Podcasts about onemind dogs

In this last episode of our second season, we explore the remarkable journey of Beth MacLeod, a devoted dog lover and professional trainer living just outside Boston, United States. With a lifelong passion for dogs, Beth shares how a single book transformed her approach to dog training in the late '90s, leading to a career dedicated to enhancing the bond between dogs and their people."What I thought a dog was, became something totally different." Since then, Beth MacLeod has been devoted to changing people's perspectives. She serves as the Director of Training and Behavior at a local humane society and runs a business focused on helping dogs and their owners overcome behavioral challenges. Having lived with dogs almost all her life, she currently shares a home with three beloved dogs: two Goldens and a senior Pekingese, who all play a central role in her dreams and daily life.This episode delves into the philosophy that dogs are more than pets; they are friends and family members who fill our lives with joy. Our guest emphasizes the importance of understanding and respecting dogs for who they are, fostering a relationship built on trust and mutual respect, and how OneMind Dogs has helped her on this journey.Listen to the episode and get inspired by stories of personal growth, the transformative power of positive reinforcement, and great stories from her experiences as a behaviorist and work at the local humane society. Visit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

In this heartwarming episode, we journey into the life of Georgia Denham, a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother living on the scenic Gold Coast in Southeast Queensland, Australia. Georgia's story is a celebration of lifelong passions, representing her deep-rooted love for her Border Collies and the art of dance. Having grown up surrounded by family dogs, it was the past 25 years that truly deepened her commitment to her dogs, embarking on a rewarding path of discovery and mutual growth with them.Georgia, a self-described perfectionist, approaches life with full dedication, whether it's nurturing her dogs or indulging in her passions. When she started learning OneMind Dogs' way of training, she instantly loved the feeling of connection. She dedicated herself to learning independently online and training each technique in her small garden with only one jump. Georgia proves that you're never too old to learn something new!She mentioned that one of her biggest learnings has been: “Until you know as a handler what to do, don't go and take your dog to train”.Beyond the world of dog agility and training, Georgia holds a special place in her heart for dance. Her dance journey began at the tender age of five with ballet, which laid the foundation for her lifelong love affair with dance. Georgia's motto, "Never stop Dancing," summarizes her philosophy of life, embodying the joy and fulfillment she finds in both her artistic and canine endeavors.Throughout the episode, Georgia shares her inspiring story of how she fell in love with dog agility and how understanding the dog's perspective has positively impacted her life. Jump into the episode and hear the highlights of her life and what Georgia has learned from her dogs!Visit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

In this engaging episode, we explore the energetic world of Barb Davis, a celebrated dog agility champion from West Palm Beach, Florida, United States. With an impressive resume that includes being a 9-time National Champion and a 10-time World team member, Barb's journey in the world of dog agility is truly inspiring!Her lifelong passion for dogs began in her childhood with Terriers and Shelties in conformation and obedience competitions. However, the exciting world of agility truly captured her heart.Barb's household is a lively blend of agility champions, including two Shelties, a Border Collie, and a Border/Whippet mix. Her first significant success came in 1999 when she nailed her first National Championship! This victory was a turning point, leading her to pivot her career towards agility, dedicating her life to teaching the sport. In 2007, she made the brave decision to leave her 15-year tenure as a Mathematics Instructor at a Community College to focus full-time on agility coaching.Barb has a lot of stories to share, from agility to her career before dogs, and also something surprising for us all, so go ahead and listen to her exciting life journey and get inspired!The OneMind Dogs' very first promotion video Barb mentioned in the episode.Learn more about Barb:FacebookWeb pagesVideo of 17 obstacle course with Brewsky and Cappuccino being directed from the Pride Mobility ScooterVideo of training agility dogs Brewsky and Cappuccino and talking about Pride Mobility ScooterVideo of her BorderWhippet Cappuccino at Cynosport 2022Video of her Border Collie Flex competing at IFCS World Agility Championships 2019Video of her Sheltie Skecher winning AKC Nationals in 2013Visit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

In this inspiring episode, we chatted with an agility enthusiast, Julie Fleetham, from Minnesota, United States. With over 20 years in the sport, Julie shares insights from her life with her two dogs, a Dachshund and a Dachshund mix. She highlights how these energetic dogs have kept her young and active, enriching her life with laughter and excitement. Life with a Dachshund is always exciting!

In this delightful episode, we travel to sunny Australia, where our guest, Glenys Atkins, a long-time dog enthusiast, lives with her supportive family and two miniature poodles, Coco and Chevy.Glenys is retired and has even undergone hip replacement surgery, but that doesn't stop her from being active. What is unique about her story is that she started agility at the age of 67 - so age is definitely not a barrier to starting this great activity! She also explains her thoughts behind her statement: “Agility is not just a sport for young people. It's a sport that older people can do successfully as well.”Learn about her dedication to canine conditioning and the OneMind Dogs method and how these practices shape her life and dreams. Glenys loves going to seminars for the supportive and encouraging environment. “There isn't anything better than going to a OneMind Dogs seminar - it's just so much fun!” she says. Hear an inspiring story about how a love for dog agility led to a remarkable conversation with an orthopedic surgeon. Listen to this episode and get inspired!Here are the links for the conditioning Glenis is doing with the poodles:Facebook pageWebpageHer agility videos:"Parkes Trial April 2023 First Clear Run""Parkes Trial April 2023 First Run" "Rear-end Conditioning Exercise" "Shaping Going Round an Object October 2020"Visit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

In this episode, we dive into the extraordinary life of Nelisia van Dyk, a passionate dog lover and agility enthusiast from East London, South Africa. Living on a farm with her husband, son, 15 Border Collies, and 3 Papillions, Nelisia's life is a true testament to her love for animals.Growing up surrounded by farm animals, Nelisia always had a natural connection with dogs. Her journey with agility began with her deep admiration for the athletic abilities of dogs and their remarkable intuition in reading human behaviors. She shares how agility training and the OneMind Dogs community transformed her understanding of dogs, emphasizing the importance of seeing things from a dog's perspective.Nelisa has competed successfully in dog agility, won a silver medal at the IFCS World Champs, and qualified for the FCI World Championships. Despite facing health challenges, her resilience and positive spirit shine through in her stories.Listen as Nelisia shares her exciting story, including her visit to Finland! Visit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

In this special episode of our podcast, we're excited to introduce a genuinely exciting guest from the United States, Linda Randall! Originally from the east coast of Connecticut and now living in Ohio, Linda represents a spirit of curiosity that has guided her diverse life experiences. With a background rich in cultural immersion, from growing up in a Russian-speaking community to teaching English in Nigeria, the journey is as unique as it is inspiring.A passionate advocate for understanding behavior in both people and animals, Linda shares her life with six energetic border collies. Her love for dogs extends beyond companionship, and she is looking forward to learning more about how to help people improve life with their dogs and delving deeper into trauma-informed and trauma-assumed care in people and animals.Listen in as we explore the depths of the human-animal bond and the journey of being open-minded and learning and changing opinions and ways of doing things while gathering more information. This episode promises to be engaging from start to finish - an open discussion that takes you along!Linda is changing the world in many ways, and you can't miss this episode! Make sure you also share it on your networks.Learn more about Linda:Youtube ChannelWebpage Facebook Instagram Visit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

In this episode, we talk with Catie Williams, a talented dog agility trainer from the United States. Catie started doing agility in 1999 and has taught dog agility since 2002. Before working with dogs, she had an equally exciting career producing radio and TV commercials.Catie and her dogs have won lots of agility championships. She's been a top competitor in many big competitions, like the AKC Agility National Championship and the USDAA Cynosport World Games. Now she is facing a new phase in her training as one of her dogs is going deaf. For those who are not aware, OneMind Dogs was founded because of a deaf dog named Tekla; read more here.Catie has trained all sorts of dogs, from tiny Chihuahuas to big Great Danes, and currently, she's living and competing with three Border Collies: Swirl, Tap, and Jubilation. Catie's students have also done really well, earning many titles and competing at high levels. She loves helping her students reach their goals, whether it's doing agility just for fun or competing internationally.Catie uses the OneMind Dogs method in her training, and she says it helps handlers understand how their dogs see things. She's participated in lots of seminars with OneMind Dogs coaches and thinks they have been incredibly helpful for her and her students.Learn more about Catie:Canine New England Catie's Facebook PageVisit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

In this episode, we chat with a special guest from Minnesota, OneMind Dogs Coach Beth Hostetter. Beth has taken an impressive journey with dogs and educating herself and others. She has experience with multiple different kinds of dogs, and currently, she runs agility with her Shleties and Bearded Collie.We start the episode by going straight to the deep end as Beth shares her remarkable life-changing moment in her dog training journey! Me (Noora) and my direct (and very Finnish) feedback has something to do with it… As a handler, Beth loves seeing how focusing on Connection has made a difference in her handling and the relationship with her dog. Her favorite thing about teaching is seeing the “light bulb moments” when her students try something new and realize they can succeed at it. She tells her students they can learn to be aware of what each dog needs. Beth also reveals a big change in the episode: she is leaving a 27-year career in real estate to fulfill the dream of dog lovers everywhere; find out more by tuning in!Read more about Beth: OneMind Dogs Coach ProfileVisit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

Join the episode with Tricia Myburgh, a dedicated dog agility enthusiast, as she shares her unique journey from Zambia to the wilds of Mpumalanga, South Africa. Born with a deep connection to nature, Trish's life is a fascinating blend of a strong affinity for animals and an adventurous spirit. In this episode, Tricia opens up about her challenges and highlights with her dogs and shares her experience of learning more about the dog's perspective. Her engaging storytelling will captivate and excite you, drawing you into her interesting life!Learning more about dogs and agility in South Africa and how Tricia has her agility field near the National Park, aligned with the exotic wildlife, is unique and exciting!Visit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

