Dog Training Resources

The pages listed below are a compilation of some of my most favorite dog training resources. Please be sure to let me know if there are others I should add!

BARK: Dog is my Co-Pilot Magazine that publishes both in print and digitally that covers "All Things Dog." They have a great online presence and blog, with frequent contributors including Patricia McConnell, Ph.D., Karen B. London, Ph.D., and our personal friend JoAnna Lou!

Canine Assisted Play Therapy Rise Van Fleet, Ph.D is a well regarded psychologist who has devoted her career to play therapy. She has published a number of articles in peer reviewed journals, as well as a handful of books geared towards professional audiences. In more recent years, Rise has become increasingly involved in working with dogs in therapy. She offers mental health clinicians trainings in Canine-Assisted Therapy, one of which I was lucky enough to attend. Rise and I have been professional colleagues for awhile now,  and I am looking forward to future collaborative opportunities!

Clean Run Clean Run is the absolute, hands-down, BEST place there is for dog supplies. Particularly for those of us in the sport and performance world, Clean Run has anything you might ever need. In addition to running a fantastic online store (with phenomenal customer service by the way) they also publish a superb magazine devoted to agility training.

Daisy Peel Running Contacts Daily Peel and her dog Solar revolutionized the concept of video journaling dog training. Maybe others have done it before her, but she was one of my inspirations for DogNerd.  Daisy was one of the first people out there who documented  EVERYTHING in her training process! The shows the successes and the failures, and is not afraid to be honest about what worked well and what didn't. Love it!

Diane Sobel-Meyer at Outback Farm Diane Sobel-Meyer is an accomplished competitor and trainer in the herding world. She herself primarily has Aussies, but she came highly recommended as someone who could work with a range of breeds, including the Mudi. She is extremely knowledgeably and I have worked with her with both Griff and Cricket.

Dog Wise "All Things Dog" can be found at Dog Wise! Literally, I don't think there is any book, DVD or other resource related to dogs that they do not have. Training resources that cover everything from obedience, drafting, confirmation, therapy dog work and everything in between!

Fearful Dogs This website is a fabulous resource, compiled by Debbie Jacobs CPDT-KA, CAP. In her own words, "I started this site because of Sunny, the handsome border collie on this page. Sunny survived a hoarding situation and was brought to one of the hurricane rescue camps in 2005, where I met him. Over the years I have learned about rehabbing a ‘damaged’ dog and wanted to share that information with other scared/fearful/shy dog owners. Working with a scared dog will be one of the most challenging, frustrating and rewarding experiences a dog owner will ever have. If you’ve decided that you want to not only keep your dog, but help it learn to be less fearful, you’ll find support and information here." Debbie is also the author of an award winning book,  "A Guide To Living With and Training A Fearful Dog."

Free Agility Course Maps A great resource that has an online data base of agility maps. Various judges from agility venues can give their permission for their courses to be shared here, and competitors will collect course maps after trials, and submit them to the data base for all of us to use! Great idea, eh?

Irhaberki Mudi Kennel Boglarka Toth and Irhaberki Mudi Kennel are located in Hungary. This is the kennel that Griff came from. Check her website out to see the other fabulously talented Mudis she has breed, many of whom are titled and competing at high levels in Agility, Tracking, SAR, and Herding.

Linda Mecklenberg Linda is the founder and owner of Awesome Paws Agility Training, and well known as the originator of one of the primary "motion-based" handling systems that is used in agility today. She has written two great books on jumping foundations and handling foundations, both available on Clean Run.

Marisa Scully and Perry DeWitt - Philly Dog Training Marisa and Perry are personal friends of mine. Marisa and I have known each other since high school and she is now a successful professional trainer with a thriving business. Marisa is a Certified Dog Trainer and Behavior Specialist who is well-known in the Philadelphia area for her straight forward approach and experience with a wide range of breeds. Marisa herself has a house full (ok, only 2!) Pitt bulls and one terrier mix, Super. Marisa often appears on various news programs discussing Pitt advocacy, dog behavior, or a common dilemma for both of us, Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles! Perry DeWitt, a talented up and coming trainer in her own right, recently joined Marisa at Philly Dog Training. Perry's Border Collie, Goose, is the star of her youtube channel "BBTricksters."

Mary Ellen Barry: 2x2 Weave Pole Training Here is the link to MEB's website and the article she wrote for Clean Run regarding weave pole training. She took her own personal spin on the 2x2 method (originally developed by Susan Garrett) and presents it in an easy to follow article with great pictures.

Mudi Club of America  The Mudi Club of America strives to "Promote, protect and preserve the Mudi as a healthy, versatile, working breed, of sound temperament, and proper breed type, while educating fanciers on responsible Mudi ownership."

