Step into the world of canine behavior with the distinguished Dr. Marc Bekoff, a professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology. This episode takes you on a captivating journey as we delve into the emotional landscape of our furry friends, the impact of confinement on their behavior, and the fascinating dynamics of dog-human relationships. …

Imagine a world where our understanding of dog bites and aggression is rooted more in fact than fear, and where we can coexist harmoniously with our canine companions, regardless of breed. Welcome to that world, as we navigate it with our guide for this episode, Janice Bradley, the eminent author and revered Director of Communications and Publicati…

Handling dog-to-dog aggression in the home can feel like navigating through a minefield, but guess what? We've got just the right person to guide you - my friend and colleague Sarah Stremming, a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant with nearly two decades of experience under her belt. She's here to unravel the complexity of dog aggression, spotlightin…

Ever wondered how trauma transcends species boundaries, impacting both humans and dogs alike? Here's your chance to unravel this complex topic with us and our esteemed guests, Dr. Linda Randall, a seasoned veterinarian, and Dr. Kathie Nurena, a medical doctor with a wealth of knowledge. Together, we'll explore the multifaceted nature of trauma, the…

"Can't we get a little respect?!" Our pint-sized companions often don't get the respect they deserve, a topic we dive into with Abbey Johnson, a keen advocate for small dogs. Abbey shares her journey from initially fostering a small dog with behavior issues, to becoming a well-known defender for these little champs, shedding light on their unique n…

What does chaos theory have to do with dogs? Join us as we sit down with the charismatic and knowledgeable Brian Fleming, a dog behavior consultant and licensed Family Dog Mediator. Brian takes us on a journey from stability to disorder, unraveling how this intriguing concept applies to complex aggression cases in dogs. He brilliantly illustrates t…

Get ready to unearth the profound joys and challenges of the dog rescue journey with our special guests, Andrea Dinan and Carla Filies. Together, we unravel the complexities of helping a rescue pup adjust to a new home environment. We tap into a pandemic silver lining that catapulted the trend of dog adoption, providing rescues with a loving home, …

Are you ready to venture into the world of emotional safety with Andrew Hale as our trusty guide? Hold tight as we discuss the interconnectedness of physical safety and emotional safety, revealing the profound impact of our emotional experiences on our interactions and behaviors, for both humans and dogs. We look at how the illusion of physical saf…

Our guest this episode, Saharai Salazar, works tirelessly on the frontlines, dedicating her life to dogs labelled aggressive and facing euthanasia due to misunderstood behavior. Navigating the world of shelter behavior makes for tough decisions and emotional toil. Sada takes us through the unique challenges she faces in evaluating dogs with fear an…

Ever wrestled with the guilt and shame that can come with a dog exhibiting aggression? We've got you covered in our insightful conversation with Dr. Karen London, a renowned dog behavior specialist, who unveils the human element intricately entwined with canine aggression. We discuss strategies for navigating the tricky terrain of difficult convers…

Ready to start your dog training business but feeling overwhelmed? Fear not, because today, we're joined by industry veteran and author Veronica Boutelle. Together, we're walking you through the journey of launching your own venture or enhancing your current business, from defining clear goals and vision to striking a balance between work and life.…

Prepare to embark on an intriguing voyage through the biology of canine aggression, guided by the expertise of Dr. Tim Lewis. Our enlightening dialogue unravels the fascinating interplay of biology and aggression in dogs, offering you a fresh perspective on canine behavior and its management. From the realm of genetics and epigenetics to the tangib…

What if there was more to our canine companions than meets the eye? Join us for a captivating conversation with independent researcher and Anthrozology expert, Marco Adda, as we explore the complex relationship between humans and dogs, and unveil the fascinating world of free-ranging dogs across different cultures and geographic regions. We'll disc…

Imagine making your dog's veterinary visits a stress-free experience for both of you. Join us as we chat with Dr. Christine Calder, a Board Certified Veterinary Behaviorist who shares her expertise on low stress handling for animals. As the Chief Behavior Officer for Cattle Dog Publishing, Dr. Calder is passionate about educating veterinary student…

In this episode, we navigate through the difficult topic of behavioral euthanasia in aggression cases. Our expert guests Trish McMillan and Sue Alexander share their expertise in animal behavior, sheltering, and the incredible support group they co-founded, Losing Lulu. We also explore the caregiver burden, the impact it can have on a family, and h…

Ever wondered why your dog growls at other pups or why penguins are surprisingly aggressive? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Dr. Eddie Fernandez as we uncover the mysteries of aggression in animals from an academic perspective. Dr. Fernandez shares his expertise in animal welfare research, taking us on a journey through the fascinatin…

