The Canine Paradigm

Perfection is paralysis when you find yourself unable to take a leap at anything in life until it’s perfect. This is why we see so many younger people fail to launch as they feel whatever they do, must be perfect. It really is disheartening to see paralysis prevent talent from taking form in the dog training industry. It’s worse to know that paralysis came from fear of letting their me...

Real life problems with fictional solutions is how the world is working to solve some of the problems owners are having with dogs. Yes, we ranted in this episode as we can foresee a future that for many dogs was successful, will now not be. People who are upheld in the community are giving fictional advice while contradicting their own practices. Trainers who misquote, mislead and misunderstand to...

You really don’t understand dogs at all when you appear to believe that training a dog is the same as training a marine mammal. Yes there are comparisons. Yes we have learned many great concepts from marine mammal trainers. However, if you still think it’s the same, then you most certainly don’t understand. Furthermore, what people fail to understand is the implications that trai...

3 biggest mistakes new dog owners make is a headline based around one of those social media posts where someone dances and points at brief answers. We managed to almost make an hour and a half show on some of the points we felt needed open discussion on some of those mistakes. Speaking of mistakes, we also found that we have no standardised language which attributes to handlers and trainers adding...

Incompatible behaviour & positive punishment is a topic from a quote that we posted on our instagram some months back. The quote was from Dr. Susan Friedman and it says. “The key question is not, how do I stop this problem behaviour? Rather, the question is, what do I want the animal to do instead, then teach it.” It’s a good quote with plenty of merit. There are many who hav...

Lessons from the tantrum came from an actual full scale, first off tantrum that Pat’s second son Axel had. According to Pat, it was of epic proportions and it gave him some perspective on how his dog must feel when he is confused about a situation and doesn’t have the ability to effectively communicate it. Any good educator will always consider the teachable moment, even in an unfavour...

Cam Ford & the scent detection avengers is another great episode that we got to have in person with our great friend, Cameron Ford. Although the wonderful team of doctors and specialists that presented at the Australian K9 scent detection conference were not with us, we got to think about and discuss their wonderful work. The scent detection world is so diverse and wonderfully eclectic that it...

Jas Whiting raising working puppies is the long awaited update on what our great friend Jas has been up to. Even though we see her regularly there’s been a lot of time between pod-cast catchups. Also, Jas has been doing a bunch of amazing things. Kicking ass in the BJJ scene, lecturing at conferences, doing seminars, keeping up GRC training and more. Safe to say that Jas has been doing some...

Marketing and the low hanging fruit is an inspired conversation from one of Larry Krohn’s online posts. Larry was exceptionally disappointed when a colleague came into the chat and made some confrontational comments. This aside, it raised some interesting notation on social media marketers versus their actual ability as a trainer. Multiples of conversations have been had on our platform and...

Without the cookies, I’m just a monster is a part of a bigger story that developed from a listeners question on our discussion forum. It came about when we discussed how people can carry a burden for so long, that when given an option to lose it, they are scared of who they are without their cookies, or bad behaviors. The majority of the story is talking about the potential of poisoning rein...

The evils of cherry picking information have been more evident in social media posts where agenda driven lunatics are trying to destroy a target. Politicians are amongst the worst of the cherry pickers, especially around election times. They are also amongst the least trusted people in the world. Cherry pickers are trying to direct the attention of many people onto the focus of one or several peop...

What do you want to do with your dog? Have you planned it all out or is it still pie in the sky at this stage? Did you buy a companion only to find you have a drive monster or did you get a dog for a sport only to discover it not what one of you want? While many are happy with a coach potato, some want that dog with the V8 engine. However, some of the V8’s pay for their energy with their lif...

The new puppy and the baby trainer is an episode covering Birdy O’Sheedy’s new puppy, PAX and how she is doing with him. It’s also about Pat’s experience with a baby trainer when Axel was having sleeping problems. Birdy is an experienced dog owner from having her time with Luna, however she has never raised a puppy before. Now her and Dan are experience a different life wit...

Intuition versus learned from others was being discussed in an on-line forum and there were some interesting back and forth comments which sparked good conversation. So what’s right? Do trainers have intuition from the beginning or do they always learn from a skilled mentor. If we are talking about intuition, what does that even look like or feel like to those who have it? How did your mento...

Be a monster, an absolute monster and the learn how to control it. It’s a phrase from uncle Jordy P that we have a little back and forth over. Naturally there’s interpretations and concerns about what a monster could be, after all most monsters are portrayed as villains. So why would anyone encourage you to be a monster? Further details looking for great dog trainers and supporters of...

My partner is not a dog person, is almost blasphemy in the industry of dog trainers, yet it’s not that abnormal. For many of us, the other person in our lives is just not into the obsessive side of dogs. They don’t get it Of course we say that with compassion and understanding because it’s something we have experience with. In fact, so does the other person in our lives. It&#8217...

The most dangerous advice part 2 is naturally a follow on conversation from our last episode. In this latest addition, Glenn reveals to Pat something from his past experience and some of the advice from a positive only group, that still to this day makes him think about what it cost some dogs. Advice can still be questioned and sometime should be if it doesn’t sit well. Further details looki...

The most dangerous advice part 1 is focusing on something that really annoys Pat and he wants you all to know about it. You will get access to great advice in your lifetime, however, some can be very dangerous. The danger happens because it’s based on the bedrock of ignorance and it can get you or others hurt. Even though it may be coming from a good place, it still doesn’t mean it&#82...

The narrow scope between -R and -P was a fun conversation between both of us even though it’s a largely and technically debated subject. The reason we consider it a narrow scope is due to it being a splitting of hairs in how easy it can be to confuse where the dogs head is and assume one state over the other. That narrow section in the middle is often where assumptions are made and sometime...

Temperament testing puppies vs adult dogs is a regular question many trainers are asked. Especially if they are to be considered for working dogs in roles that will needs some planning. The benefit of the adult dog is that you have the raw product in front of you. Primarily, what you see is what you get. with so many things to consider, the adult dog will be a lot closer to what you want than a pu...

The stick pushes you to the carrot came from a question Minke Van Den Bergh asked in our enormous list of listener questions. It’s a question we have looked into before from a different perspective but it still one that surfaces many times. The question was in relation to losing your way in your job from time to time and how some days are a struggle. Further details looking for great dog tra...

Setting a dangerous precedent is focussing on how a state Government decided it would announce the banning of certain training tools. The concern here once again, is the complete lack of industry consultation along the way with industry experts or any of the thousands of people who use these tools with enormous benefits. We are joined by Kirsty Reid as she and Brittany Young with assistance from M...

Is your opinion interesting? Or do you just chime in to be a part of the conversation? It has been said that, ‘opinions are like ass holes because everyone has one’. It’s also been stated, ‘you’re entitled to your opinion’. Regardless of how we feel about them, opinions will always be a part of our social structure. The on-line dictionary references an opinion a...

The minimum standard of a dog trainer is a talking point we had with our friend, Jo Rosie Heffenden. The topic around being a trainer and standards gets brought up a lot in conversations. The reason being is that there are so many trainers who do not have any certifications and in some cases, no real training at all. So how can you be a dog trainer with no qualifications with such a huge responsib...

The ability to deal with pressure is different for all of us. This was relevant to some more of the listener questions we have been getting in our Facebook discussion group. Some of us deal with pressure really well. We have been conditioned from young children to be extroverted and confident and find many tasks easy to overcome and adapt to. Some of us have not. We may have had inadequate social...