In this episode, we introduce you to Liza Buckner, a true agility enthusiast from Northern California, USA. With a background in horticultural therapy for 25 years, she gradually transitioned into full-time agility instructing. Her journey in dog agility began in 2000, and she attended her first OneMind Dogs seminar in 2013 and later joined the OneMind Dogs instructor group.Originally from North Carolina but calling the Bay Area home since 1986, Liza shares her life with four dogs. Her passion is fostering the teamwork aspect of dog sports, emphasizing the bond between dog and handler from the dog's perspective. In this episode, you'll discover how learning more about the dog's perspective completely changed her life!As we delve deeper into her story, we explore dreams and transitions, particularly during a pandemic that shifted perspectives for many in the agility world. We'll also hear about her most valuable learnings from OneMind Dogs method creator Janita Leinonen and the background of one of Liza's dog's name, "Lii."Dogs are special in Liza's world, providing companionship, entertainment, and endless inspiration. But there's more to her than just agility; she's known for her wit, humor, and flair for the theatrical, drawing from her background in theatre and her diverse career in behavior modification and healing through gardening.Tune in for an engaging episode filled with insights, laughter, and a unique perspective on life with dogs and the captivating world of agility.Learn more about Liza:Her coach profileHer website Facebook pageYouTube channel VideoVideoVisit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

Join us in this episode as we sit down with Lynn Madden, a remarkable OneMind Dogs team member and instructor from Australia. Lynn, along with her four delightful border collies—Cooper, Stormy, Rain, and Drift—also make frequent appearances in our videos. With a decade of experience in agility training under her belt, Lynn's journey has been nothing short of inspiring.Discover how Lynn's deep dive into understanding the dog's perspective has not only transformed her life but has also opened up exciting new avenues. Through her experiences and insights, you'll gain a fresh perspective on the profound impact of building a strong bond with our dogs.But Lynn's story doesn't end there. She also shares how life with dogs has helped her navigate the challenging journey of cancer, revealing the incredible healing power that our dogs possess.Tune in to this episode to embark on an unforgettable journey with Lynn, where her love for dogs, agility, the power of empathy, and resilience in the face of adversity come together to create a story that will leave you inspired, enlightened, and deeply moved.Learn more about Lynn:Her coach profileFacebook pageInstagram account"Stong after cancer" Instagram account - Follow her healing process after cancerVisit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

Welcome back to the "From the Dog's Perspective" podcast, brought to you by OneMind Dogs. In this episode, the host, OneMind Dogs CEO Noora Keskievari, shares her leading thoughts behind the podcast.In this podcast, we share inspiring stories from our OneMind Dogs community, showcasing how learning about a dog's viewpoint can change lives. These aren't tales of fame or fortune; they're everyday stories that inspire us all.Through these experiences, we aim to empower and bring positivity into your life. Discover how the OneMind Dogs method has truly changed people's lives, making them more positive and fulfilling.Each dog and owner is unique, and we can't wait to share their incredible stories with you. As we continue to develop this podcast, your feedback is invaluable. Help us fulfill our mission of making life better for dogs by sharing this podcast with your friends. Together, we can create happier lives for our furry companions.We're thrilled to kick off our second season. Join us as we explore the world of dogs and the transformative power of understanding their perspective.Join us on this journey of understanding, inspiration, and transformation. Subscribe now to the "From the Dog's Perspective" podcast and join the OneMind Dogs community.Learn more about Noora:LinkedInHer coach profileHer entrepreneurial story (video)Instagram accountVisit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

Woohoo! We're back! In the first guest episode of From the Dog's Perspective podcast Season #2, I have the privilege to chat with a talented dog trainer, competitor, and all-around lovely person — OneMind Dogs Coach Anna Eifert, from Hungary.Anna is an active international traveler and explorer, passionate about sharing the OneMind Dogs method wherever she goes. She is known for teaching and competing in agility internationally, not only with her border collies but also with her miniature bullterrier!Listen to her insightful stories, learnings, and tips for all dog and dog agility lovers!  Learn more about Anna: Her coach profileFacebook pageYouTube ChannelVisit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

In the last episode of our exciting and inspiring first season, our guest is the amazing Stephen McKay, an extraordinary individual from New York, United States. Although he wasn't born into the dog world, Stephen has become a highly experienced agility competitor and a OneMind Dogs Coach. Hear about his captivating life journey with dogs as he shares his experiences with various dog breeds and their profound impact on his life. Remarkably, Stephen has been playing guitar for 50 years now! You'll hear more about that as well, yes, he is a fantastic storyteller, and this episode will definitely not disappoint!Learn more about Stephen:His coach profileHome pageMcKay9 Dog Training LLC on FacebookPersonal Facebook profileVisit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

In this episode, we have a guest from Finland – Minna Martimo. She actually lives right next to one of our friends, Santa Claus!Minna is a OneMind Dogs coach, a Veterinarian, and a devoted dog lover. With her background in veterinary medicine, she understands the importance of both physical and mental well-being for dogs. As a OneMind Dogs coach, Minna brings her knowledge and experience to help dogs and their handlers communicate better and succeed in agility. One of Minna's passions in coaching is mental training and helping people to manage their thoughts and mental skill set. In this interview, Minna shares her strategies for developing mental resilience and preparing both herself and her dogs for success.Discover how her love for dogs and learning more about the dog's perspective has shaped her life - her story is truly inspiring to listen to! You'll also get some interesting insights into the story behind her dog's creative names!Follow Minna on social media:Youtube ChannelInstagramFacebookLearn more about Minna:Her coach profileHome pageVideo with Santa Claus!Visit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

In this episode, we meet Laura Kuterbach from the United States. Laura is a psychologist working in a public school, who has discovered a unique way to combine her two passions: psychology and dogs. Join us as we dive into Laura's fascinating world, where she shares her experiences as an agility judge for the American Kennel Club and how it has enriched her life for almost a decade.Laura reveals how her dogs taught her valuable psychology lessons, shaping her understanding of human behavior. Discover how she incorporates the OneMind Dogs method and educational videos into her work. Join us as we explore the incredible synergy between psychology, dogs, and agility in Laura Kuterbach's inspiring story.Follow Laura on social media:FacebookYouTubeTikTokSome videos from Laura and her dogs:Her Kelpie learning to connect with her near an agility ring (from anxious to focused) VIDEOHer Kelpie returned to a trial (running Not For Competition ~ with a toy) after months of training to work on connection and reactivity. Laura was so happy with their progress! VIDEO Her perfect Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (Laura's heart dog) running in the Finals at the AKC Agility Invitational seven years ago (2014).  "This event is so over the top (glitzy) so I used clips from the movie "The Hunger Games" to compare our journey and experience. My handling has evolved a lot over the past 7 years, but my love for this little guy and the memories will never fade." VIDEOVisit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

Leslie Dawson-North from Canada is a professional dog trainer, and she runs her own dog training business where she is teaching others as well. In this episode, Leslie shares a lot of wisdom about dogs and living life with them. We will hear more about her journey with her dogs, and also how the dog world has changed in the past 30 years. Find Leslie on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/just4dogslangdon Visit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

Jane Bowman has been teaching dogs for over 20 years. She has always lived in Indiana in the USA and has two dogs. Jane enjoys spending time with her dogs, whether it's training, hiking, or just watching them play. In this episode, you'll hear Jane's story, from being afraid of dogs to LOVING them, and hear more about what inspires her about dogs. Being a former school teacher, she also reveals how she used to use the same training methods with the kids as she had learned to use them successfully in dog training!Here are some videos links for Jane's dogs' agility runs:Video 1Video 2Visit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

Nga Bustamante is a retired chemist who lives in Sydney with her husband and two little dogs. Nga grew up in a small village in Vietnam and always lived in a house with lots of animals: dogs, cats, chickens, ducks & pigs. Her first dog was a fox terrier Sooty who lived a long life of 15 years. Soon after Sooty passed away, Nga found another Fox Terrier, Pepe, with whom she started training actively in obedience and agility. With her current dog, Poco Nga has learned to train with OneMind Dogs' online service and has learned a lot through the guided courses. In this episode, we will hear an interesting story of Nga and how she found OneMind Dogs while she was traveling in Chile ten years ago. Visit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

Pamela Harju has a remarkably interesting background! First of all, she is very international; she speaks multiple languages and is originally from Finland, and has been living in Ireland for over 20 years. When Pamela is not busy with her dogs, she enjoys live music and writes fiction – she has published six books. Look at her website for more information on the books. In this episode, we'll hear inspiring stories about what Pamela has learned from her dogs and also how important the role of dogs can play in life. Sometimes a dog can be the most important support when someone is feeling lonely and even being bullied at school. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pamelaharju Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/pamelaharju Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pamelaharju Website: https://www.pamelaharju.com Website for our agility club: https://www.runasone.ie Visit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

Ann Ouchterloney is living her dream in Florida! She is retired and is now able to spend time and train with her dogs every day.She describes herself as intense, and her passion is to constantly improve the training with her dogs. Ann has experience with many types of dogs, and it's lovely to hear about her learnings and journey. She has a lot of inspiration and life wisdom to share!In this episode, we'll hear her story. You'll also hear more about how active life with dogs is possible after a hip and knee replacement. For example, she is only walking when doing agility - and enjoying it to the fullest!Visit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

Stephanie Williams is from the United States and has five dogs at home. She is passionate about learning and getting better at dog agility and helping her students do the same.Stephanie has been involved in OneMind Dogs for years and is also part of OneMind Dogs' operational team as a customer support superstar and content producer. She says that one of her favorite things about this sport is that there's always something new to learn.In this episode, we will discuss Stephanie's journey with her dogs and hear more about what inspires her in dogs. Follow Stephanie on Facebook! Visit OneMind Dogs and learn more about the dog's perspective!Do you have a new dog at home? Or do you want to start it all over?Start the OneMind Dogs puppy training program today and get the OneMind Dogs team's support. To get the podcast newsletter, sign up here!

