
Shaped by Dog with Susan Garrett
Susan Garrett, world-renowned dog trainer, multi-time champion of dog agility, and leading educator on all things canine shares everything related to dogs! Susan understands dog behaviour and wants you and your dog to have the best life together possible.
Latest episodes

Nov 25, 2020 • 19min
Potty Train Your Puppy in a Week (Easy 3 Step Process) #48
Visit us at shapedbydog.com The number one problem every puppy owner will experience is “how do I get my puppy to go to the bathroom in the appropriate spot?”. Now some puppy owners never get this mystery solved as a lot of adult dogs will mess in the house. Things are about to get easier because today we are covering the HOT topic of getting a pup or adult dog house trained fast. I’m sharing my easy 3 part process so you can have potty training success in a week, and within a month put any accidents behind you. In the episode you'll hear: • All about what’s HOT: Habit, Observation, Timetable • The easy process you can use to get pottying success within a week. • Simple ways you can set your puppy or dog up for housetraining success. • Why you will thank me for having your puppy or dog on a leash when you start potty training. • Your dog’s privacy and the importance of your silence while you are waiting. • About my “pee in three” criteria. • What a double pee-er is and how your timing matters. • Why to do a bedding check twice a day. • The importance of your puppy or dog having clarity. • What playing poker has to do with housetraining. • The timetable I use for potty training a puppy. • When to get your puppy or dog checked by a Veterinarian. • What to do if an accident happens inside the house. • How to use the same easy steps if you have a potty tray inside the house. Resources: • Blog Post: It’s Time to P-o-t-t-y! Inside Scoop on Housetraining-https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2018/08/scoop-on-housetraining/ • Podcast Episode 44: Using Coincidences and Positive Associations in Dog Training-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/44/ • Podcast Episode 6: The Art of Manipulation-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/6/ • Podcast Episode 30: Why Dog Crates Are Not Dog Cages-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/30/ • Ex-Pen: Rover Modular Pet Enclosures-http://dogsthat.com/roverpanels • Crate Games Online-https://get.crategames.com/ • Podcast Episode 26: Pro Dog Training Tips to Get Your Puppy to Sleep All Night-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/26/ • Podcast Episode 43: Can a Dog be Happy and Well Trained?-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/43/ • YouTube Video: 5 Games for Puppies-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxd1sVEQp2Y

Nov 20, 2020 • 19min
Don't Wanna, Don't Hafta: What To Do When Your Dog Refuses To Obey #47
Visit us at shapedbydog.com If you have a dog, there will come a time when your dog will say to you “Don’t Wanna, Don’t Hafta”. That is the moment when you ask your dog to do something, and he ignores you. The question is, what do you do when this happens? I’m sharing what I do when my dog says “no” and the questions we need to ask ourselves. In the resources below, I’m referencing a number of previous podcast episodes that I strongly encourage you to check out with the context of what I say here in mind. In the episode you'll hear: • Why it’s important to value compassion more than ambition. • Your right to have expectations about how your dog behaves. • About your dog’s competing values. • Why considering your dog’s stage of learning is vital. • The importance of asking yourself if your dog is saying no due to fear. • What I noticed with my puppy This! in class recently with a golf cart. • My 5 keys for working through “Don’t Wanna, Don’t Hafta”. • How to rehearse your dog doing what you ask, when you ask, with fun games. • What it means to be the keeper of the joy. • About hard-wired behaviours and “Don’t Wanna, Don’t Hafta”. Resources: • Podcast Episode 27: Do Dogs Need Rules? - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/27/ • Podcast Episode 46: Is Your Dog Trying to Dominate You and What You Can Do About It - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/46/ • Podcast Episode 44: Using Coincidences and Positive Associations in Dog Training -https://dogsthat.com/podcast/44/ • Podcast Episode 42: Behavior Chains: Are You Teaching Your Dog to be Bad to be Good? - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/42/ • Game: Learn How to Play ItsYerChoice (IYC) - https://recallers.com/iycsummit-join/ • Podcast Episode 24: Help for the Dog who Chases Chipmunks, Bicycles, and the Neighbor’s Cat - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/24/ • Blog Post: How to Use the Distraction Intensity Index to Help Your Dog - https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2020/09/distraction-intensity-index/

