Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast

Petra joins me before picking up a new puppy to chat about how she approaches foundations these days... and what she considers important for a resilient, capable, competition obedience canine.

Many of the sports we do with our dogs require us to play keep up — whether it's running our dogs in agility or following them on a long track. And if we want to keep playing those games with them for the long-term, that means paying attention to fitness on both ends of the leash.

CANIS is less than a month away, so we brought Michael Shikashio on to talk about what folks can expect and how the conference is coming together behind the scenes. It's not too late to join us — FDSA will be there in booth #114!

If you've ever had a dog that couldn't train around food or who stopped eating in certain environments... you know that training with food isn't always as simple as "Click, Treat, Cookie!" In this episode Sharon and I dive into the ways food can interfere with teaching behaviors and what we can do about it.

Christina Young, Irith Bloom, Amy Cook, Kim Palermo, and Karen Deeds, all canine behavior professionals, discuss the realities of sharing life with multiple dogs. They explore household harmony, hidden stress, resource conflicts, puppy integration, choosing compatible dogs, and balancing individual needs. Thoughtful management, safety, and quality of life take center stage, including when rehoming may be the kindest choice.

Karen Deeds, certified behavior consultant and instructor, explains how cues can conflict in training and why clarity matters. She covers cue types beyond words, overshadowing versus blocking, signs of competing cues, and practical steps to re-teach behaviors and generalize cues across contexts.

Laurie Huston, an agility trainer and competitor known for precise handling and crosses, dives into crosses: what they are and why timing matters. She explains planning crosses from the map and walking the dog’s line. Practical training progressions and confidence-building drills are highlighted.

Michele Ellertson, nose work trainer and NACSW competitor who trains Belgian Tervurens and teaches webinars, talks about building nosework skills intentionally. She emphasizes watching subtle dog signals and designing practice to teach specific skills. Michele explains reading recognition to alert sequences and ways to prevent burnout while preserving confidence.

It's no surprise that jumping is hard on your dog's body... so what can you to minimize that impact and keep them moving (and competing) as long as possible? This week, Kelly and I discuss the impact of jumping on sports dogs, how different sports impact things differently, and how handlers can approach fitness with jumping in mind.

Julie Symons, FDSA faculty and Savvy Dog Sports owner who teaches nosework and agility. She talks about what effective nosework handling looks like. She explains using video to evaluate movement. She shares ways to practice trial-like behavior, adopt a consistent, dog-driven search strategy, and start improving pace, movement, and cast-out behaviors.