Welcome to Season 4 of The Bitey End of the Dog. I’m really excited to be launching 17 episodes with so many incredible conversations centered around the topic of aggression, and all of the ways we can help dogs and their people. Many of this season’s episodes focus on the human side of aggression cases, and while I didn’t actually plan for that, I…

Whether you are a behavior pro, part of a shelter or rescue team, or a pet guardian, the decisions to navigate in an aggression case can be overwhelming! It's a "solo show" where I discuss the prognostic factors in aggression cases to help clients understand the severity of their situation, and determine potential outcomes. It's also a special bonu…

This is a special bonus episode of The Bitey End of the Dog that is a bit off-season for the show since I typically launch each season in the beginning of each Summer, but I couldn’t resist when my friend Helen St. Pierre wanted to talk about old, senior dogs, which is a topic that isn’t talked about enough. Helen runs Old Dogs Go to Helen, a non-p…

A bite from a dog can have many ramifications. These can include the emotional impacts on the dog’s guardians, or the dog practicing an undesirable behavior, or even the potential fate of the dog. And of course in our litigious society, we often will see civil and even criminal ramifications when a dog inures a person or other animal. For this epis…

Have you ever wondered what it is like training, working with, and living with a police dog? If so, then this is the episode for you! I have the opportunity to chat with Alex and Will Sessa for this episode of Fresh Bites on The Bitey End of the Dog. Alex is an experienced and successful dog trainer who owns Peach On a Leash, and Will is a an exper…

This is an excellent episode with another awesome team member from Behavior Vets. For this episode of Fresh Bites on The Bitey End of the Dog, I have an enjoyable conversation with Bobbie Bhambree, the director of behavior services at Behavior Vets, about veterinarian and trainer collaborations. An often important and crucial aspect of working with…

Did you know that children under 10 are in the age group for the highest risk of a dog bite? In this episode of Fresh Bites for The Bitey End of the Dog, I chat with Debby Lucken who is the founder of Kids Around Dogs (KAD). We explore why children are more likely to be bitten, discuss risk assessment in dog to child directed aggression cases, and …

This is a great episode where I get the chance to chat with a fellow behavior consultant about, well, a whole bunch of topics! Lauren Novack from Behavior Vets joins me in a fantastic conversation where we go down rabbit holes in applied behavior analysis, consent-based training, trauma in dogs, and a whole lot of other behavior geekery. For additi…

We’ve had some fabulous conversations on this show about aggressive behavior and how much a dog’s breed might influence these cases, and for this episode of Fresh Bites on The Bitey End of the Dog, I chat with Saara Uljas who specializes in herding breeds. We chat about a variety of breed specific behavior tendencies in herders, and how they might …

Dogs that bark, growl, lunge, snarl, and snap when on-leash. Also known as leash reactivity, this is one of the most common issues a dog trainer may be asked to help with. In this episode of The Bitey End of the Dog, I have the pleasure of chatting with Jessica Wheatcraft, who I consider one of the best out there on understanding and working with t…

This is a really fantastic episode of Fresh Bites on The Bitey End of the Dog, as I have the opportunity to chat with Lorenzo JW Fox from Synergy Behavior Solutions. Lorenzo brings into the conversation a diverse background in not only animal behavior, but an investment into mutual aid, abolition, and liberation for humans and animals. This all ble…

In this episode of Fresh Bites on The Bitey End of the Dog, I chat with Jessie Kasper who has an extensive background in all aspects of the rescue world. A very common issue we can face is making decisions about dogs in a rescue or shelter system that have a history of aggression. Difficult conversations are likely needed when considering the poten…

If you asked me five years ago to work with an aggression case completely online without ever meeting the dog or client in person, I would have said, "not a chance!" Fast forward to today and I've realized that you can absolutely work with an aggression case successfully from start to finish --- all remotely. Karishma Warr is my special guest for t…

One of the most atrocious activities that I can think of that humans have asked dogs to take part in is --- illegal dog fighting. My special guest for this episode is Dr. Victoria Cussen who is the Senior Director of Applied Behavior Research for the Behavioral Sciences Team at the ASPCA. Victoria has incredible insight into the behavior and welfar…

Have you ever lived with or worked with dogs that are fighting in the same home? Also known as intra-household dog to dog aggression, these can be incredibly stressful cases for all involved because the dogs are living under one roof together, so it can feel like you never can get a moment of not worrying about when the next fight might happen. In …

When we are thinking about positive reinforcement based training, we often envision food as the reinforcer we are using. Or perhaps we might use toys or other reinforcers such as giving attention to a dog when they keep all four paws on the floor instead of jumping up. But what about play? Just straight up play with your dog without toys. In this e…

This is a great season for learning about systems based approaches to working with aggression cases. For this episode of Fresh Bites on The Bitey End of the Dog, I chat with Cat Harbord about her THRIVE system which focuses on using systems and linear problem solving approaches to help understand the dynamic interaction between the whole dog and th…

