Is Dog Training About To Change? #330
Shaped by Dog with Susan Garrett
DogsThat
4.8 • 679 Ratings
🗓️ 8 May 2026
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Visit us at shapedbydog.com
Is dog training about to change? In this episode, I'm sharing why a recent conversation about reinforcement-based dog training gave me something I haven't felt in a long time: hope. Looking back at an agility discussion from the mid-1990s, I reflect on how dog training shifts happen, why curiosity creates more clarity than blame or punishment, and why great results are not reserved for "special" trainers. We're talking about reinforcement, intrinsic motivation, meaningful change, and why dogs are always doing the best they can with the information we've given them in the environment we're asking them to work in
In this episode, you'll hear:
• About a conversation that gave me a glimmer of hope for dog training.
• Why I've been feeling discouraged about the direction of dog training.
• A mid-1990s agility story about weave poles, punishment, and clarity.
• My thoughts on hearing "That might work for Susan Garrett, but not for the rest of us."
• What I noticed listening to a balanced dog training podcast where my training was discussed.
• The subtle shift happening in reinforcement-based dog training conversations.
• Why ideas no longer being dismissed is a meaningful sign of change.
• Karen Pryor's stages of change and how progress begins.
• Why amazing results are possible for everyday dog owners.
• Why great dog training is built through clear systems, not "special" trainers.
• My reflections on asking myself: "Is it possible that I'm wrong?" as a dog trainer.
• Why love in dog training means clarity, fairness, and understanding.
• The difference between building understanding and building pressure.
• Why clarity creates confidence while pressure creates compliance.
• Why dogs are doing the best they can with what they understand.
• How to replace blame with curiosity and better questions for our dogs.
Resources:
1. Podcast Episode 313: Are You Learning Or Looping: What To Do When Training Your Dog Stops Being Fun - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/313/
2. Podcast Episode 146: Balanced Dog Training: Does It Really Exist? - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/146/
3. Podcast Episode 114: Dog Agility Training: 3 Big Mistakes All Dog Owners Should Avoid - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/114/
4. Podcast Episode 78: How to Train a Rescue Dog with Behavior Problems - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/78/
5. Podcast Episode 94: How the Best Professional Dog Trainers Use Reinforcement - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/94/
6. Watch this Episode of Shaped by Dog on YouTube - https://youtu.be/-YyJwfvyyhM
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | impossible. What you're trying to do can only be achieved by experts. That can't work. You're |
| 0:06.6 | not special enough to achieve results. This elite type of dog training, that might work for Susan |
| 0:12.3 | Garrett, but not for the rest of us. Is it possible that I'm wrong? I was listening to something recently and it really triggered a memory for me and it made me smile |
| 0:26.9 | and it wasn't so much about what was being said, but more about what the conversation implied |
| 0:33.6 | for the direction of dog training. And it wasn't because the people in this conversation |
| 0:38.5 | necessarily agreed with my viewpoint on dog training, probably more the opposite. It was more about |
| 0:44.5 | a shift that I felt that triggered a memory from my past. More on that in a moment. But for the |
| 0:51.1 | first time in a very long time, I felt something that I haven't felt about |
| 0:54.9 | dog training in a very long time. And that was a glimmer of hope. No, nothing new or |
| 1:00.1 | revolutionary was exposed in this conversation. It was more about that shift. The similar feeling |
| 1:07.3 | that I had way back in the mid-90s. I'm going to be honest, over the last six months, |
| 1:12.9 | I've felt a little bit discouraged and worried about the general direction of dog training as a |
| 1:19.3 | whole. It wasn't so much that I was doubting what I was teaching. It was more because of people |
| 1:24.8 | being told they should be reaching for a tool for the dog rather than |
| 1:29.6 | being shown how to create more clarity for that dog. I think as professional dog trainers |
| 1:35.9 | that are influencing so many people, we need to consider that where a dog's quality of life |
| 1:42.6 | is concerned being right about an ideology, is far less |
| 1:47.1 | important than how our beliefs are impacting that dog emotionally and physically while they're |
| 1:53.8 | being trained. Now, let's go back to the mid-90s. Long before there was social media, there were these |
| 2:00.0 | email lists where you had |
| 2:02.0 | in-depth conversations with the elites of the elites in the dog training world. There was an |
| 2:08.3 | agility L list and somebody had written in and posing a question to the professionals saying, |
... |
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