Canine High Jinks

Today’s tough question, how do you know if you should retire your young(er) dog from agility? We may wander off track here and there, but you know, it’s all about dogs and agility 😆

Resources referenced in this episode:

Elissa and Whitney tackle a topic that can be hard to get at through all the “pressure to be positive” on social media, failure. What do you do when you set big goals, work your butt off, make sacrifices, and then…you fall short, you fail to meet your goal?

Whitney talks a lot about the Growth Mindset during this episode, if you are unfamiliar with the concept, here are some resources to get you started:

In this installment of Canine High Jinks, we discuss the power of better reinforcement strategies and the seminar by the same name with Liz Randall and Rachel Downs.

Are there only certain breeds that can be successful in agility? It is a fair question and one that MANY people have wondered about, your hosts included. We ask someone uniquely qualified to answer, someone who has never owned a border collie nor a sheltie, yet has represented her country in all three size categories. Tune in to learn more about what is really means to train the dog in front of you.

In this episode Whitney talks to Elissa about the multi-year journey that led her to being on the cusp of opening a dog sport facility. We talk about all the different iterations of the idea that we explored together and separately and the lessons learned along the way. This is must listen for anyone who has been dreaming of starting a sport facility of their own.

In this episode, we talk with Agility World Championship Team USA member Michaela Krohn about her experiences prepping for and competing at the Agility World Championship that was held in Austria this year. Michaela lives in Alaska and has competed with several different breeds, and was a first time world team member.

After we discussed the AWC, we talked with Michaela about goal setting and how she'll be looking forward in her training and competition. 

If you enjoy this episode, be sure to rate, review and subscribe so you never miss an episode! 

In today's episode, we're talking with Ayoka Bubar to discuss the low-impact, high fun dog sport of rally obedience. 

Ayoka is a CPDT - KA and an approved Canadian Association of Rally Obedience (CARO) Judge. She has been a dog training instructor since 2008, training and showing in a variety of performance venues including agility, tracking, herding, rally obedience and conformation. Her wide variety of sport involvement has helped her understand the way breaking things down and seeking clarity in instruction and competing can lead to success. Rottweilers are her passion and her two beautiful girls are herding, and playing other sports with joy and success.

To find out more about rally in your area, check out the following organizations: 

In today's episode, we chat with Nancy Griffith of Valley Dog Sports about the fast-growing canine sport of Barn Hunt! A long-time competitor and co-owner of Valley Dog Sports, Nancy shares with us all about how barn hunt works, what the dogs need to know, how to prepare to play the game, and more. 

In today's episode, we have repeat guest, Rachel Downs of Strategic Dog Sports with us to discuss Canine High Jinks' first online class, the Puppy Papers! We talk about what the program entails, and the concepts we'll be using to raise Elissa's new border collie puppy, Leo. 

In today's episode, we talk with Jordan Reed, more commonly known as Jreed and his Mongrol Hoard. Jordan, along with his terriers, is a well-known rat wrangler and dispatcher of rat pests on farms across the country. With a background in both hunting and farming, and a sheep shearer by trade, Jordan trains his terriers to hunt rats, and takes his passion on the road to many farms that are overrun with them. 

A sporting but dangerous task, Jordan works hard to help his dogs be safe while carrying out their work. In this fascinating discussion, we talk more about what Jordan looks for in his working terriers, how he started in this hobby, and what others should know before embarking on this kind of adventure with their dogs. 

If you want to learn more about Jordan and his adventures, you can find him on his website or on Facebook: 

In today's episode, hosts Elissa Looney and Whitney Taylor talk all things obedience with Hannah Branigan, host of the podcast Drinking From the Toilet, and owner of Wonderpups Training. We get into what obedience looks like, the types of behaviors you and your dog must know, and some of the common mistakes people make in their training. 