As a dog lover (some of you know that I have four dogs) this subject is near and dear to my heart. The expert I have on to talk about this is Noora Keskievari, CEO and Co-founder of OneMind Dogs, an innovative online dog training service. Watch the free webinar, "5 Top New Puppy Tips"Questions answered in this episode:What was your experience when it came to introducing your dogs to your children? When a dog owner is expecting, is there anything she should do to prepare her dog for the arrival of a newborn?When the dog owner comes home with a newborn, how should she introduce her new baby to her dog? What about puppies, how should she introduce her new baby to a puppy?How can we teach our dogs to act safely around our babies?How can we teach our babies to act safely around our dogs? When it comes to puppies in general, what are five top tips to succeed with your puppy?Connect with Noora: @noorakeskievariAbout OneMind Dogs:The OneMind Dogs method is all about the dog's point of view. Everything we teach is about seeing the world from your dog's perspective, and having fun together. 100,000 happy dogs with 50,000 happy owners have used the OneMind Dogs method, and to put it simply: it just works.Connect with Lina on InstagramFollow the New Mamas Podcast on InstagramRead Lina's Motherhood BlogSupport the Show: Buy Me a CoffeeEpisode edited by Chris Duffy: heyitschrisduffy@gmail.com-[This episode is sponsored by Creidm.com]Creidm.com is a Distributor of the all-natural and eco-friendly home, skin, and health products created by Shaklee. These products are the most clinically tested and clinically proven. Creidm and the Shaklee Products focus on children and mothers. They offer personalized vitamin packs for children and adults called Meology and can come in gummy and pill form. What is great, is they offer higher discounts on the Meology kids packs for the more kids you have! Also, starting in November they will be releasing their pre- and post-natal line to help support Mothers and their children in such an important time of their life.Creidm also offers ways to become a distributor yourself and make extra income all from home! To learn more, go to Creidm.com.Support the show

We are SO excited to have our very first guest on the Podcast. Jaakko Suoknuutti is an accomplished Agility Handler & Coach who is widely respected in the Sport of Agility. He & his partner Janita Leinonen are the creators of the popular handling methodology OneMind Dogs. They've both been a part of Team Finland for many years and earned many world championship titles. Jaakko and Kayl met back in 2012 and became fast friends. Kayl spent many years traveling to Finland to train and Jaakko would travel to Canada to coach the McCann Dogs Agility group. Jaakko has the unique ability to see an Agility course from the dogs perspective which gives him the ability to teach, handle, design courses and coach students at a whole new level. We are very honoured to have him as our guest today! In Part 1 of this 2 part podcast, Jaakko & the girls discuss the many facets of becoming a better handler for our dogs by understanding what our DOG needs from us as we navigate a course. We're going to share with you the concept of "CCC" - Connect, Commit & Cue which are the 3 steps that have to happen between every obstacle on course! Be sure to check out Part 2 (Launching July 2, 2021) where we continue to deep dive into the best ways to walk a course, REALLY knowing & understanding your dog and the life changing topic of "Lead Changes". You don't want to miss it! ~~~~~~~~ About this Podcast. Welcome to the McCann Dogs Agility Podcast with your hosts Kayl McCann and Jamie Moreau. They are Professional Dog trainers, Members of Agility Team Canada and together they've been teaching dog agility for nearly 20 years. Most nights after teaching classes, they will spend HOURS talking about training, different trends, future goals, current challenges and how they plan to conquer them! These talks are often accompanied by some red wine and lots of laughs! So, whether you're new to Agility or competing at a World Class level, they are excited to have you join their conversation! To train with Kayl McCann - Chew out the McCann Dogs Agility Coaching Program - Check out: www.Patreon.com/McCannDogs. Our online coaching platform features a monthly subscription to weekly lesson plans, video coaching sessions, personalized feedback, private monthly live streams, Q&A & more! STAY IN THE KNOW! Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/mccanndogsagility Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/McCannDogsAgility Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/309101115865012 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mccanndogsagility/?hl=en MERCH: https://mccanndogs.store/collections/agility-merch

Owning a dog that has never been trained before can be stressful. Figuring out which trainer is better can be even harder! OneMind Dogs is an online subscription-based training platform created from the dogs' point of view. Simple, quick, and effective, CEO Noora Keskievari wants to help owners help their dogs! OneMind Dogs doesn't just want to sell you a product, they want you to help change the world, one dog at a time.