What do you do with a dog that chases or hunts critters or other things in general? What do you do to work with predatory behavior or predation? A prevailing mindset is to stop those behaviors using an aversive or punishing the behavior. I’m joined by one of the experts on this topic, Simone Mueller, and we discuss many alternative options to punis…

If you’re on social media, or just have an interest in dog training and behavior in general, you might have seen the controversy surrounding a research article that was published around the end of April, so just a couple months before the release of this podcast episode. The paper is titled "Ancestry Inclusive Dog Genomics Challenges Popular Breed …

Have you lived or worked with a dog who is blind and/or deaf? It can present a training challenge all on its own when we are working with a dog who has a disability. And when we also have a dog who has aggression issues, it can create a really challenging situation for both the trainer and the dogs guardian. Tiffany Baker joins me for this episode …

Stress, hormones, emotions, impulse control, arousal, cognition --- a lot of different words that get thrown around in our conversations about dogs and behavior. In this episode with the incredibly informative Dr. Kristina Spaulding, we unpack many of those terms, and why they are so important to define correctly when discussing aggression in dogs.…

Hey friends, thanks for joining me for this episode of Fresh Bites where we chat with rising stars in our community and hear new ideas and concepts to working with aggression in dogs. I have the pleasure of having a great conversation with Pine Irwin in this episode about determining outcomes in aggression cases, and realistic expectations formed t…

You might have heard the saying that "dog training is both an art and science." And I kind of agree with that statement because training plans, even when rigorously based in science, can often benefit from creative thinking. I can’t think of any other trainer that thinks more creatively in the work she has done with dogs, especially the dogs who ha…

Hey friends, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about a many of the wonderful takeaways for me from recording The Bitey End of the Dog, and I can truly say I really am so grateful for this opportunity to learn from my guests. And two of the things that are top of mind as far as value to me are bringing in new concepts that can often be desperately nee…

You guys have heard me say it before, but so much of what I have learned to help dogs with aggression issues has come from amazing icons in our community who have been so generous to share their knowledge and insight with the world. One such amazing trainer is none other than Trish King. Have you heard of the umbrella method to deal with off-leash …

In this season, you might have noticed we’ve talked about systematic approaches to changing behavior several times, which is exciting for me to see happening as we can sometimes witness spaghetti on the wall approaches in dog training. Daniel Shaw joins me for this episode of Fresh Bites on the Bitey End of the Dog for a wonderful chat around his s…

This show would have never been possible without all the learning I've been fortunate to do with so many incredible trainers over the years. I’m definitely standing on the shoulders of giants, and one such giant in our community is Sarah Kalnajs of Blue Dog Training. Sarah and I chat about a number of interesting topics during this episode, includi…

Sometimes as dog trainers, we focus much of our attention on the dog, and meeting the needs of that dog in front of us. Though, we can sometimes lose sight of the person on the other end of the leash, and accommodating their needs as well. In this episode of Fresh Bites on The Bitey End of the Dog I have an educational conversation with Abigail Wit…

What does the study of neuroscience have to do with aggression in dogs? A lot. In this episode I take a deep dive into what happens in the brain with none other than Dr. Kathy Murphy. Kathy always has amazing insight about what happens when a dog might be barking, lunging, growling, snarling, or biting, from a neurobiological perspective. And we al…

In this episode of Fresh Bites on The Bitey End of the Dog, I have the pleasure of chatting with Cecilia Erhabor of Player Two Dog Training. I truly want to thank Cecilia for this special episode as she discusses her own experience with anxiety and panic attacks and how that has helped her understand what many of the dogs may suffer from in our own…

One of my absolute favorite things about traveling is not so much seeing all the typical tourist attractions, but going out and watching the behavior and culture of dogs in countries. We can learn so, so much by observing how dogs navigate their worlds in other places on our planet. And I’ve been wanting to chat with Sindhoor Pangal for a long time…

Have you heard about the constructional approach to working with fearful or aggressive dogs? And maybe you've heard about systems based approaches to problem solving behavior challenges? For this inaugural episode of Fresh Bites, which is a shorter version of the bite into the dog on a focus topic, where we bring in guests with unique and inspiring…

Dr. Amber Batson is my guest for the season finale of The Bitey End of the Dog, and what a way to top off the amazing line-up of experts this year! This episode is packed with mind blowing insights from Dr. Batson on some hot topics including the connection between microbiomes and behavior, rethinking the puppy socialization windows, and even the c…

This is a very special episode for this podcast as Laura Monaco Torelli joins me to share her personal and poignant experience from a traumatic dog attack that occurred two years ago. I want to thank Laura for trusting me as a friend and colleague to have a safe space to talk about the terrifying events from that day. I also want to give a trigger …