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CONNIE'S CORNER

Sneak Peek Inside the Obedience Road! Jul 24, 2024

Recently, I received some questions about the Obedience Road membership program. I created the video above to answer a few questions and give you a look into the platform.  I...

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Are You Using Your Reward Marker To Your Advantage? Jul 01, 2024

One of the biggest challenges we face in this sport, is the challenge of teaching your dog to enjoy all the obedience exercises.

Some dogs like to jump, some like to retrieve, but there is...

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Maintaining Attention as You Enter the Ring! preparing to show Jun 16, 2024

You spend hours teaching your dog the exercises. This won’t take hours!

Commit to practicing how to maintain your dog’s attention as you enter the ring!  

When your dog will...

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Competing in Multiple Venues: Simple Strategies Jun 11, 2024

If you enjoy training your dog, it comes as no surprise that you are participating in multiple venues. Add the complexity of multiple dogs to multiple venues, and it’s easy to become...

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Deciding What Classes to Enter? Be Strategic! preparing to show May 30, 2024

Competing in obedience for a weekend implied two trials, one Saturday and one Sunday. Each trial had 6 classes: Novice A & B, Open A & B and Utility A & B.

Now we’re faced with far...

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Training Between Shows - Fix it Overnight! May 07, 2024

When my dog has a disappointing performance on Saturday, I am almost always willing to try again on Sunday. However, I absolutely train between the shows, addressing both the exercise(s) that my...

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The 70/30 Split obedience preparing to show Apr 25, 2024


It certainly seems that after you teach your dog to perform the obedience exercises, you should be able to go to an obedience trial, and earn your title.  Unfortunately, simply learning the...

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Problem Solving: Whining & Barking Jan 20, 2024

Do you have a dog that whines when setting up for a retrieve, or barks when sent on a go-out?

Noise in the ring can be a difficult problem to tackle!

How can you clearly communicate to your dog...

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Keeping Commands & Cues Clear: Command Discrimination & Signals command discrimination signals Dec 10, 2023

Considering Command Discrimination, Signals and Directed Jumping, there are lots of opportunities to give our dogs signals and commands from a distance. In addition to Directed Jumping, our dogs...

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Keeping Commands & Cues Clear: Sitting in Heel Position Dec 04, 2023

When your dog is sitting in heel position, there are five different exercises that could be next. 

You might tell him to Heel, Stay, Lie Down, Stand Up, or Go-out. 

Dogs...

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The Excitement of Learning Something New gloves Oct 05, 2023

Becoming a proficient obedience team requires repetition and rehearsing, but dogs are at their best, that is engaged and attentive, when they are learning new skills.

Inexperienced Dogs are always...

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Requiring Attention at a Distance Jul 17, 2023

I have written and talked about teaching your dog to pay attention in heel position (Read it Here!), but Obedience is also hard because our dogs have to pay attention to us at a distance....

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Randomizing Rewards: Certainty & Mystery Jul 16, 2023

In my last message, I addressed the importance of Randomizing Rewards. Today I am sharing a piece of a webinar that I gave to the Obedience Road Members titled Certainty and Mystery.

Are you...

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How Do You Increase the Amount of Time Your Dog Will Perform? Jul 16, 2023


Last week, I gave a webinar titled, “What Makes Obedience Hard?”

We all know how challenging it is to teach our dogs to love Obedience exercises that are not naturally motivating....

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Improve Your Recall Using Proofing proofing recall Jun 05, 2023

There are only three ways that your dog can fail the recall. He can:

  1. Not come,
  2. Come too soon
  3. Get lost on the way.

Using simple proofing (intentionally adding distractions), you can cause your dog...

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Proofing the Stand (and Moving Stand) for Exam proofing stand for exam Mar 07, 2023

The Stand for Exam is another stay exercise and should be treated with the same importance as the Sit and Down Stay.

There are two mistakes that your dog can make during the stand for exam:

  1. Move...
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Training Q&A - Going Straight to Heel & Failing the Go-out directed jumping fronts Jan 30, 2023

Have you ever struggled with a dog that starts going straight to heel in competition instead of coming to front? It can be a frustrating problem, especially if you allow it to happen in the...

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Training Q&A - Unwanted Sniffing & Multiple Failures preparing to show scent articles Jan 26, 2023

Recently, I hosted a webinar- Overcoming Obstacles and Achieving Your Goals. 

The first question in this video involved a dog that is sniffing the ground on his way to the scent...

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Training Q&A - Make Heeling Fun & Improving Fronts fronts heeling Jan 23, 2023

Recently, I hosted a webinar- Overcoming Obstacles and Achieving Your Goals.

Together, we brainstormed and addressed several training challenges. The above video includes two of the questions...

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Training Q&A - Glove Problems & Mouthing Scent Articles gloves retrieve problems Jan 19, 2023

Last week, I hosted a webinar to help obedience enthusiasts develop strategies to overcome training challenges encountered on the way to achieving their goals. 

The above video includes a...

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