Summary: In 2004 Barbara Currier and her husband Michael were relocated to Richmond, VA, where she began teaching agility at All Dog Adventures. It was there that Barbara was introduced to Susan Garrett and her foundation-based training, centered around impulse control and relationship building with your dog.   She continues to train with some of the best handlers in the world and has implemented what she has learned from each of them into her training program. She became heavily involved in the OneMind Dogs handling method in 2014. She has successfully competed in agility with over 10 different breeds of dogs. Along the way, she started her own in home training and behavioral rehabilitation business. She was the trainer for Richmond Boxer Rescue and also assisted Southeastern Virginia Golden Retriever Rescue in assessing some of their dogs. Over the years, Barbara has worked extensively with many rescue organizations in numerous states. Barbara has also worked as an animal wrangler for Marvel’s Ant-Man, 90 Minutes in Heaven, the TV series Satisfaction and various commercials. She is also the head dog trainer for the F.I.D.O Program run at Georgia Tech which creates wearable computing for military, SAR and service dogs. Links: Leave FDSA A Voicemail! Next Episode: To be released 11/23/2018, we'll be talking to Amy Cook about overcoming sound sensitivity. TRANSCRIPTION: Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, an online school dedicated to providing high-quality instruction for competitive dog sports using only the most current and progressive training methods. Today we’ll be talking to Barbara Currier. In 2004, Barbara and her husband Michael were relocated to Richmond, Va., where she began teaching agility at All Dog Adventures. It was there that Barbara was introduced to Susan Garrett and her foundation-based training, centered around impulse control and relationship-building with your dog.   She continues to train with some of the best handlers in the world and has implemented what she has learned from each of them into her training program. She became heavily involved in the OneMind Dogs handling method in 2014. She has successfully competed in agility with over ten different breeds of dogs. Along the way, she started her own in-home training and behavioral rehabilitation business. She was the trainer for the Richmond Boxer Rescue and also assisted Southeastern Virginia Golden Retriever Rescue in assessing some of their dogs. Over the years, Barbara has worked extensively with many different rescue organizations in numerous states. She also worked as an animal wrangler for Marvel’s Ant-Man, 90 Minutes in Heaven, the TV series Satisfaction, and various commercials. She is the head dog trainer for the F.I.D.O Program run at Georgia Tech, which creates wearable computing for military, search-and-rescue (SAR), and service dogs. Hi Barbara, welcome back to the podcast! Barbara Currier: Hi, thanks for having me. Melissa Breau: Absolutely! Excited to chat again. To start us out, can you remind listeners who your dogs are and what you’re working on with them? Barbara Currier: Sure. My oldest is Piper. She’s a 10-year-old Parson Russell Terrier, and she pretty much just does dock diving. She loves that. She’s not happy that the season has ended now, so she’s in her winter rest, which doesn’t make her real happy, but she loves her dock diving. And then I have Blitz, who is my 9-year-old Border Collie. He is retired from agility. He also does dock diving now, and he is also my medical alert service dog. And then I have Miso. She is my 4-year-old Miniature Poodle. She is my main agility dog right now. She is also a medical alert service dog. And my newest is Eggo. He will turn a year tomorrow. He is my English Cocker that I imported from Europe. He is doing agility. He’s not competing yet, he’s still very young, he’s only going to be a year. But he is hopefully going to have a promising career in agility, and he’s also doing dock diving, which he already is obsessed with. Melissa Breau: That’s fun. The waffle, right? Barbara Currier: Yes, that’s the waffle. Melissa Breau: So I wanted to focus on weave poles today, since I know you have a class on that coming up, but as a non-agility person I’m going to totally admit that some of my questions are a little on the basic side. First off — wow. Without knowing how to train them, if you look at weave poles in general, it seems like such a complex behavior. Can you break it down for us a little bit? What pieces or skills have to come together to have really well-trained weave poles? Barbara Currier: Weaves are actually my most favorite piece of equipment to teach out of all the agility equipment. It’s the hardest behavior for the dogs to learn because it’s the most unnatural. But if you look at agility as a whole, it’s pretty much all natural behaviors for the dogs, things that you would see them doing if they were out running in the woods, except you don’t normally see them weaving through trees. So weave poles is very unnatural, and so it can be quite difficult to teach them that. I find it such a fun puzzle to teach it, and I love to make it a game for them so that they find it as much fun as I do. The downside on weaves is it can be hard on their bodies, so you just want to make sure that they’re physically ready to ask what we want them to do. You want to make sure that they’re old enough and that they’re strong enough, because it can be quite taxing on them. One of the parts of weave poles is the dog must learn to always enter with the first pole at their left shoulder and then continue the rhythm through all twelve poles. It’s a very specific behavior, and it can be difficult for the dogs to do this at extreme speeds and still maintain all twelve poles. So they have to learn how to use their bodies so that they’re at full speed and they can hit all twelve poles. Oftentimes the dogs will pop out if they haven’t been taught properly how to do that, or they’ll get their entry and not be able to hold on to the poles, because there’s a lot of things that come together with weave poles. There’s a lot of body awareness, there’s a lot of them knowing how to rock their weight back on their haunches to collect to get into the poles, there’s footwork involved. There’s two different styles of footwork in poles. There’s the swimming or the single-stepping and then there is the bounce stride. Most big dogs single step and most little dogs bounce stride, which looks like a rabbit hopping in between. I say “most” because I do know quite a few big dogs that bounce stride and they do just fine, their weaves are just as fast, it’s not a problem. But people sometimes get a little too hung up on the footwork. If they have a big dog and they see their big dog is bounce striding, they don’t like that, they want to make them single-stride. But I think it’s important to let the dog choose what is most comfortable for their body type and for the way they move, as long as they’re not doing a combination of both. That tends to have problems. But you really want it to become muscle memory for the dog, so that when they’re doing the behavior, they’re not thinking about it, they’re just doing it. That’s where the speed comes from. The more that they think about it, the slower it is, the more methodical it is, so we want it to become muscle memory so that they’re just going through the motions. Melissa Breau: Just to make sure everybody’s on the same page, single step you’re talking about when they go into the weaves and it’s, “OK, I’m on my left foot on the left side and my right front foot on the right side,” and bounce is when they have both feet on the ground on each side, right? Barbara Currier: Yes, yes.   Melissa Breau: Awesome. I wanted to make sure because, you know, terminology and stuff. Even not knowing much about the topic, I’ve heard of things like 2X2 training, I’ve seen trainers use guide wires, moving poles and gradually bringing them closer together, and things like that. Can you briefly explain what some of the different methods ARE that are out there, what those things are, what people are talking about? Barbara Currier: There’s basically three different methods to training weave poles. There’s the 2X2 method, where you teach them — much like it says in the name — you teach them two poles at a time. The channel method, where it basically looks like a chute of weave poles and you slowly can close the chute — it’s the way the base is made so that it slowly comes together — so the dog starts with running down the middle of the poles in a straight line, and then as the poles start to come closer and closer together, the dog has to start weaving to do it. The third one is the guide wires, where it’s guide wires that are put on the poles, so it looks like a maze that the dog walks through and they can learn that way. Melissa Breau: That’s interesting. Which approach do you usually use for your dogs and what are you using in the class? Barbara Currier: My preference is the 2X2 method. The base of my preference is from the method that I learned from Susan Garrett with her 2X2’s, and then I have, over the years, adapted for some things with my own dogs and some holes that I was constantly seeing with dogs that were coming to me. I’m kind of known as the weave guru in my parts, and so whenever people start having weave problems, they come to me. I kept seeing a lot of the same issues, and even with people that had taught their dogs with 2X2’s. But what was interesting was I didn’t see the issues with my dogs, and I wasn’t sure quite at first what I was doing differently than what everybody else was doing, where my dogs weren’t having this issue but other people’s were. I took a young dog that I was just training, and I basically documented every single thing I did to try to find what I was doing differently than what everybody else was doing, and found that it was a lot in my beginning stages of my approaches that would prevent these holes from happening that I was seeing in other people’s dogs. And so I have modified it to adding more of that stuff in, and a little bit of other things that I have found here and there that have helped with it, I think. Melissa Breau: When you say approaches, you mean the dogs approaching the poles, or are you talking about something else? Barbara Currier: Yes, when the dog approaches the poles. In the class, we do what’s called “entries” on an around-the-clock game, so you have your poles in the middle, and you pretend you’re standing on a clock and you work through your different entries. But what I was finding with a lot of people is a lot of people stayed at the straight-on approaches or the more straightforward easy approaches, and I wasn’t being methodical about this, I just didn’t do it. I did not stay at those approaches much. I stayed at the harder approaches. And so right from the beginning the dogs would learn to bend and hit those weave entries from a more difficult angle and would speed right from the beginning. On two poles, it’s easy. The reward comes fast and it’s easy to find, and so I was finding that with my dogs I was building up the muscling along their spine right from the beginning and was building up that drive to find the pole, really dig in, and grab that entry. So I do very few easy entries right off from the beginning, and I don’t really concern myself with those entries until I start adding in the full six and the full twelve, because I consider those entries easy. Where those entries become difficult is when the dogs are at full speed and they have to learn how to power down to get into their poles. So I worry about that once I start adding in sequencing and that type of thing, but from the beginning I work those hard entrances right at the first two poles, and it seems to help with some of the fallout that happens down the road, like getting the entry and not being able to hang on to the poles, or missing the entry and going into the second pole, and those types of things. Melissa Breau: That’s really interesting. I was actually going to ask you, this feeds well into what my next question was, which I think our listeners, in particular, are probably pretty familiar with the idea of building up skills gradually, but it seems like there are so many pieces to the weave poles. There are so many different axes that you have to gradually make more difficult. You’ve got your speed, you’re got the number of poles, you’ve got the entries, you’ve got the sequencing, your more advanced handling … so can you talk a little more about how you juggle all those different pieces? Is there an order that makes sense for people as they try and put the things together? Do you work on them in different training sessions? How does that work? How do you approach it? Barbara Currier: I start with two poles and teach the dog to find the entry from all the different angles, and with speed and enthusiasm right from the start. And then, again, like I mentioned before, the reward comes fast when you’re only using two poles, so it’s the perfect time to get the dog to think that the game is really, really fun. I also keep my sessions incredibly short, like, three correct entries on each side and then done. So my dogs are looking at me like, “Seriously, that’s it? That’s all we get?” And I’m like, “Yes, that’s it, we’re done. That was the session.” And so the more we play this game, and it’s super-fast and it’s super-fun and it all happens really fast, the more they’re like, “Oh my god, this is the most fun game ever.” All my dogs love weave poles so much because I keep everything so fast and exciting, and when they’re like, “This is the most fun on Earth,” I’m like, “Yeah, I know, and we’re done now.” And they’re thinking, “What, what? No, I was just getting into it.” And I’m like, “We’ve got to wait until the next session.” So I really want them to love, love the game. The other thing that’s important is that I don’t worry about if they’re wrong. I want them to make mistakes. If they’re not making mistakes, it’s too easy. But I also want them to understand that making a mistake is not a big deal. I want them to learn how to fail and just keep trying with the same amount of enthusiasm. Often, dogs, when they make a mistake, they’re like, “Oh, I can’t do it anymore. It’s so hard. That reward didn’t come, I can’t do it, I can’t do it,” and then the owner gets stressed and then the dog gets stressed, and suddenly it’s a meltdown for everyone. When my dogs make a mistake, it’s just, “Oh my god, we’re going to try that again!” and they just don’t get the reward and they’re like, “OK, OK, I’ll be better this time. I’ll get it, I’ll get it.” To them, it’s just like a mystery they’re trying to solve, or a puzzle they’re trying to figure out, and so they’re super-happy to try again for me and it’s not a big deal. There’s never any shutdown and “Oh, this is too hard, this is too hard.” Now, if they fail twice in a row, I will take a step back and I might back-train, like, “This maybe standing here at 3 o’clock is a little too hard for you, but what if I stand at 2:30? Can you do it at 2:30?” And we’ll go from there. If they’re correct a couple of times at 2:30, then I’ll go to 2:45 and “How is this? Can we do this now?” And so on and so on. From there we move to four poles and follow the same thing as above, and then we move on to six poles. Of course we angle them a certain way, and then we gradually make them straighter and straighter. I stay at six poles until I’m in love with the dog’s footwork, speed, and understanding of their job. Oftentimes a lot of people will get to six and then they’re like, “Now it’s twelve.” But the dog doesn’t fully understand their job yet, and all we’ve done by adding in six more is we’ve just made it harder, we’ve made the reward farther away, and the dogs really start to slow down. So I’m in no rush to leave six until I’m in love with the behavior the dog is showing me. I really want them to be confident in their footwork. I really want to see what we talked about earlier, the muscle memory, and not so much the hard thinking about the job. I want all that to come out now, so that when we move on to twelve, then it’s just getting the stamina of doing this behavior longer for twelve poles and just getting the speed going for that long of a distance. Once I have the footwork and the speed that I really like at the twelve, then I’ll start working in distractions like, Can you do your weave poles when there’s a dog playing tug next to them? Can you do your weave poles if I’m throwing a Frisbee? Can you do your weave poles if I have a plate of chicken next to you? All these things so that when they get into working in a trial environment, the stuff that I like to call my “torture,” which my dogs love because it’s like a super game to them, that they’re like, “Oh yeah, trial distractions. This stuff is easy compared to what Mom does to us at home.” Because they get these huge, massive jackpots when they can go through the weave poles when I’m throwing a Frisbee. I’ve had a few dogs over the years that were food-driven dogs only, and of course we worked up to this, but one of the things I do with my food-driven dogs for a distraction is I will line the base of the weave poles with steak, and they have to weave over the top of the steak and not touch it. And then, at the end, if they’re successful, they can come back and eat all the steak. It’s so much fun. Recently, I have a young group of dogs in a class that just started trialing, and they had been with me since they were 8-week-old puppies. Now they’re all trialing and it’s been really cool to see. When they were all learning their weave poles, I had a little Sheltie that was very food-driven, not toy-driven, and we did that and she’s like, “Oh, she’s never going to do it,” and she did it like a rockstar. She was like, “Steak on the weave poles, we’ve got this. I know my job.” So it’s really, really fun. Once I work through distraction stuff, then I start handling moves. Can you stay in your poles when I’m front crossing before and after the poles? Can you stay in your poles when I’m rear crossing, when I’m blind crossing? And then I add a jump, and now, Can you do your poles when another piece of equipment’s been added to it? Can you do your poles when a jump is after the weave poles, when you see something else coming? Can you do your weave poles when there’s a tunnel nearby, when we’re going to go to a tunnel? Then, once I’m loving all that stuff, then I add the next six and we do the distractions again, and then we start adding in more difficult sequencing. Melissa Breau: You’ve definitely got it down like a method, an approach, and all the pieces are there. I think that’s important for people to recognize that you do have to work through all those things systematically. Barbara Currier: Yeah, for sure. Melissa Breau: Both in the course description and just now, you mention the idea of having your dog LOVE the weave poles. