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This week we are finishing up our Spring Cleaning series... you’ve already organized all your resources you’ve collected over the weekend, you’ve worked out a new better system for your planning and record keeping and this time you’ve got the magic one that will actually work. Now let’s get to the training itself! Wouldn’t it be cool if you kept your training clean all the time? Then there would be nothing to do here! What are the things you put off? The built up dirt and grime that’s been hidden or not so hidden? What are the things where if you tackled that project finally would make everything else easier? In this episode, we discuss cleaning up your reinforcement mechanics, sharpening reinforcement procedures like toy play skills, have you found yourself rushing your “out” lately?, managing criteria in sequences and chains, and tightening up session structure behaviors and filling in gaps. Are there any other places where your training baseboards are getting grimy? Maybe a sloppy cue you’ve been meaning to address? Some other behavior that’s been collecting dust for a while? I’d love to know what makes your list! For full show notes, visit: www.hannahbranigan.dog/podcast/160 This podcast is supported by Patreon: www.patreon.com/DFTT

In this episode, we discuss what does mentorship mean?, what makes a good mentor?, what makes a good mentee?, how can you get the most out of a mentorship relationship?, and what is the most important thing to focus on to be a better mentor? For full show notes, visit: www.hannahbranigan.dog/podcast/159 This podcast is supported by Voilà! Pets: www.voilapets.com/?ref=DFTT For 10% off of your Voilà! Pets order, visit the link above or visit the Voilà! Pets website and use code DFTT.

In this episode, we discuss getting a fresh start with your planning and record keeping, what gets in the way of being your best self, where to start when nothing is working for you, looking at switching systems a little differently - regularly switching systems IS a system!, identifying what is important to you in a record keeping system and what likely obstacles will get in your way, start with a little back-chaining by recording what you are already doing, add a simple planning matrix - which days you’ll train which categories, and that plans are flexible, and so are systems! For full show notes, visit: www.hannahbranigan.dog/podcast/158 This podcast is supported by Voilà! Pets: www.voilapets.com/?ref=DFTT For 10% off of your Voilà! Pets order, visit the link above or visit the Voilà! Pets website and use code DFTT.

What kind of people adopt a dog with a bite history? This episode is the second in a 2-part special series following the journey of RiffRaff, a rescue dog with some seriously problematic behavior. In this episode, we discuss what was Gaby even thinking when she was working with this dog?, did she ever think about just giving up?, what kind of people would adopt a dog that bites?, and how did she arrange the transition to RiffRaff’s new home? For full show notes, visit: www.hannahbranigan.dog/podcast/157 This podcast is supported by Voilà! Pets: www.voilapets.com/?ref=DFTT For 10% off of your Voilà! Pets order, visit the link above or visit the Voilà! Pets website and use code DFTT.

This episode is the first in a 2-part special series following the journey of RiffRaff, a rescue dog with a tendency toward violence. This sounds like a common story, but I assure you... RiffRaff’s story does not end the way you think. No spoilers though! In this episode, we discuss what we know about RiffRaff’s history and how he ended up with Gaby, identifying the triggers of RiffRaff’s aggressive behavior, exploring possible causes of his behavior, how did Gaby decide to work with him, early steps of his training, teaching him to wear a muzzle, and getting creative with protected contact to work with RiffRaff safely. For full show notes, visit: www.hannahbranigan.dog/podcast/156 This podcast is supported by Voilà! Pets: www.voilapets.com/?ref=DFTT For 10% off of your Voilà! Pets order, visit the link above or visit the Voilà! Pets website and use code DFTT.

This week we are starting a “spring cleaning” of sorts for our training with a decluttering and organizing theme, but I’m not going to talk about how to store all your platforms and treat pouches. It has come to my attention that the biggest pile in my dog training life that is desperate for some attention is made more of information rather than equipment. I’m talking about all the information that we have hoarded, particularly over the last year - training books, classes, webinars, conferences, and even podcasts like this one! Sorting it out and hopefully even actually making use of the knowledge and APPLYING it to actual training. You know that quote... something about, if more knowledge were the answer, we’d all be millionaires with 6-pack abs? Ugh. I am assuming you are here because you are deep enough into dog training nerddom, that you are probably also sitting on a hoard of training resources, and can’t pass up the temptation to buy one more class or webinar, because THIS webinar will totally be the one that solves all your training problems. And if you are as bad as me, your “to-watch” webinar stack may be quite tall and even something of a source of shame.... because you feel you really SHOULD be reading/watching/doing the things. So let’s address that learning & information doom box and apply it to something we actually care about... our training, by using what we know about learning and behavior. In this episode we discuss curating your collection and organizing it into useful categories, steps for processing the information in your resources so that it gets out of your computer and into your head, possible obstacles that get in the way of applying that information, ideas for removing those obstacles and implementing new training knowledge, and how we might make use of “accountability” in ways that are reinforcing and, hopefully, not aversive. For full show notes, visit: www.hannahbranigan.dog/podcast/155 This podcast is supported by Zero to CD: hannahbranigan.dog/z2cd/

In this episode, we discuss some of our truly epic training bloopers, why Karen encourages us to think of them as “bloopers” instead of failures, the importance of normalizing bloopers and sharing them, thoughts on how to recover after an “incident, " and being kind to yourself. For full show notes, visit: hannahbranigan.dog/podcast/154/ This podcast is supported by Patreon: www.patreon.com/DFTT

In this episode, we discuss the power of starting your session conservatively, how being in a position to increase your criteria rapidly is better than being greedy and being forced to lower it, the importance of avoiding getting stuck on a plateau, how to save yourself if you’ve already done it, implementing an easy/hard/easy pattern in your session, using a reinforcement strategy that continues the path of the entire loop, and increasing criteria between the click and the treat before increasing it between the cue and the click. For full show notes, visit: www.hannahbranigan.dog/podcast/153 This podcast is supported by Patreon: www.patreon.com/DFTT

In this episode, we discuss why reactivity is such a big topic, why it’s so hard, so common, and so important, how our own emotions and behavior play into the problem, what we can do to manage our emotional responses and do better training, how getting better with our training skills can make the world a better place... and isn’t that why we are all here? I hope so. Because something has be done and that’s for sure. For full show notes, visit: www.hannahbranigan.dog/podcast/152 This podcast is supported by Patreon: www.patreon.com/DFTT

In this episode, we discuss why timing matters in dog training and why you cannot escape it, how it’s really about processing time, reaction time does have a biological basis, so just like we do with dogs, make sure you are addressing your biological needs first, what we can do to reduce processing time, how to simplify decisions, creating predictability in the training session to make good timing easier, and using video to practice your timing without screwing up your dog any more than necessary. For full show notes, visit: www.hannahbranigan.dog/podcast/151 This podcast is supported by Patreon: www.patreon.com/DFTT

In this episode, we discuss what most people get wrong about socialization, which is worse - bad socialization or no socialization?, what is the solution?, and where should trainers focus with new puppy owners? For full show notes, visit: www.hannahbranigan.dog/podcast/150 This podcast is supported by Patreon: www.patreon.com/DFTT

In this episode we discuss what if we looked at memory as behavior? For full show notes, visit: www.hannahbranigan.dog/podcast/149 This podcast is supported by Behind the Scenes: hannahbranigan.dog/backstage-pass