About Hannah: Hannah is a long-time dog training instructor with an impressive resume. Her podcast, Drinking From the Toilet is a must-listen, weekly podcast. She’s also an author, and a faculty member with Karen Pryor Academy, Clicker Expo and Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, and teaches through her own online training programs through her website, hannahbranigan.com. Hannah is involved in multiple dog sports with her own dogs, including Obedience, Agility, Conformation, IPO (Schutzhund), and Rally.

In this episode, we talk with Rachel Downs of Strategic Dog Sports about Stimulus Control! We talk about what it is and why it should matter to your journey with your dog - no matter which sport you’re wanting to pursue.

Rachel Downs is a professional dog trainer with a history in behavior training and a large client base in agility training. Based near Dallas, Texas, Rachel is a multi-time national agility champion in USDAA and member of the IFCS US World Team with her border collie, Glory.

In this episode, we spent time learning about Protection Sports with Shade Whitesel. An excellent trainer and avid participant in Schutzhund and AKC obedience, Shade has been dabbling in dog training since she was a young girl, and worked many jobs to gain experience in the field, including as a kennel manager, a veterinary technician, and groomer, as well as taking continuing education courses. In 1994, Shade moved to a full time dog training career, teaching handlers how to play with their dogs, and teaches humans how to teach their dogs to live in our world, as well as problem solving behavior of all kinds, including aggression.

Shade has utilized a variety of training tools over the course of her career, but now is primarily positive reinforcement based, and does not find it necessary to use any pressure or correction based tools to achieve life manners, behavior modification or sport (AKC or Schutzhund) behaviors. She specializes in high drive dogs, and loves to teach their handlers how to channel prey drive and arousal issues into reinforcement that the handler controls, along with teaching the dogs how to be calm and not adrenalized 24-7. She has achieved many titles on multiple dogs over the years, and has an impressive record in both IPO and obedience.

Shade offers private training, seminars across the country, and is also a regular instructor with Fenzi Dog Sports Academy.

In this episode with Bobbie Lyons of Pawsitive Performance, we explore Canine Fitness. What is it? What is it not? And how can you get started with your dog? 

Our guest is Bobbie Lyons, CCFT, KPA CT, owner of Pawsitive Performance and Founder of Bobbie Lyons Canine Campus. Bobbie teaches dog training, fitness training and trick training across the globe, and has completed the certification program for Canine Fitness through the Companion Animal Sciences Institute. She is also a Faculty Member with the Karen Pryor Academy.

If you'd like to find out about learning opportunities with Bobbie, you can find her web pages here: 

This episode is all about playing disc dog! In this interview with Sara Brueske, we talk about how to get started in the sport and what competitions look like. 

Guest Sara Brueske (she/her) has been training dogs since she was a young child, and has experienced a large variety of breeds and sports during that time. After graduating as a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner in 2011, she jumped into the professional dog training world. She began teaching group classes and private lessons at On the Run Canine Center in Minnesota. At the time she was also competing in agility, disc dog as well as fostering for local rescues.

In 2014, Sara was hired by Purina as a dog trainer to perform dog sport shows at Purina Farms in Grey Summit, Missouri. Her number of dogs quickly grew to fill the need of the job. Currently she has ten dogs of varying breeds and origins including a boston terrier mix, several Australian koolies and Belgian Malinois. Sara and her dogs work to convince people to do more with their dogs, teach about responsible pet ownership and to get involved in the dog sport community.

After six years working as a full-time performer, Sara now teaches on the topic of dog sports full time. While disc dog and tricks are some of her specialities, she also is passionate about creating clear communication between handlers and their dogs as well as teaching how to build a solid foundation for any sport. Sara's biggest joy in training is watching a handler and dog become partners and grow as a team.

Currently, Sara trains in the sports of disc dog, agility, IGP, mondioring, scentwork and dock diving as well as being a trick dog enthusiast. She actively competes in agility, mondioring, dock diving and is planning on trialing in scentwork soon.

This week we're talking with Planet Blue Dog's co-owner, Anne-Lise Stannard. Planet Blue Dog offers a unique variety of quality dog products for training and enriching the lives of dogs. They carefully choose and test their products with our own pets and foster. Their high value treats and motivational toys are used by canine handlers and competitors around the country.  Most of these products come from small manufacturers and are made in the USA!