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like a big piece of that is about confidence, making sure that they know how to do the behavior correctly. Can you talk a little bit about that? How does loving the weaves and confidence, how do those things go hand-in-hand when it comes to getting good performance on course? Barbara Currier: Like I talked about before, it’s all about teaching the dogs that the game is awesome. That means keeping the sessions super-short, making them always want more, making them understand that mistakes are fine, mistakes are not a big deal, and that it’s just a puzzle, this didn’t work, good try, let’s try something else. And the more value that they have in knowing exactly what their job is, the better the performance is going to be and the drive into the weave. So I do little … I call them mini-weave drills, which I go over in the class too, that I do with my dogs a couple of times a week. I go outside with one stick of cheese, and when that stick of cheese is gone, game over. I take off really big bites, huge hunks, probably an inch piece of cheese, so super-easy to see, not crumbly, and I get maybe four to six pieces of cheese out of one stick. I go out, and whatever course I have set up in my field, and I take all the jumps and I just put the bars in the ground, because for me, when I’m working my mini-weave drills, it’s not necessarily about the jumping. It’s about the love for the weave. So I put all the bars in the ground, and then I just randomly walk around the field, and from different approaches of jumps without having bars, I send my dogs to the weaves, sometimes with motion, sometimes with no motion, and I will sometimes do very weird handling moves, things that you would never see in a course. I will send them to the weirdest types of entries. Sometimes my husband will come out with me, and he doesn’t really know agility very well, so I’ll say, “Tell me how to get some of these weaves, tell me something.” He’ll be like, “All right. Go from that jump to the weave.” And it’s completely random, she has to skip, like, four jumps, or do this massive, crazy entry, and we do it and it’s fun and she thinks it’s the most amazing game. I do that a couple of times a week and it’s super-easy, it’s quick, she gets these big hunks of cheese, which are like a meal for her, and so she thinks that weave poles are the most fun thing in the world to do. In fact, my agility field is fenced off from the rest of my property, so when the dogs are outside, they can’t get into the agility field. They all run to the field gate all the time, and if I let them in, the first thing they do is run over to the weave poles because they’re like, “Oh, are we doing those drills? Because those are super-fun.” That’s what you want to get from your dogs, and that’s going to get that performance. When I’m at trials and I say to my dogs, “Go weave,” they hit those weaves with such intensity and such stride, and they dig in so hard to get those entries and keep those poles, and they work so hard because I created so much value for the poles. Melissa Breau: To take a little bit of a step back, I guess, when people are working on things, what are some of the common training mistakes people make as they’re trying to teach weaves? What problems do they cause? If you’re looking at a little bit of problem-solving there, what do you see people doing that maybe isn’t optimal? Barbara Currier: The biggest one is moving too fast. Moving to twelve poles before the dog is solid at six. I tell my students there’s no trophy or title for the person who can train their weaves the fastest. When people get six, they’re like, “I’m just going to add on the next six and it’s going to be great,” because we all want to say, “My dog has twelve poles,” but all you’re doing by moving too fast is that the dog is not clear on what their job is, you’re getting slow, inconsistent weaves that have to be managed or babysat because the dog doesn’t really understand. So they’re just going to get slower and slower, and they’re going to get frustrated because they’re going to be confused, and then you’re going to get frustrated, and it becomes this vicious cycle. That’s usually when people start coming to me and “My dog can get the entries, but they can’t hold on,” that type of thing. So then they come to me, and I often find that they moved to twelve poles before the dogs really understood six, and my advice is always, “Let’s go back to the beginning. We need to redo this.” Melissa Breau: My next question is, how do you problem-solve some of those issues? Do you basically just do that, take a step back, go back to six poles and retrain all those different aspects before you go back to twelve, or is there more to it? Barbara Currier: It depends exactly what the issue is. The most common problems are missing entries at speed. If it’s a missing entry problem, I usually recommend that we go back to two poles, so that we can start with, Can you find your entry from all different areas without having to have the dog wait for the reward to get through all six poles, if that makes sense. Because, again, the reward comes quicker on two poles than it does on six poles, so it’s easier gratification for the dog. So I like to, for missed entries, start back at two poles, and then I work up to the four, up to the six. Now, with a dog that already understands the concept of poles, it goes really fast. It doesn’t take long at all to revisit these things and get the dog to understand. If the dog is having problems with they get their entry, but then they can’t hold on to the poles because they’re going at speed, then I will start them back at four poles or six poles, but add in sequencing, so coming off of a tunnel so we’ve got some speed, and teaching them how to grab that entry and hold on to the poles. With that, they also need to be building up some muscling for it. And so a lot of it, I think, with those dogs comes from doing more straight-on approaches and not enough of the angle approaches from the very beginning, where they can build up that strength along their spine. One of the other ones is the popping out at ten poles, which a lot of dogs do. Oftentimes I find those are from the handlers that try to lead the dogs, whether they’re going lateral, or they’re trying to get a little bit ahead, and they never taught the independent poles from the beginning. They really babysat the poles because they wanted the dog to be right so badly, so they stayed back and they matched the dog’s speed and they were right there, but once they wanted to put them into sequencing, they wanted to leave, but we didn’t actually teach the dog that, and so now the dogs are like, “Well, you’re leaving, so I’m leaving too.” So when I teach this from the very beginning, it is completely independent from the handler. We are quite far away from the beginning. We have nothing to do with it, we don’t help them, we don’t lure them through the entry, we don’t do any of that. It’s all on them. So it’s quite easy the way I teach it from the beginning to have that lateral independence, because we teach it to them from the very beginning, as long as you continue with it. Because oftentimes what I’ll see is the dogs have these amazing independence when we get through the end of the training, but then the owners go right back to babysitting and then the dogs will lose it. So I have to constantly remind my students, “Your dog has the skill. Trust them. Let them show you they can do it, and leave them.” Melissa Breau: This is a question I don’t usually ask here on the podcast, but I used to love, back when I was a journalist asking this question, because it seems to always get unexpected nuggets of interesting information, and since I have never trained a dog to weave and don’t know a ton about the topic, obviously you’re the expert — is there anything important that I didn’t think to ask or that you’d want people to think about as they’re working on weave poles with their dog? Barbara Currier: Probably the most important thing about weave poles that I think sometimes gets overlooked, forgotten, or people don’t think it’s as important as it should be is: your dog must be done with growing before you teach weave poles. Like I said in the beginning, it’s one of the hardest obstacles on their body, and I always make sure, when I have young dogs, that I take them and have them x-rayed to be positive that their growth plates have closed before I start training weave poles. You can do a lot of damage to them. It’s very hard on their shoulders, it’s very hard on their spine, it can be hard on their neck, and it’s not something you want to do until you’re a hundred percent sure that they are done growing. The other great thing about doing the x-rays is that usually, around 14 months, I always have full x-rays done of shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees, and so, one, I can tell if the growth plates are closed or not closed, and depending on your breed … I have a student that has a borzoi, and she x-rayed her at 14 months and her growth plates were nowhere near done being closed. But she’s a Borzoi, but it was good information to have, because we certainly, especially with a breed that large, don’t want to be doing even contacts, if their growth plates aren’t closed, and hers didn’t close for quite a while after that, so that’s really important information to have. It also gives you a picture of what your dog’s body looks like before you do the sport with them, whether you’ve got any elbow dysplasia or hip dysplasia. Without getting a picture, some dogs don’t even show these things, and to me, I just think it’s super-important to know what you’re starting off with. Melissa Breau: Right, right, and I would imagine it’s good to have those, heaven forbid they do get injured at some point later on, you have a baseline, a picture to refer to. Barbara Currier: Yes. For sure. The other thing that I always … and I bring this up in the class, too, is if I have somebody come up to me and they say, “My dog has always weaved really well, and they’re now popping out at pole ten,” or “They can’t hit their entry, but they never had a problem with it before,” my first thought is, Your dog probably has an injury, and that needs to be addressed first. As all the Fenzi instructors try to teach, dogs are not out to try to make us mad and push our buttons. That’s not the way dogs work. So if your dog is all of a sudden exhibiting something that is unusual for them, the first thing I check is injuries. My poodle, who loves her weave poles, a tell for me that she has a rib out is if she misses her weave entry, because she never misses weave entries. So if she can’t hold on, I immediately leave the ring and will bring her to a chiropractor, and sure enough, she’ll have a rib out. I certainly don’t want her running with a rib out. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a rib out before, but it is incredibly painful, and I don’t want her running like that. And so I let my dogs tell me. I don’t just assume, “Oh, she’s being bad,” or “She’s being lazy.” I assume, “Oh, you’re really trying to tell me something, and what you’re telling me is, ‘That really hurts, I need some help here.’” Once we get everything back, she’s totally fine, but I certainly wouldn’t want to be annoyed at her and expect her to run all weekend like that. So that’s something that I try to instill in my students is make sure that we’re thinking about that, first and foremost. Sometimes there is … something’s happened. Sometimes what can happen is if they get an injury, the injury is then fixed, but they now associate poles with pain. And so sometimes we have to go back and desensitize them to that and say, “Look, see, it doesn’t hurt anymore, so we can do these again.” Or something has happened and our training has whittled away and we need to go back and take a look at that. But I always try to stress that people make sure that somebody checks them first that it’s not an injury or something going on that way that’s affecting their weave poles. Melissa Breau: Let’s chat about the course for a minute. It’s called “Love ’em and Weave ’em,” and it’s on the calendar for December, which this is coming out on, I believe, the 16th of November, so registration will be opening the week after this comes out. What level of training should dogs and handlers have, if they’re interested in the class? Can you talk a little bit about that, and what you’ll cover, who it’s designed for, that kind of stuff? Barbara Currier: For this class, the dogs should already know weave poles. It moves a little too fast for a dog that doesn’t know weave poles. I think later on in the year Julie Daniels has a foundation weave class coming up, and that would be the class for the dogs that don’t know weave poles at all yet. But this one is for dogs that know weaves, but the handlers aren’t in love with the performance. It will address all the common problems: the going too slow, the inconsistent footwork, the getting the entry but not being able to hang on, missing the entry, popping out pole ten, it will address all of those things. It will also give you the independence so that you can put them in the weaves and leave them and get to where you need to go next. The way I think about my weave poles is, when I send my dog through a tunnel, I want to just be able to say “tunnel,” and know that they’re going to come out the other end. I’m not expecting that they’re going try to dig out the middle of the tunnel. So I want my weave poles to be the same way. When I send you in Pole 1, I expect to see you exit at Pole 12, and I’m going to go do what I need to do. That’s your job, I’ve got my job, we’ll meet at the end, is my theory. So that’s what this course will teach. Melissa Breau: One last question – it’s the question I’ve been asking everybody when they come back on. What’s a lesson you’ve learned or been reminded of recently when it comes to dog training? Barbara Currier: Probably to train the dog that’s in front of you. Often we go out expecting to train one thing, and the dog’s telling us that they need to work on something completely different. And we really have to listen to them and be flexible in what they need, because if you think about it, they’re the ones doing the hard work. They’re the ones running and jumping and doing all of this crazy stuff. Oftentimes I go out with my plan of, “Today we’re going to go out and work on threadles,” and my dog says, “No, today I’m struggling with my start line stay, and so that’s what we’re going to end up working on.” So you have to be willing to abort mission and listen to what the dog is telling you. Sometimes my dog says, “You know what, I’m not feeling it today,” and I say, “All right, let’s go play a game instead,” or “Let’s go for a hike,” because I wake up some mornings and don’t want to work, and my dogs are no different. So you really need to listen to your dogs and hear what they’re trying to tell us. And also to embrace and love the dog that you have and stop mourning the dog that they’re not. Melissa Breau: Thank you so much for coming back on the podcast Barbara! I love that. Barbara Currier: Thanks for having me. It’s so much fun! Melissa Breau: It is! And thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in! We’ll be back next week, this time with Amy Cook to talk about noise sensitivity in dogs and what you can do about it. If you haven’t already, subscribe to our podcast in iTunes or the podcast app of your choice to have our next episode automatically downloaded to your phone as soon as it becomes available. CREDITS: Today’s show is brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy. Special thanks to Denise Fenzi for supporting this podcast. Music provided royalty-free by BenSound.com; the track featured here is called “Buddy.” Audio editing provided by Chris Lang. Thanks again for tuning in -- and happy training!

