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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...

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....

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...

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....

During this blog series, I asked you to accept the obvious, obedience is hard, and agree to the goal: teach your dog to be engaged and enjoy obedience, even when it is not naturally motivating....

Last week, I talked about the unique challenge of Obedience. Many sports are naturally motivating for a dog to perform, while much about obedience is not. It is our job to teach our dogs to love...

Today we talk about soccer moms, growing up, I had a dog show mom. We competed together in the 1970s, and she introduced me to every venue available. I competed in Junior Showmanship, Conformation,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Recently, I hosted a free webinar and 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...

Have you ever had a dog that headed for the jump when told to “Go-out?” I often get questions about this issue, as it is a fairly common problem. Why dogs do this can be explained in a...

If you’re like me, January offers time to pause and think about the things I hope to accomplish in the new year.

For those of us competing in dog sports, we typically dream about...

We have all seen it, many of us have experienced it. The Utility team completes the heeling pattern, the handler leaves the dog, walks to the opposite end of the ring, turns and gives the drop...

Most of the questions that I receive are about heeling. Four of the most common problems are discussed in this article and in the video! 

What if a leash correction does not get my...

It is clear that teaching a dog to pay attention while heeling remains the most frustrating aspect of obedience competition.  A dog that doesn’t pay attention is unable to...

Hi there- 

I’ve received lots of questions about the Scent Article exercise- let’s tackle them!

In this blog, I reference several additional articles. I've included links to those...