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To Agility and Beyond! Agility Right from the Start One Year Later

Agility can be a fun sport for anyone. That is the premise behind Agility Right from the Start, celebrating its first birthday this month. Praised for adding needed clarity to the application of clicker training to agility, the book by Swedish agility experts Eva Bertilsson and Emelie Johnson Vegh has taken the agility world by storm.

Its comprehensive approach and focus on good handling has made Agility Right from the Start a must-have resource for both the beginner and the most accomplished competitor. Many agility participants describe the book as the only agility resource they’ll ever need. But perhaps what is most significant about this book is that the foundation skills that Bertilsson and Vegh outline not only apply to agility, but to all dog sports—and to everyday life. What kind of foundation training are we talking about? Training that uses positive reinforcement and that focuses on building behavior step-by-step. This type of training is not only key to creating a happy and confident team, but is the invaluable recipe for getting any behavior you want—right from the start. 

How to Train a "Crazy" Dog!

I like crazy dogs.

I like over-the-top dogs, dogs that come bounding in biting at their leashes (or anything else they can cram into their mouths). I like rambunctious, nutty, go-getters that exhaust their owners. Those are my favorite dogs to train.

Podcast: CBC Radio interview with Canis Film Festival Finalist Tonji Stewart

This month's podcast is excerpted from a CBC Radio interview with Canis Film Festival Finalist Tonji Stewart. In the interview, Tonji talks about Canis, the science and applications of clicker training, and how she trained her dog, Piper, to play basketball for her Canis video submission! To listen to the podcast in its entirety and view a video featuring a few of Piper's tricks, head over to the CBC Radio website.

Exercising an Active Dog, Right at Home

Here's a quick clicker trick that gives dogs a lot of exercise without wearing out a person—useful when an owner's mobility is impaired, or if you're short on recreational space. Also useful for shelters and kennels.

Podcast: Karen Reads Animal Attachment Selections from Reaching the Animal Mind

You’ll enjoy listening to Karen’s own podcast (available at the bottom of this page) – audio selections about animal attachments from her latest book, Reaching the Animal Mind.