Pamela Marxsen Dog Training Academy Pam is a positive trainer who has made a name for herself on the web for her fantastic youtube tutorial videos. She is located in San Diego California where she runs a dog training academy that she started in 2007. Her blog, which is linked here will take you to a mine field of outstanding dog training information and a direct link to her youtube page with her training tutorials.

Patricia McConnell Patricia McConnell, Ph.D., is a  Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB) who has committed her personal and professional live to understanding animals and the humans in their life. She is considered an expert in the field and has written a number of books on a wide range of topics including, most notably, "The Other End of the Leash."

Patrick Shannahan Herding Patrick  has been writing a column in American Border Collie Magazine for some years now. Many of the articles are listed on his page along with other informative articles.

Rachel Sanders Rachel Sanders is a well-known agility competitor and instructor. We have been lucky enough to work with her at a few seminars, and really enjoyed it! She developed the "box-method" for training running contacts and has written a number of articles for Clean Run. She also has two DVD's out (available on Clean Run) called "Making Reinforcement Fun" and "The Pre-Sports Puppy." Rachel was also selected to be the USA team coach at the 2012 IFCS World Agility Championships!

Relaxation Protocol Karen Overall, DVM, developed this relaxation protocol. This link will take you to a favorite blog of mine, "Champion of My Heart" where Roxanne Hawn has made a series of audio files to go along with Karen's actual written relaxation protocol. Both are available on this page of her blog, and Roxanne has a really great post talking about the protocol, how it was developed, and how she modified it to fit her needs. "Champion of My Heart" is a memoir about Roxanne's journey with her fearful border collie. In my own experience, I have found that taking the clicker and the treats out of the picture, actually helps my dogs establish true relaxation. The clicker only activated Griff and when any of my dogs see food and clicker's around, they are in "training mode."

Running Contacts Great resource for learning how to train Running Contacts. The website reviews a few different methods for training them.

Silvia Trkman Silvia is a personal favorite of mine! Well known in the agility world, not just for her amazing accomplishments, but absolute positive approach to all her training. Silvia is a 12-time World Team Member, 10-Time National Champion and 2-Time World Champion. She runs Border Collies and Pyr Sheps and lives in Slovenia! Her Pry Sheps are spit fire dogs and she does a fantastic job handling them, but definitely not the breed for everyone!

Suzanne Clothier: Relationship Centered Training A dog expert with over 40 years of experience and new personal favorite of mine, Suzanne has got it right when it comes to understanding the complexities of the human-animal relationship. Suzanne has been involved in the development of our field of Animal Assisted Play Therapy and I've been lucky enough to work with her personally. She wrote a wonderful book that I highly recommend, "If Bones Would Rain from The Sky"

Tori Self and Hippie Dogs Twenty year old college student, Tori Self is an agility phenom. She, along with her border collie Revolution (Rev for short) have taken the agility world by storm over the last year or so. She is a college student at the University of Florida and her recent accomplishments include winning the 2009 USDAA National Steeplechase, the 2011 AKC National Agility Championship, making the 2011 AKC/USA World Agility Team, competing in France at the 2011 FCI Agility World Championships, (1st place in Team Jumping and 5th place in Individual Agility) representing the USA in agility at Crufts 2012,  making the finals at the 2012 AKC National Agility Championship (26″), and most recently won a spot on the 2012 AKC/USA World Agility Team! Whew, an impresive resume! Not too shabby  for someone who just has just barely been alive for two decades. What I really like about her blog (HippieDogs) is that Tori is an excellent writer. While many folks in the dog world can train dogs really well, not as many are truly gifted writers. Witty and entertaining, this blog is a MUST read.

Vaccine Information: The Science of Vaccine Damage Catherine O'Driscoll runs Canine Health Concern which campaigns and also delivers an educational program called the "Foundation in Canine Healthcare." She is the author of the best selling book "What Vet's Don't Tell you About Vaccines" and writes here on the science of vaccine damage. She lives in Scotland with her husband and three golden retrievers.


Working Dog Book Store This website is a great resource for finding any book that has to do with working dogs, performance dogs and general dog training.

Whitebred Bichons Karen Graeber from Whitebred Bichon's is the breeder who bred Sophia. Karen is primarily involved in confirmation and Sophia is her first therapy dog and first agility dog. Karen in located in Central, NJ.

Whole Dog Journal: Debunking the Alpha Dog Theory A great article by Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, CDBC, from the December 2011 that discusses why and how terms like "Alpha Dog" or "Dominant Dog" are dangerous for dogs everywhere.

5 comments:

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