Nov 18, 2020 • 18min
Is Your Dog Trying to Dominate You and What You Can Do About It #46
Visit us at shapedbydog.com The topic of this episode comes from a listener suggestion, and it is about “alpha” and “beta” dogs. It’s a bit of a spicy subject, and the words “alpha” and “beta” go back to disproven “dominance theory”. Even if you are not sure what “dominance theory” is, you might have heard the term “pack leader”. It was common around 30 or so years ago for pet dog training classes to be based on “dominancy theory”, but not so much these days. Each of us has a filter we see the world through, and that filter is going to have an impact on our dog training choices and beliefs. In the episode you'll hear: • What influenced the filters through which I see the world. • How my filter has an impact on my dog training. • What I ask if something goes wrong with my dogs. • The commonalities and digressions I’ve noticed in training beliefs. • What I googled about dominance theory. • My quick diversion on humping. • How what we see in our dogs can be interrupted in different ways. • The ways our filters relate to our dog training decisions and how changing our filters is possible for everyone. • That behavior is behavior, for humans and for dogs, and how choice and communication are powerful for any relationship. • How my puppy This! shredded a bed and my reaction. • The three things you can do when faced with a challenge with your dog. • Why it’s time to get curious when you are furious. • What can go into a plan for you to get what you want with your dog. • That none of us is perfect. Resources: • Quick video of This! shredding her bed (on Facebook) - https://www.facebook.com/SusanGarrettDogAgility/posts/3749967288358197 • Podcast Episode 43: Can a Dog be Happy and Well Trained? - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/43/ • Podcast Episode 6: The Art of Manipulation - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/6/ • Podcast Episode 16: The Thing Before Your Dog’s Thing - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/16/ • Podcast Episode 42: Behavior Chains: Are You Teaching Your Dog to be Bad to be Good? - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/42/ • Home School the Dog - https://dogsthat.com/home-school/ • Recallers - https://dogsthat.com/recallers/ • Podcast Episode 44: Using Coincidences and Positive Associations in Dog Training - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/44/

Nov 11, 2020 • 18min
My Dog Just Got Jumped, Now What? #45
Visit us at shapedbydog.com If you own a dog, there is a very good chance that at some point in your dog’s life, your dog could get jumped or possibly attacked by another dog. It’s vital to know that your reaction could actually exacerbate the emotional damage to your dog or puppy. This episode has my top tips for helping your dog and how you can take control of the uncontrollable and your responses. My puppy, This!, was jumped by an older pup, so it’s a topic fresh in my mind. In the episode you'll hear: • About being a helicopter parent, the opposite, and what I learned about being a dolphin parent. • Why the ability to recover is so important for our dogs. • The aftermath of our dogs being jumped and what we can do. • About negative conditioned responses and single event learning. • What happened with my puppy This! and what I did to help her. • The importance of changing a dog’s physiological state. • What I learned from a book about preventing PTSD with pattern-matching games. • How “play, don’t’ replay” works. • Why our first responses might not the best responses for our dog. • How to avoid adding emotional fire for your dog to events you cannot control. • Why to practice responding to things you can’t control. • What I do if my dog gets jumped and strategies you can put into action. • How to make the absolute best out of a bad situation. • What to look for in a good organised and structured puppy playgroup. Resources: • Book: Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal - https://janemcgonigal.com/my-book/ • Podcast Episode 12: When Helping Your Dog is an Illusion - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/12/ • Podcast Episode 4: T.E.M.P. (Tail, Eyes/Ears, Mouth, Posture) - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/4/ • Susan on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/susangarrettdogsthat/ • DogsThat Gifs - https://giphy.com/dogsthat

Nov 6, 2020 • 19min
Using Coincidences and Positive Associations in Dog Training #44
Visit us at shapedbydog.com Up to this point in your dog’s life, your training might not have worked the way you would have liked it to work. You can fix that with a simple set of progressions, and you can start right now. I know this works as it has worked for every dog I’ve ever raised, including rescue dogs, and it has worked for many thousands of my students. It all starts with arranging coincidences and positive associations. In the episode you'll hear: • What my goal is when I am raising a dog. • How to look at life from the eyes of your dog and arrange coincidences. • A real-life example of coincidences with a puppy. • How positive associations can come through you. • The dog training progressions that I’ve been using for many years. • How you can start again right now. • Why we want the correct behaviour to be extremely easy for our dogs when we start. • The importance of trust, transfer of value, and our dogs making choices. • How layering of confidence lets you advance your training. • What the mid-level on my training progressions chart looks like and how choice is in play. • What I do to set my dog and myself up for success. • How to create opportunities for choice in training progressions. • About the advanced stages of training with my adult dogs who have the layers of confidence in place. • Why my dogs love challenge and why they choose correctly. • How the connection I have with my dogs, and my students have with their dogs, is possible for everyone. Resources: • Blog Post: Teaching Puppies: It’s Just Arranging Coincidences - https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2015/04/teaching-puppies-its-just-arranging-coincidences/ • Game: Learn How to Play ItsYerChoice (IYC) - https://recallers.com/iycsummit-join/ • Crate Games Online - https://get.crategames.com/ • Home School the Dog - https://dogsthat.com/home-school/ • Recallers - https://dogsthat.com/recallers/ • Handling360 - https://dogsthat.com/handling360/

