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When training the new obedience dog, I divide all the exercises into 5 skill sets. Your dog must learn heeling skills, stationary skills, recall skills, jumping skills, and...

Techniques Change, Goals Don't!

Teaching a dog to sit straight in front of you requires that your dog know how to maneuver his body from side to side. 

Techniques for teaching your dog to...

Warming up, before your performance, can be difficult due to limited space and Covid restrictions.

If you use a Reward Marker (clicker or word), and your dog has a powerful response to that...

If you've spent much time with me, you know that I believe dogs make two kinds of errors; effort errors and lack of effort errors. Forging and Sidewinding are typically effort errors and they are...

Updated 1/12/22 - At the time this video was recorded, I was not utilizing a Reward Marker. I've made several edits to the article below (written in red text) to include exactly when you should use...

Proofing Part III:

A dog that is reliable on the sit stay, recall, and retrieve has the foundation needed for a successful obedience career.

This is Part III in a series of videos that I’ve...

Proofing Part II:

The word, proofing, is bandied about, and there are even “proofing classes” being taught. This makes me nervous, as extreme distractions can easily make a dog...

Proofing Part I:

One of the greatest frustrations for obedience competitors is failing.

Not earning a green ribbon is a drag.

Years ago, I had a dog that was very inconsistent. He would go from...

When you are competing, no matter the level, it is easy to let the cloud of disappointment overwhelm you when our dog makes an error in the ring. A failure can feel like a waste; a waste of time,...

If you are in the market for a new puppy, whether it be your next obedience, agility, scent work, tracking or field partner, a puppy’s education is far more likely to be limited by your...

On August 25, I had the pleasure of conducting a webinar with judges, Bob and Cathy Knight.

Bob and Cathy have been training dogs together for nearly 50 years. Together, they have earned 7...

Battling Pandemic Fatigue with A Virtual Match

When this pandemic ended life as we knew it, I was blessed to have recently created an online community of obedience enthusiasts at ...

Part II: The Directed Signal Retrieve

The Directed Signal Retrieve epitomizes the importance of breaking down an exercise and teaching your dog the individual pieces before you try the...

The UKC Utility degree contains two glove exercises.

The first, the Directed Marked Retrieve, requires the dog go directly to one of three gloves. The handler stands in the middle of the short...

A friend called the other night to tell me she'd gotten her third UD leg. "I'm going to start entering Open and Utility now, and I'd like to try for UDX legs." She told me.

"Hold on," I told...

I have never known life without competition. My father was a tennis player and coached an NCAA Division I school for 32 years. My mother was an 11 time All-American in field hockey and lacrosse....

Early in my career, I became involved in training service dogs for the physically handicapped. I have trained dogs to pick up dropped items, pull wheelchairs, open and close doors, operate light...

Many years ago, in an attempt to better communicate with my students; I developed a flow chart of training principles that guide me. These principles apply to all venues of dog training. The...

As a fifth grader, I was so excited to be selected to play Mammy Yokum in the school wide production of the musical, Li’l Abner. That is, until the popular, blond headed child, cast as Daisy...