Fenzi Food For Thought

I'm in camp "genetics" over environment. Take a listen to this one if you want to understand how I got here. Plus, a little bit on selecting a puppy from a breeder.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

A quick look in the mirror… Are you doing the same things that you accuse others of? Behaving emotionally rather than rationally? Ignoring facts that don't fit the narrative that you want to drive forward? Probably. It's the human condition, and we all do it. The trick is to become aware of that, and maybe do better into the future.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online tr...

This live is my plea to apply a force free philosophy to entire life and not just to your dog training.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

Apparently, folks are very capable of critical thinking skills! When they're motivated. How can we be motivated to show critical thinking all the time? Even when we're not not sure we like the conclusions. Especially when we're not sure we like the conclusions! Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

How and why science matters to those of us deeply vested in the Dog community. Plus other stuff.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

So many thoughts. How can we learn to be more critical learners, observers, and communicators? How can we face our own bias and become stronger as a result? Who can we talk to when we have questions? Covered a lot of territory in this one. Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

Maybe allow people who are different into your world, and then you can learn about them. Learn about people, and you can have an impact. Don't allow people into your world and don't learn about them? Then you can't do much beyond ignoring (best case scenario) or antagonizing (worst case) others who feel differently than you. Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fe...

Do aversives cause aggression? If so, why are famous trainers using them and showing well-balanced dogs? What does the research say? I'm not a scientist, so mostly I can tell you what I see around me, and my thoughts on the matter. If you're interested, check it out. Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

Should dogs roam the neighborhood? How about near busy roads? How about a quiet rural area? How about chickens - can they roam? Why or why not? If someone else has a different opinion about this than you for each type of animal, how might you change their perspective via education and perspective taking? Or do you opt for embarrassment and shaming? How's that working?   Follow my training! Instagr...

I hope those of us in the Dog industry stop talking about "them". "They" can speak for themselves. If you have a question, ask "them." When you make assumptions about why people do what they do, or say nasty things about their character because they don't share your opinions? That reflects on you and it makes it very difficult to have honest conversations when you're present because you ruin goodw...

What relationship-based training means to me. I give the example of an informal recall with my dog. Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

Super informal chat with Bryndon Golya, CDBC of OC Canine Coaching about management, training, medication, giving "enough" to our dogs and…plenty in between!   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

This live covers follower questions sparked by a panel hosted by Jo-Rosie Haffenden.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

The solution to the Dog Trainer people is to be like the chicken people. In this live I talk about roosters. If the dog people were like the chicken people, we could make radical advances in our field. Take a listen. Tell me what you think.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

Train your dog! Even if you don't reach 100%, who cares? You're still ahead of where you were if you hadn't trained at all.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

In this live I talk about why I do bite sports.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

Train the dog in front of you. What does that mean? Seeing as I wrote a book with this title, I have opinions about it! Two dogs can have the same issue, and the solutions can be radically different. At the end of the day, you have to know your dog… I give examples in this live to help you understand the concept.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sp...

If you like the minutiae of dog training, you might like this live. Here I talk about the challenge I have with my dog in the Mondio ring search exercise… He prefers to bite than to bark! I talk about a "good training" solution which involves breaking it down into small pieces…small splits are good dog training. I talk about the fact that it didn't work. I talk about brainstorming to come up with...

Does positive reinforcement training mean withholding half of the information the dog needs to to be successful? Would the dog find more clarity if you included aversives? Would that actually be a relief to the dog? I give my thoughts on that here.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

Life is complex. Dogs are one piece of the puzzle of complexity. Be open to the challenge of varied perspectives. Be respectful! And try to make things better. Dog trainers can do that. You're more than a dog trainer. You can change lives, and I'm not just making that up.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

Your words are your power. Do not take someone else's words to placate them. Choose your words carefully. Explain what you need to explain. And reserve the right to say… It depends. I need more information. Getting a group of people together is easy when you simplify complex topics. Who doesn't appreciate simplicity? Well. Me. As long as life remains complex, I will explain in as many words as I n...

Continuing on with basic principles around force free training. Here I introduce counter conditioning, desensitization and habituation. Xen was along for the ride, so he illustrates some of the principles - what do you do when it gets too intense?   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

Does reinforcement history or emotion/instinct drive behavior? Both. Emotion drives "behavior" - the general category of things we do. And reinforcement history drives the specific behavior which the learner chooses, from amongst all of the available options. The challenge here is that the word "behavior" means both the general category and a specific choice of a specific behavior. Both are happen...

Today, I explored where most force free behaviorists would start looking at a problem behavior… At the root! What matters less than the behavior in front of you is where it's coming from. What instincts or emotion are fueling it? If you can identify that, and do some thing about it, your behavior problem might simply disappear. Obviously that's your best case scenario but… It's still where you wan...

Today I talk about the difference between training and management, and I give several examples to help you on your way.   Follow my training! Instagram The High Drive Dog More online training! Fenzi Dog Sports Academy