Nov 4, 2020 • 16min
Can a Dog be Happy and Well Trained? #43
Visit us at shapedbydog.com Would you like a well-behaved dog at the expense of having a happy dog? How do we define happy? Would you be willing to make your dog a little sad, confused, anxious, stressed to be well-behaved? With every dog I have ever owned my approach to training has become a little more Zen-like. Trust in me is important for my dogs to be part of my family, and part of the life I lead. In the episode you'll hear: • What I was taught in the ‘80s about house training, and what I do now. • Why my dogs are such characters. • The “so what….” question to ask yourself. • More about what I was taught in the ‘80s relating to puppy biting. • About increasing or decreasing trust and happiness for dogs. • Why what we learn first is what we learn best, and how we can change. • How kindness should extend to ourselves. • About the clarity my dogs have for rules and how that gives them freedom. • How our dogs take on our emotions. • The reason to plan your responses to what your dog does. • That clarity is the opposite of anxiety and how certainty helps dogs. • Why the choice is ours on who we are for our dogs. • How our dogs can help us to become more compassionate. Resources: • Podcast Episode 4: T.E.M.P. (Tail, Eyes/Ears, Mouth, Posture) - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/4/ • Blog Post: It’s Time to P-o-t-t-y! Inside Scoop on Housetraining - https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2018/08/scoop-on-housetraining/ • Podcast Episode 17: Help! How do I STOP Puppy Biting?! - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/17/ • Podcast Episode 18: 4 Puppy and Dog Training Games for Acquired Bite Inhibition - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/18/ • Podcast Episode 20: Bridging the Gap Between Blame and Kindness in Dog Training - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/20/ • Podcast Episode 27: Do Dogs Need Rules? - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/27/ • Podcast Episode 6: The Art of Manipulation - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/6/ • Agility Nation - https://dogsthat.com/agility-nation/

Oct 30, 2020 • 20min
Behavior Chains: Are You Teaching Your Dog to be Bad to be Good? #42
Visit us at shapedbydog.com What if I were to tell you that your dog’s worst behaviour could very likely be there because you have been unintentionally reinforcing it? It might be your dog jumping on guests, barking, getting on the furniture, counter surfing, not wanting to leave the park, lunging, not bringing back a ball. All of these frustrations and many others are things you could be accidentally rewarding your dog for doing. How does this happen? It’s got everything to do with behaviour chains. In the episode you'll hear: • How to recognize a behaviour chain and how they work. • About the reinforcement of social attention for dogs. • How your words can be associated with rewards. • About your dog and patterns of reinforcement. • How your dog learns “gotta be bad to be good”. • Why your dog doesn't want to leave the park. • The ways to fix your inadvertent behaviour chains. • How important reinforcement is and why treats are just one form. • The example of a simple behavior being turned into a chain with repeated cues. • How to set up your dog for success. • About rehearsing the correct end of a behavior chain. Resources: • Podcast Episode 2: Reinforcement-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/2/ • Podcast Episode 33: How Do I Stop My Dog Counter Surfing?-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/33/ • Podcast Episode 19: One of My Biggest Pet Peeves in Dog Training-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/19/ • Podcast Episode 29: Understanding and Preventing Reactivity and Aggression in Your Dog-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/29/ • Podcast Episode 39: Is a Resistant Dog a Stubborn Dog?-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/39/ • Podcast Episode 40: Using a Head Halter on a Dog, Why My Approach is so Different-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/40/ • Home School the Dog-https://dogsthat.com/home-school/ • Recallers-https://recallers.com/ • DogsThat.Com-https://dogsthat.com/

Oct 28, 2020 • 14min
Get a Behaved Dog by Celebrating Milestones! #41
Visit us at shapedbydog.com When you get a puppy or dog, what are your expectations of your new family member? Do you have a vision of how your dog will fit into your home? What does it look like, and how do you convey your expectations to your dog? You can deepen the bond with your dog by knowing what your basics, manners and extras are. In the episode you'll hear: • All the things you probably don’t want your dog to do. • How expectations set people up for success and why that relates to your dog. • Why you need to know how you want your dog to behave. • The milestones you can set for your life with your dog. • Why there are three areas of focus for your dog to meet your expectations. • The basics of sleeping through the night, not going to the bathroom in the house, not biting and not destroying stuff. • How manners should be an area of focus once the basics are met. • Why teaching your dog a trick and retrieve helps in your life together. • All the extras you can introduce in your life with your dog. • How the more you welcome your dog into your heart the more milestones you can set to deepen your bond. • Why milestones are something you and your dog reach together. • How exercise reduces your dog’s naughty behaviours. Resources: • Podcast Episode 26: Pro Dog Training Tips to Get Your Puppy to Sleep All Night - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/26/ If you would like to have fun while showing your dog your expectations on manners, train a trick, teach your dog to fetch, and have ways to exercise your dog at home, you can join me in Home School the Dog through to the end of October.

