Britteny joins Nikki for an honest conversation about Willow’s early behaviors—what felt concerning at the time, and how those same behaviors now make perfect sense. This episode highlights how our interpretation of behavior can change as understanding deepens, and why what we see in the moment isn’t always the full picture. Britteny also reflects...
It’s Not the Event—It’s the Feeling: Associations Are Built on Emotion
We tend to look at behavior and point to the obvious—that dog, that noise, that moment—and assume we understand what caused it. But what if the event isn’t actually the thing your dog learned from? In this episode, I’m breaking down how associations are really formed, and why it’s not the event itself that...
Learning Starts in the Nervous System—Not the Quadrants
We’ve been taught that dog training comes down to four quadrants—reinforce what you like, punish what you don’t. Clean. Simple. Effective… right? Not quite. In this episode, we’re taking a step back and looking at what actually drives behavior: the nervous system. Because before a dog can learn from consequences, they have to be...