In today's first episode of Training Bites, Hannah from Free Spirit Dogs will be discussing how her tricks & tips on improving your working relationship with your dogs, and how to improve their recall. _____________OneMind Dogs website: https://www.oneminddogs.com/Free Spirit Dogs website:https://www.freespiritdogs.comFree Spirit Dogs Instagram: @freespiritdogsFacebook: Facebook.com/freespiritdogsOur Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/holisticpetparents/ _____________Follow UsWebsite: www.holisticpetradio.ca Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HolisticPetRadio/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/holisticpetradio/Twitter: https://twitter.com/HolisticPetRadYouTube: https://youtube.com/holisticpetradio

In today's first episode of Training Bites, Hannah from Free Spirit Dogs will be discussing how her tricks & tips on improving your working relationship with your dogs, and how to improve their recall. _____________OneMind Dogs website: https://www.oneminddogs.com/Free Spirit Dogs website:https://www.freespiritdogs.comFree Spirit Dogs Instagram: @freespiritdogsFacebook: Facebook.com/freespiritdogsOur Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/holisticpetparents/ _____________Follow UsWebsite: www.holisticpetradio.ca Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HolisticPetRadio/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/holisticpetradio/Twitter: https://twitter.com/HolisticPetRadYouTube: https://youtube.com/holisticpetradio

Innostava Noora Keskievari on ex-kauppakorkeakoulun dropout, jonka elämää ohjaa intohimot. Yrityksensä OneMind Dogsin leivissä Noora tekee kaikkensa parantaakseen koirien elämänlaatua ympäri maailmaa - ja tarjotakseen ihmisille elämänsä parhaan asiakaskokemuksen. Vahvasti kansainvälinen OneMind Dogs myy kuin häkä, sillä kaverit kertovat kavereille ja loppu on historiaa. Kehittäjänä ja uudistajana Noora kuuntelee omia arvojaan ja työskentelee sen eteen, että sinä ymmärtäisit koiraasi paremmin.