As a small, family business, they truly care about their customers. Providing personal customer service is extremely important to them, so you can reach them by phone or email to get help with sizing or ask questions.

We discussed the variety of toys that exist and why it's important to engage with your dog through toys. 

In this episode, we're talking about trick training with our dogs.  What is it, why is it important, and how can you get started? 

If you want to look into some trick training titling programs, check out these organizations for more: 

In a continuation of last week's episode, we're finishing our discussion with one of the leading K9 Nose Work experts, Kristina Leipzig, about the growing sport of K9 Nose Work! This sport is a less training-intensive option for working with your dogs, and the competitions are set up nicely for those dogs that might be more reactive and less able to work in more complex environments like agility or flyball.

Today we're focusing on what dogs tend to excel in the sport, what training mistakes people make, and more.  

We talked through some of the sanctioning bodies where you can get involved in K9 Nose Work or Scent Work, as it is otherwise known:

This week we're talking to one of the leading K9 Nose Work experts, Kristina Leipzig, about this growing sport! This sport is a less training-intensive option for working with your dogs, and the competitions are set up nicely for those dogs that might be more reactive and less able to work in more complex environments like agility or flyball. 

Listen in to hear more about what this sport is and how you can get started.  Part 1 starts now! 

We talked through some of the sanctioning bodies where you can get involved in K9 Nose Work or Scent Work, as it is otherwise known: 

This special episode includes an interview with the Cognitive Canine's Sarah Stremming, and we talked with Sarah about her philosophy regarding behavioral wellness in our dogs. The four steps include Exercise, Enrichment, Nutrition and Communication. 

Sarah Stremming is a dog trainer, dog agility and obedience competitor, and dog behavior consultant.  She travels the globe helping dogs and handlers understand each other better. Her credentials include a bachelors of science degree in psychology from Colorado State University, and more than a decade in the field of dog training and behavior.

Her special interest area is problem solving for performance dogs.

Today we're talking about one of our favorite topics: puppies! Elissa recently had a litter of rat terrier puppies, and now that they've headed home, we're reflecting on the process and experience that she had. As a first time breeder, Elissa isn't an expert breeder - but she can certainly share what her experience was like. We discussed many topics, resources, and just for fun items, so check out these resources below: 

In today's episode we're talking to Laurel Behnke of Jammin Whippets, the owner of the current Guiness World Record holding dock diving dog, a whippet named Sounders. We talk about how she started in the sport and the transformation from pursuing it as a hobby, to setting records. 

In this episode, we're talking with Michelle Dundas about Dock Diving! Michelle has been dock diving since 2017, when she came across the sport after a flyball demo.  With her dog, Sweep, Michelle has achieved multiple dock diving titles and was the National Champion Qualifier in 2018 and 2019, and in 2020, was the North American Diving Dog Champion in Hydro Dash Elite and Distance Jumping in the Lap Category. Michelle and Sweep also participate in herding, flyball, agility, disc and barn hunt. Sweep is also the top disc dog in Toss & Fetch on the West Coast. Michelle works at Argus Ranch in Auburn, Washington. 

Some resources for Dock Diving: 

Sanctioning Organizations: 

Today's episode talks all about traveling with your dogs for dog sports! Elissa and Whitney, in this casual episode, discuss how they started travelling, what they bring with them, some of the hard lessons they've learned, and more.  

Some resources that we talk about that you might need include: 

Jennifer Sandvig is the dog lover you wish you were!  With a whole host of dogs in her household of varying breeds from whippet, to border collie, to chihuahua, Jen has found great ways to make life a little easier with her dogs related to tasks that are necessary for health and well-being.  This applies to things like nail trims, vet visits, tooth exams, etc.  In this discussion we talk about how she got started with this work, how you can get started with it in your dog's life, and the value it will be bring to you and your dog.  

Some resources from our conversation include: