Recent Blog Posts

Building Heeling Duration: Stop Trying to Heel for So Long

Building heeling duration doesn't mean you need to keep heeling longer and longer every time you train. In fact, one of the easiest ways to make your heeling worse is to keep going after the good heeling is already gone. Maybe your dog looks fantastic for the first...

Master Rally Training: When Your Dog Starts Guessing

Master Rally training gives your dog a pretty big set of skills, and sometimes that leads to an interesting problem: they start guessing. Your dog may have so many behaviors in their toolbox that they begin trying to figure out what you want before you actually ask...

Pivot Bowl Training: Your Dog Can Pivot on a Bowl. Now What?

Pivot bowl training is one of my favorite ways to teach a dog rear-end awareness and introduce heel position, but eventually we need to get rid of the bowl. This is also a place where a lot of teams get stuck. Your dog may have beautiful pivots when their front feet...

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Rally Obedience Training: Are You Practicing or Testing Your Dog?

Rally obedience training can look very different depending on whether you're practicing a skill or testing what your dog can do. There's a big difference between the two, and I think it's really easy to accidentally spend too much of our training time testing our...

Crate Training a Puppy: How to Build Confidence and Calmness Without Stress

Crate training a puppy is one of those things that can either be a really useful life skill or become a source of frustration for both you and your puppy. We want our puppies to learn that their crate is a comfortable, safe place where they can relax, rather than a...

Good Manners Aren’t About Obedience—They’re About Good Choices

When people tell me they want a dog with good manners, they usually start listing behaviors they hope their dog will learn. They want their dog to sit politely when guests arrive, walk nicely on a leash, come when called, stop jumping, stop counter surfing, and stop...

Raising a Puppy: Why Building Habits Matters More Than Teaching Tricks

One of the questions I hear most often from new puppy owners is, "What should I teach first?" It's a completely reasonable question, and it's usually followed by a list of behaviors like sit, down, come, stay, or loose-leash walking. Those are all important skills,...

Why Rally Is About Foundation Skills, Not Memorizing Signs

When people begin training for Rally, it's natural to focus on the signs. After all, that's what you'll see in the ring. But the truth is, rally foundation skills are far more important than memorizing individual signs, even though that's where many handlers naturally...

Stay Training Frustration: What It Looks Like and How to Prevent It

One of the biggest misconceptions about teaching stays is that if a dog gets up, they simply need more practice. Sometimes that's true, but often the dog is giving us much more valuable information than that. They're telling us that something about the training has...

What Your Dog Does After Reinforcement: The Five Seconds That Matter Most

What your dog does after reinforcement can tell you more about a training session than the behavior that earned the reward. When people evaluate a training session, they almost always focus on the behavior they were trying to teach. Did the dog sit quickly? Come when...

How to Build Confidence in Rally Dogs: It Starts Before You Enter the Ring

Learning how to build confidence in rally dogs is something almost every competitor wants. When people talk about rally ring confidence, though, the conversation usually turns to titles. How many times has the dog competed? What number of legs or titles have they...

3 Biggest Stay Training Mistakes (And How to Fix Them)

Teaching a dog to stay sounds like one of the simplest things we do in training. Ask the dog to hold still, reinforce them for doing it, and slowly build duration. In practice, stay is one of the most misunderstood behaviors out there, and I see the same stay training...

How to Teach Your Puppy to Be Alone: Building Confidence and Preventing Separation Anxiety

Learning how to teach your puppy to be alone is one of the most valuable life skills you can give them. We spend so much time teaching puppies how to sit, lie down, come when called, and walk nicely on leash, but many owners never intentionally teach their puppy that...

4th of July Dog Safety: How to Keep Your Dog Calm and Safe During Fireworks

4th of July dog safety becomes a major concern for many dog owners as fireworks season approaches. The holiday is one of the hardest days of the year for a lot of dogs, and honestly, for a lot of dog owners too. Fireworks are loud, unpredictable, and often seem to...

Body Awareness in Rally Dogs: The Foundation of Precision and Performance

Body awareness in Rally dogs is one of the most overlooked skills in the sport, yet it influences nearly every exercise we ask our dogs to perform. From heeling and fronts to pivots, backing, jumps, and position changes, a dog's ability to understand and control their...

Teaching a Puppy to Settle on a Mat: Building Calm and Relaxed Behavior

Why Teaching a Puppy to Settle on a Mat Matters Teaching a puppy to settle on a mat gives them something most puppies desperately need: a clear job. Instead of constantly scanning the environment, seeking stimulation, or finding creative ways to get into trouble, your...

Impulse Control Training for Dogs: How Calm Choices Create Better Manners

Impulse control training for dogs plays a major role in how dogs behave in everyday life. Many dogs know cues but struggle to pause long enough to respond. Excitement often takes over before thinking happens. This is where impulse control training makes the biggest...

Why Drilling Heeling Doesn’t Work (And What to Do Instead)

If you've been wondering why drilling heeling doesn't work for your dog, you're probably putting in plenty of reps and still seeing the same mistakes show up. You've drilled the heeling pattern, practiced the halts, worked the same problems over and over. And yet, the...

What Is the Puppy Fear Period? Understanding Your Puppy’s Sudden Sensitivity

If you've ever wondered what is the puppy fear period, you're not alone. One day your puppy is bounding toward strangers, curious about everything, completely unfazed by the world. The next day, they're backing away from the recycling bin they've walked past a hundred...

Rally Transitions Between Signs: The Part Nobody Trains

Ask most rally handlers what they work on in practice, and rally transitions between signs rarely make the list. Heeling. Fronts and finishes. Position changes. Specific signs that keep going sideways. It's a reasonable list. Those things matter. But there's a piece...

Loose-Leash Walking Training for Dogs: Why Walks Fall Apart and What Actually Helps

Loose-leash walking training for dogs is often the reason walks feel frustrating instead of enjoyable. Many owners imagine peaceful walks, only to end up being pulled down the street. Dogs choke themselves on collars or drag their owners toward every smell. These...

How to Recognize Healthy Puppy Play: A Guide to Safe and Happy Social Interactions

What Is Healthy Puppy Play? Healthy puppy play teaches young dogs how to communicate, develop bite inhibition, and navigate social relationships. These early interactions are not just about burning energy. They are where puppies learn how to read other dogs, respond...

From Jumping to Calm: Teaching Your Dog How to Greet Politely

If you have a dog jumping on people, you’re not alone. This is one of the most common struggles dog owners face, and it can quickly turn into something frustrating or even embarrassing, especially when guests come over. One minute your dog is calm, and the next...

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