Oct 23, 2020 • 25min
Using A Head Halter On A Dog, Why My Approach Is So Different #40
Visit us at shapedbydog.com Today I’m sharing with you how I get brilliant behaviours with my dogs. No matter what you are training, the key to success is to build value for what you want your dog to do and avoid your dog rehearsing undesirable behaviours. I’ll walk you through it step by step using walking on a leash as an example, and for me, that starts with using a Head Halter. Now before you turn off, you need to know that how I use a Head Halter is very different to nearly everyone out there. I’m also covering how not to use a Head Halter and clearing up common misconceptions. In the episode you'll hear: • Why behaviours get inadvertently chained and how to avoid it. • How to set your dog up for success and keep your dog safe. • Why the use of a Head Halter is controversial. • What walking your dog has to do with driving a car. • About the importance of protective gear. • What you should never do with a Head Halter. • Why I have to earn the right to put a Head Halter on my dog. • How I condition my puppy or dog to a Head Halter. • Why you need to know what you want your dog to do. • The 3 things I train for the times my dog and I come across a distraction when walking. • Everything I do differently when conditioning and using a Head Halter. • How we can be fair to our dogs by rehearsing success. • Why I let my dogs have a choice. • Strategies to use in the face of distractions when you are out with your dog. • What my ultimate goal is when I use a Head Halter. Resources: • Blog Post: How Do I Train My Dog NOT to Jump Up?-https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2019/04/train-my-dog-not-to-jump-up/ • Podcast Episode 29: Understanding and Preventing Reactivity and Aggression in Your Dog-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/29/ • Podcast Episode 39: Is a Resistant Dog a Stubborn Dog?-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/39/ • Podcast Episode 4: T.E.M.P. (Tail, Eyes/Ears, Mouth, Posture)-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/4/ • Podcast Episode 24: Help for the Dog who Chases Chipmunks, Bicycles, and the Neighbor’s Cat-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/24/ • Video Blog Post: How do I Stop My Dog from Pulling on the Leash?-https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2020/01/stop-my-dog-pulling-on-leash/ • Video Blog Post: Quick Tip for Dog Walking and Distractions-https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2020/06/dog-walking-and-distractions/

Oct 21, 2020 • 19min
Is a Resistant Dog a Stubborn Dog? #39
Visit us at shapedbydog.com What do we do when our dog shows resistance? What happens when your dog appears to be stubborn, and what does that tell you? You might even see resistance in toddlers, teenagers, your spouse, or a co-worker. We're looking at how you can overcome resistance and build a relationship of trust. In the episode you'll hear: • Why we want to move from resisting to a willingness to try. • What creates resistance in dogs, the sights, scents, sounds, feelings. • How the unknown and fear relate to resistance. • The importance of conditioning. • The signs your dog is resisting and what that tells you. • About resistance and lizard brain. • What happened with my puppy Shelby in the ’80s that hurt my heart. • Why our dogs might not just get over something and how it creates emotional walls. • The 5 elements that will melt resistance and create confidence. • The most important thing for me when I am conditioning a head halter and how I start. • What’s different from Ruff Love in what I do today in relation to head halters. • What seat belts have to do with dog training. • The importance of building trust rather than breaking trust with your dog. Resources: • Podcast Episode 7: You, Your Dog, Maslow and Lizard Brain-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/7/ • Podcast Episode 4: T.E.M.P. (Tail, Eyes/Ears, Mouth, Posture)-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/4/ • Podcast Episode 38: 3 Keys to a Confident Dog-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/38/ • Game: Learn how to play ItsYerChoice (IYC)-https://recallers.com/iycsummit-join/ • Crate Games Online-https://get.crategames.com/ • Book: “Ruff Love” by Susan Garrett-https://dogsthat.com/product/ruff-love/ • Hand Targets in the Video Blog: How to Train Your Dog to Stand on Cue-https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2020/10/train-your-dog-to-stand-on-cue/