Summary: In 2004 Barbara Currier and her husband Michael were relocated to Richmond, VA, where she began teaching agility at All Dog Adventures. It was there that Barbara was introduced to Susan Garrett and her amazing foundation-based training, centered around impulse control and relationship building with your dog.   She continues to train with some of the best handlers in the world and has implemented what she has learned from each of them into her training program. She became heavily involved in the OneMind Dogs handling method in 2014. She has successfully competed in agility with over 10 different breeds of dogs. Along the way, she started her own in home training and behavioral rehabilitation business. She was the trainer for Richmond Boxer Rescue and also assisted Southeastern Virginia Golden Retriever Rescue in assessing some of their dogs. Over the years, Barbara has worked extensively with many rescue organizations in numerous states. Barbara has also worked as an animal wrangler for Marvel's Ant-Man, 90 Minutes in Heaven, the TV series Satisfaction and various commercials. Today Barbara is the head dog trainer for the F.I.D.O Program run at Georgia Tech which creates wearable computing for military, SAR and service dogs. Links Party of 2 (PO2) - Barbara's Website F.I.D.O at Georgia Tech Next Episode:  To be released 10/13/2017, featuring Loretta Mueller to talk about managing a multi-dog household. TRANSCRIPTION: Melissa Breau: This is Melissa Breau, and you're listening to the Fenzi Dog Sports podcast, brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, an online school dedicated to providing high quality instruction for competitive dog sports, using only the most current and progressive training methods. Today I'll be talking to Barbara Currier. In 2004, Barbara and her husband, Michael, were relocated to Richmond, VA, where she began teaching agility at All Dog Adventures. It was there that Barbara was introduced to Susan Garrett and her amazing foundation based training centered around impulse control and relationship building with your dog. She continues to train with some of the best handlers in the world and has implemented what she has learned, from each of them, into her training program. She became heavily involved in the OneMind Dogs handling method, in 2014. She successfully competed in agility with over ten different breeds of dogs. Along the way, she started her own in-home training and behavioral rehabilitation business. She was the trainer for Richmond Boxer Rescue, and also assisted Southeastern Virginia Golden Retriever Rescue and assessing some of their dogs. Over the years, Barbara has worked extensively with many rescue organizations in numerous states. Barbara has also worked as an animal wrangler for Marvel's Ant-Man, 90 Minutes in Heaven, the TV series, Satisfaction, and various commercials. Today Barbara is the head dog trainer for the FIDO Program, run at Georgia Tech, which creates wearable computing for military search and rescue service dogs. Hi, Barbara. Welcome to the podcast. Barbara Currier: Thanks for having me, Melissa. I'm really happy to be here. Melissa Breau: As a new FDSA instructor, I'm looking forward to getting to know you a little bit. Barbara Currier: Thank you. Melissa Breau: To start us out, do you want to just tell us a little bit about the dogs that you have now and what you're working on with them? Barbara Currier: Sure. I have four dogs, currently, two Border Collies, a Parson Russell Terrier, and a Miniature Poodle. My oldest is Piper. She is the Parson Russell Terrier. She's 8 years old. I got her when she was 2 years old. She belonged to a friend of mine, who passed away unexpectedly. We tried agility with her, but she didn't love it. She loved it when there was cheese around, but the moment the treats went away, it was more of, okay, I'll do it, but the love clearly wasn't there. She's also built like a typical terrier, so she's very front-end heavy. She's really straight in the shoulder, and I really struggled with keeping her sound. I specifically thought, when we would work weave poles and when we would do A-frame stuff, she was constantly coming up lame, and so I decided since she didn't particularly love it, and I, you know, didn't want to keep injuring her, that I would just find something else that she would like better, so one of the things that she's always loved is swimming, so I decided to try dock diving with her, and that is, truly, her love. We don't need to have cheese, or any type of treat, within a 50-mile radius and she will happily do her dock diving all day long, so that's been really fun. I have a Border Collie, Brazen. I have two Border Collies. Brazen is the oldest of the two, by a few months. She's 8 years old. I got her from a breeder, in Virginia, when she was 8 weeks old. Unfortunately, she has a lot of health problems, so she has not really been able to do any type of sport. She has some minor brain damage. The best way to describe her is, basically, she's like autistic. She doesn't deal well with any types of changes in her environment. She tends to be a self-mutilator, so when anything changes, like my neighbor parks his truck in a different part of his driveway, she'll rip the hair out of her body, so we've gotten that under control. It was really bad, when she was a puppy, but we've gotten it under control, but she doesn't handle any types of changes well, so she's happiest when she can just be at home, on the property, so we let her just do that. She also has a very severe case of Border Collie collapse, so she passes out whenever she has any type of hard exercise, even just playing frisbee, so we have to, kind of, keep that managed too, so unfortunately, she never really got to do any type of performance, but she's happy being at home and chilling and getting out and playing. We have five acres, completely fenced, so she gets plenty of room to run around, so that's, kind of, what she does. Blitz is my other Border Collie. He is also 8. I adopted him from Bimmer's Border Collie Rescue, in Virginia, when he was 10 months old. He just recently retired from agility due to, at 7, he tore his psoas and we rehabbed that for a year, and then, when he came back, he was sound for about two months, and then he injured his flexor tendon, and I felt like we were having progressive injuries, and that was not the way I wanted him to be in his later years. I wanted him to be able to enjoy life and do all of the things that he loves to do without constant rehabbing, so I made the decision to retire him from agility, about three months ago. It just seemed like that was the thing that kept injuring him, but everything else, in life, wasn't, so it just seemed like it was the right choice, and he's loving retirement. He's doing dock diving now. He's also my service dog. I am hypoglycemic, and he actually detects it about 30 minutes before I know anything is going to happen, and if I eat, then I don't have any episodes, so he is, kind of, my other half. He's just amazing.   Then my youngest is Miso. She is a Miniature Poodle. She is 3 years old, and I got her from a breeder in Florida, when she was 8 weeks, and actually waited for 10 years to get a puppy from her line, and she was worth every year I waited because she has been perfect since the moment she came home. She's been competing for about a year and a half now, in agility, and in her first year, of competing, she actually qualified for AKC Nationals, and she's, actually, the seventh ranking dog in the 12-inch division, in the country, and she's already been to two world team tryouts, and won round one of the FCI World Team tryout. She's already qualified for her second AKC Nationals. She's qualified for USDAA Cynosport, and she is one double q away from her MACH, and at this point she's only been trialing a year and a half, and I actually only trial about once a month because I am so busy, so she is pretty remarkable. Melissa Breau: Wow. That's impressive. Barbara Currier: Yeah. Yes. She is a super impressive little girl, so she's been really, really fun and we have a new puppy coming, in the fall, hopefully. Melissa Breau: Fingers crossed. Barbara Currier: Yeah. Yeah. It's all good. Melissa Breau: Yeah. So, how did you originally get started in all of this, in dog training and agility. I mentioned a little bit, kind of in the bio, I think 2004, right, so what kind of kicked things off? Barbara Currier: Well, in the late ‘90s, I adopted a 9 month old Chihuahua, named Cabal, from Chihuahua Rescue, and he was my first dog, as an adult, you know, we had dogs growing up, but he was my very first dog, and at the time I was technician at a veterinarian hospital and one of the technicians that I worked with, there, she bred and trained Belgian Tervurens and competed them in obedience and tracking, and so she started working with me on training dogs, and training for obedience and tracking, and I started, kind of, assisting with her and learning, kind of, the trade, and during our training we discovered that Cabal had a chemical imbalance, which made him, sort of, a challenge to train, so I'm kind of obsessive in anything I do, and I have to learn everything I can and be the best at everything I can, and so I became obsessive on learning about behavior training and how everything I could do to make him have the happiest, most well rounded, stable life, which we were quite successful at. He went on to compete in agility, and he did obedience and carting and climbed mountains all over the White Mountains, in New Hampshire, and taught me so much about dog training, and he really is what opened up the whole world of dog sports for me. Melissa Breau: So, what got you started, kind of, training positively? Was it that way from the beginning? What got you started on that part of your journey? Barbara Currier: Well, again, it kind of stemmed back to Cabal. When I started training him, it was, kind of, the old school method of the collar corrections, and there was always this nagging, in the back of my head of, you know, I'm collar correcting a six-pound Chihuahua. There's got to be a better way, and my background is in equestrian show jumping, and I trained horses for many years, and I was never a harsh physical trainer with my horses either, and I feel like training dogs and training horses is not entirely different, and agility and show jumping are not a lot different, in the way things need to be trained except agility is far less dangerous than show jumping, so that's always fun. So, I've always, kind of, wanted to have a bond with my animals and train my animals through trust and mutual respect. I don't want a relationship built out of fear and pain, so that's when I started looking into, you know, there's got to be more positive ways that I can train this dog without having to collar correct and do those types of physical corrections. Melissa Breau: How would you describe your training philosophy these days? Barbara Currier: I really like for my dogs to think of training as lots of games. So, again, I want my relationship to be, with them, a partnership that's based completely on trust, and so I want them to understand that, you know, if they get something wrong, not to shut down. You know, a mistake is just that didn't work, try something else, and so, to them, it's just a big puzzle that they're trying to figure out, so they never have a fear of, I'm going to be angry, or you know, they're going to get hurt in any way. It's just a big game, and it's a puzzle they're trying to figure out with lots of rewards throughout it. You know, every time I bring them out for any type of training, they're just all thinking that it's the most wonderful thing in the world, and that's how, I think, it should be, with any animal that you're training.    Melissa Breau: So, I have to say, kind of working on your bio, it seems like you've had the opportunity to do lots of different really interesting things, in the world of dogs, from animal wrangling to working on wearable computing, so I wanted to ask a little more about what you do now. Can you tell us just a little bit about the FIDO Program there, at Georgia Tech, and what you're working on with the dogs there? Barbara Currier: Sure. So, FIDO stands for Facilitating Interactions for Dogs with Occupations. My best friend, Dr. Melody Jackson, she's a professor there, at Georgia Tech, and she runs the brain lab and the animal computer interaction lab. She came up with the idea of creating wearable computing for service dogs, military dogs, police, search and rescue, any type of working dog, and she asked me to come on to oversee the dog training aspects of the work. Within the last year, I've been really busy with travel, and so I, actually, haven't been working a lot with them, on the project, and she's actually taking over most of the dog training aspect, the pilot testing, with her dog, but up to this point, a lot of the stuff that they've created, it's kind of funny, when I tell people what I do there, the team that creates all the stuff, it's Melody Jackson and her lab partner Thad Starner, they're brilliant people, and the students that all work there are super brilliant. I am not a techy person. I'm lucky if I can turn my computer on, I just train dogs, so I kind of compare it to like the big bang theory, and I'm Penny amongst all of these brilliant people, and they just say stuff and I'm like, that's great, just tell me what you want the dogs to do. That's, kind of, where my expertise is, and I don't have any idea what the technical aspect of it is, but we've, actually, created some really cool things. They've created a vest that a service dog is trained to activate that has a tug sensor on it, and so we had a woman come to us that had a speech problem where she doesn't have, she can't project her voice out very loudly, and she's also wheelchair bound, and she was at the dog park, one day, with her dog, and her wheelchair got stuck in some mud, and she couldn't holler to anybody because her voice just didn't project like that, and she really needed, like, a way that she could send her service dog to get help to come back, and you know, but a dog running up to somebody, at a dog park, barking, nobody is going to think that's anything unusual. So, they created a vest that has a computer on it, and the dog has a tug sensor, on the vest, so she can direct the dog to go to somebody, and the dog can go up and it will pull a tug sensor and the vest will actually say, excuse me, my handler needs assistance, please follow me, and the dog can bring that person back to the handler.   