had no idea that destiny was knocking at my door. The message was from a woman in South Africa asking if I would help her train a herding dog using positive methods. She had never trained a dog for herding, nor had she even worked a herding dog. In fact, she knew virtually nothing about herding. I immediately realized it would be foolish to get involved with this project because we would be limited to using email, video, and Skype to communicate tons of precise information and complex concepts. Yet I was deeply into figuring out how to train herding using positive reinforcement and I knew it could be done. So the question became: could two people with the same vision, but very different backgrounds, turn a rambunctious border collie pup into a useful herding dog while 9,000 miles apart?

Interested in learning more about herding - but want to approach it from a positive training perspective? Barb and I talk all about what that means in today's podcast episode! 

Kim joins me to talk about ethological contributions to behavior problems in our pet dogs, and how her L.E.G.S. system can help us look at the bigger picture when working on these issues.

I watched the dog and handler carefully. They were practising their heelwork and it looked lovely! The handler strode out, confident and sure; her dog trotted along next to her, attentive and happy. Then I noticed the fly in the ointment…

"Can you do that again for me please?" I felt bad about breaking into her 'happy place' but that's what I'm paid for, so that's what I was going to do. 

"This time, can you do it without food on you?" Her face fell. Yep, I'd found the problem. Her dog looked lovely because she had food in her left hand. Oops.