Melissa Breau: That's pretty cool. Barbara Currier: Yeah. It's super cool. So, my dog, Blitz, my Border Collie, Blitz, and Melody's Border Collie, Sky, are the two main test subjects for all of the stuff that we create. We have a few other dogs that we use consistently, but most of these things, like, we just bring in random people, and their dogs, to train everything, but Sky and Blitz, kind of, go through everything first, and we work all the bugs out on them. They've created a haptic bodysuit that allows handlers to communicate with SAR dogs from a distance, so, for instance, if a SAR dog is looking for a child with down syndrome, or autism, where they may be afraid of dogs, so a lot of times the SAR dogs will work at a very far distance from the handler, and they don't want the dogs to scare the person into running more. So, the SAR dogs can have like a camera on their vest, so when they find, whatever they're looking for, we have a computer that's on their vest that they can activate their GPS, so it sends out exactly where their location is, but then the owner can give the dog commands through this haptic vest that has vibrating sensors, in different parts of the dog's bodies, and each sensor vibrating, on a certain part of the body, means something, so, like, when the sensor vibrates on the back, that means lie down, so the handler can then vibrate the back sensor that tells the dog to lie down and stay, but the handler can be, you know, 20, 30, 40 feet away, so that's been really fun to work with that. We've taught dogs how to use large touchscreens, so for like hearing dogs, in the house, a lot of times, they don't wear vests, and so when a hearing dog hears something, they just go to their handler and they need to take them to the source of the sound, but sometimes we don't want them to take them to the source of the sound, like a tornado siren or a fire alarm, so we've created a large touchscreen that the dogs can differentiate the sounds, and they can actually go to the touch screen and detect fire alarm, and hit that, and like if the handler is wearing something that's called Google Glass, it will show up in the Google Glass that the fire alarm is going off, or if the doorbell is ringing, maybe the handler just doesn't want to get up and answer it, so the dog can actually differentiate the sounds and tell them, by using, it's like a giant iPad, exactly what sensor is going off. Melissa Breau: Interesting. Barbara Currier: Yeah. It's been really fun to watch the dogs be able to do all of these amazing things, and it's been really fun to watch the students say, do you think a dog can do this? I'm like, sure they can, and they do. I mean, it's just amazing what dogs can do. Melissa Breau: So, what about your experience animal wrangling? Do you want to share a little bit about that work? Barbara Currier: Yeah. I don't do it anymore. It's, honestly, not as glamourous as it sounds. Some of it's fun, some of it, not so much. It depends on, you know, the set you're working on, like the TV series, Satisfaction was super fun to work on, the people were really great. That was with my friend's dog. The producers were really great, but like the movies aren't always so fun to work on because the days are really, really long, and a lot of these people have no idea what it means to train animals, and so they, kind of, think that they're little computers and you can just program in whatever you want, and just change it, on the fly, and the dogs should just automatically know how to do it. It just can be a little frustrating sometimes, and so I did it for about two years and got burned out pretty quickly. Melissa Breau: Fair enough. Now I know that, I kind of mentioned, in the bio, a little bit about Susan Garrett, and I know that you have been able to work with a lot of different excellent handlers, in the agility world, so I wanted to ask a little bit about how working with those professionals has experienced and shaped your training. Barbara Currier: Well I have been lucky to work with some of the most amazing dog trainers, in the world, and I have to say, I've learned something from every trainer I've ever worked with. I'm a firm believer that there's always somebody out there that can teach us something, and the day that we feel that people don't know more than we do, then our education stops, and so I, for one, always want to keep learning and evolving, in my dog training, so even if I go and I take away one thing, from a weekend seminar, well that's one thing that I didn't have going into it, so, to me, it's just worth it. Melissa Breau: For those not familiar with OneMind Dog handling, specifically, do you mind just briefly, kind of, explaining what it is? Barbara Currier: Sure. The OneMind Dog handling, it's a handling method that's based on how dogs naturally respond to our physical cues, and what works best, from the dog's perspective, so it basically teaches us to speak the dog language instead of trying to force dogs to understand us, so a lot of the handling comes very, very natural to the dogs and takes little to no training. It's mostly just training the humans to learn how to speak to the dog, but the dog's, right from the beginning, really understand it quite well. I love when I'm working with a student, and I tell them to do something, and they're like, I don't think my dog's going to do that, and I say, if you do this, they will, and then the dogs do, and they're like, wow. I didn't know my dog could do that. Melissa Breau: So, the real question is, who's harder to train, the students or the dogs? Barbara Currier: Always the students. The dogs are easy. Melissa Breau: What was it that, kind of, originally attracted you to OMD? Barbara Currier: Well Blitz was 4 years old, when I got introduced to OneMind, and I was really struggling with Blitz, and I was having a very hard time. Our cue rate was extremely low. He was a very, very fast dog. He was very obstacle focused, and I just was really, really struggling with him, and I had never had a dog that I struggled that hard with. I've always been a very successful agility handler, and I was just really starting to doubt myself, and then I was introduced, I went to a seminar, I was introduced into the OneMind system, and immediately it was like Blitz was saying, oh, thank you. Finally, somebody is going to help her. It kind of just like came into place, and after one seminar, I went to a trial, that weekend, wear we hadn't cued in months, I think we came home with four cues, in one weekend, which was unheard of, for us, and that was after one seminar, so then I was really hooked, and then Jaakko and Janita, who are the founders, of OneMind, they did a tour, in the United States, a few years back, and they asked to come to my school, and so we hosted them, and they ended up staying with us. We hosted them for a weekend, and then they had like three weeks off between our place and where they were going next, and so we said, why don't you just stay here, and we'll show you around Georgia, and take you hiking, so they stayed and insisted on working with us every day to thank us for our hospitality, and so having three weeks of pure immersion into the OneMind system, I was completely hooked, and the difference that it made, in Blitz, was just out of control, and Miso is the first dog I've ever had that was trained, from day one, with the OneMind handling system, and the difference in her skill level, going out to start competing and the difference in any dog that I've ever had, has been night and day, and so I just was hook, line, and sinker sucked in. Melissa Breau: So, I want to talk a little bit about the class you have coming up, that kind of include some of those handling methods, so it's called Making It Easy, 12 Commonly Used OneMind Dog Inspired Techniques. Can you just share a little bit about what you will cover in that class? Barbara Currier: Sure. So, the OneMind handling system has 30 different handling techniques, and for the average person, who does AKC, USDAA, you're not going to use all 30 handling techniques. You'll use a lot more as you start getting into the international type handling, but this course will cover the 12 most commonly used techniques that people are going to use weekend to weekend, at their local trials. Melissa Breau: So, what are some of the, I guess, the common sticking points, for handlers, looking to teach those skills. How do you problem solve for some of those issues? Barbara Currier: Basically, one of the things that I see handlers struggle with the most is maintaining connection with their dogs while looking where they need to be going. So, dogs seek out connection with our face, when we're running, and if they can't find that connection, with our face, depending on the dog, they can have different reactions. Some dogs will just stop running through the obstacles and just try to drive around and curl in front of you, to search for your face, some will start dropping bars, some will just find a line and take it, so if we're not connected with our dogs, we also can't see whether they're committing to the correct obstacles and when we need to execute their turn signals, but our body wants us to, through self-preservation, look where we're going, so the hardest thing, for students, is to learn how to run forward, with your head looking back, and be connected with your dog, and see where you're going out of your peripheral vision, so I teach my students to basically go out and get used to running a course while looking behind you, and using your peripheral vision, because everybody has it, but again, it's kind of a brain training thing that the more you use it, the stronger it gets. When I first started doing it, I kind of saw blurry objects, in my peripheral, but I was never comfortable to run a whole course that way, where the more I went out and just practiced running a course, without my dog, and the stronger my peripheral vision got, so I can run full courses now and not worry about running into things, while staying strongly connected to my dogs, so that's probably the thing that I see most people struggle with, and my little games that I've created to help that seems to really help them with that. Melissa Breau: Do you want to talk just, maybe, a little more about which of the OneMind Dog handling techniques are, kind of, included in your class? I know you said the 12 most commonly used ones, but what are some of those? Barbara Currier: So, in the first week, we're going to start off with the most common handling technique that everybody knows, but a lot of people, actually, execute incorrectly, which is the front cross, so everybody probably knows that, but it's also one of the most commonly misused and done incorrectly, so we're tackling that right off the bat, and then we'll move into the forced front cross. Then, into week two, we address the Jaakko Turn and the reverse spin. Melissa Breau: So, for somebody not agility, like, savvy, what is that, the Jaakko turn? Barbara Currier: The Jaakko turn kind of takes the place of the traditional Post Turn, so in the traditional Post Turn as we're rotating around. Our chest laser is opened up to tall of these obstacles that we don't want our dog to take, so as we're rotating our dog, saying, is it that obstacle, is it that obstacle, is it that obstacle, and it's not until we actually get to where we want to go that we say, no, no, it's this one. Where the Jaakko Turn, we get the collection, at the jump, but the dog actually goes around behind our back, so our chest never opens up to all the obstacles we don't want, it's only going to be driving straight to the one obstacle we do want, so it's a really good technique for dogs that are super obstacle focused and really like to scope out lines on their own.   Then the next technique we'll tackle, in week two, is the Reverse Spin, which is, basically, it, sort of, looks like a Jaakko, but it doesn't get you as tight collection as a Jaakko. Your exit line is different, but it's a really good handling move to use if you, say your dog is on a pinwheel, and you want the first and the third jump but not the second jump, out on the pinwheel. By doing a reverse spin, you're going to change the dog's exit line and it's going to create collection for the dog, so you will not get that jump out on their natural path because you created a turn with more collection. It's kind of hard to explain without looking at a map, but. Melissa Breau: Yeah, but still. Barbara Currier: Then, in week three, we're going to look at the Reverse Wrap, which is a tight turn off of the backside of a jump, and Rear Cross, which is another one most everybody is familiar with but often done incorrectly. Week four we will look at a Lap Turn, which is a U-shaped turn that the dog turn happens on the flat, and I use Lap Turns so often, in pulling my dog to, if we're on a course, and the course is sending the dog to the tunnel, but the judge has nicely picked the offside tunnel, for the opening, Lap Turns work so great for that. I also, often, Lap Turn my dog into weave poles, on AKC courses, so that's a great one, and then we're going to move into the Double Lap, which is a Lap Turn to a Front Cross, and create the very tight O-shape turn, on a wing, for a dog. Week five we'll look at the Whisky Turn, which is a very shallow Rear Cross, and we are going to work on the Blind Cross, which I think is one of the most fantastic moves ever, for so many people, especially people that have knee issues because you don't have to deal with rotation, and it keeps you going forward on the line, but there are appropriate places to put Blind Crosses and places where a Front Cross would be a better choice, but not a lot of people understand. Then, week six, we'll work on the German Turn, which is a backside, it's a little hard to explain, it's a backside, almost like to a Serpentine into a Blind Cross, and that's a really fun one to do, and I actually use that one quite a bit, in premiere courses, and kind of the tournament classes in the USDAA classes. Then the Tandem Turn, which is a turn away from the handler, for the dog, on the flat, and that's a really good turn to have if you are on a straightway and you're having trouble getting down, in front of your dog, to do a turn, a Tandem Turn is a really, really handy move to have, especially when it's a straight line to a back side and you just know you're not beating your dog down that line. Melissa Breau: So, it sounds like you're definitely going to cover, kind of, the how to do all of these things. Are you also talking a little bit about when to use each of them, in the course? Barbara Currier: Yes. So, the course will be broken down to, step by step, how to train, on one jump, and then I'm giving them short sequences of three to eight obstacles, where they're going to see where this could fit into a course. Melissa Breau: Is there anything else you think the students, who are kind of trying to decide their classes, because this will go out during October registration, so anything else that students should, maybe, know if they're considering the class? Barbara Currier: Well I think it's important that, you know, and I put in there the pre-requisite for Loretta's class, because this isn't going to be the class where you are going to learn how to sequence one or two obstacles. The dogs, coming in, should know how to do, you know, at least eight obstacles in a row, just meaning jumps and a tunnel, so as long as they have a firm understanding of that, and I would assume that, coming in, they know what a Front Cross is and they know what a Rear Cross is. Beyond that, the other ones are all, you know, not ones that I would expect them to know coming in. Some people may know them, the other stuff, but I would, kind of, hope that everybody knows what a Front Cross and a Rear Cross is because those are the basics and everything, kind of, builds off of those. Melissa Breau: Okay. Excellent. We're getting close to, kind of, the end here, so I want to ask you the three questions that I always as, at the end of an interview. The first one, and I think some of my guests would say this is, probably, the hardest question, but what is the dog related accomplishment that you are proudest of? Barbara Currier: You know, I'm probably proudest of my school, Party of 2. I have a really large student base, here in Georgia, and I am so lucky to have the best students. They are just the greatest group of people, and they always want to push themselves to be better. I throw the craziest stuff at them. If I find a comfort level, I'm always looking how to push people out of it, and they are always willing to rise to the challenge, and they are so supportive of each other. We're like a big, giant family, and everybody is always willing to help anyone out, and I just love it. I'm just super proud of all of my students, at my school. Melissa Breau: Excellent. What is the best piece of training advice that you've ever heard? Barbara Currier: Oh, that's easy. Comparison is the thief of joy, is the best training advice I have ever had, and I remind myself that often. So, basically, not compare yourself to other dog trainers, your dog to other dogs, your dog to your dog's litter mates, or your friend's dog, or your trainer's dogs because, then, it overshadows any progress or triumphs that you made because you're always comparing it to somebody else, and it never feels like enough. Melissa Breau: Then, our last one, here, is who is someone else, in the dog world, that you look up to? Barbara Currier: That's a tough one. I'm not sure I can only pick one. I've have the longest training relationship with my mentor and coach, Tracy Sklenar. She's been my coach for over 10 years, but since I've become involved with OneMind, Jen Pinder and Mary Ellen Barry have been instrumental in my progression and mastering the OneMind handling system, so I would have to say it would be those three amazing, talented ladies that are at the top of my list. Melissa Breau:  Fair enough. Well thank you, so much, for coming on the podcast, Barbara. This has been great. Barbara Currier: Thank you, so much, for having me. I really enjoyed myself. Melissa Breau: Good. Thank you, so much, to our listeners, for tuning in. We'll be back next week, with Loretta Mueller to talk about managing a multi-dog household. As someone who just brought home dog number two, I'm looking forward to talking about skills we can learn and teach our dogs to make life go a little smoother. Don't miss it. If you haven't already, subscribe to our podcast in iTunes, or the podcast app of your choice, to have our next episode automatically downloaded to your phone, as soon as it becomes available. CREDITS: Today's show is brought to you by the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy. Special thanks to Denise Fenzi for supporting this podcast. Music provided royalty-free by BenSound.com; the track featured here is called “Buddy.” Audio editing provided by Chris Lang and transcription written by CLK Transcription Services.