All Fun and No Joy: Advocating for Agency with Heidi Armstrong

Welcome to Beers and Biscuits, a Dogcast for the rest of us! “If you ask the dog, is this how you’d choose to live your life? Bet there are a lot of dogs that would say no.”  In this episode we discuss what agency means, some easy ways to incorporate more agency into your dog’s daily routine, and what can happen when we neglect agency -especially in areas we assume bring dog’s joy, like sports and competitions. On this episode, we talk about agency with former dog (and human) sports competitor, Heidi Armstrong, about what can happen when we strive for perfection at the expense of agency.   “Agency is the ability to have some level of control in our environment and be able to make choices that will result in a desirable outcome. One of the important factors here is that agency requires at least two desirable choices.” Allie Bender in Agency: What It is & Why Your Pet Needs It. Featured Beverage: Triple Eight Distillery and Cisco Brewers - Nantucket Craft Cocktail Cranberry Vodka Soda. Cisco Brewers, founded in 1995 on the island of Nantucket, is proud to bottle up that “happiest place on earth” energy.  At Cisco, “good vibes are always in season”. Find them on IG @tripleeightdistillery | @ciscobrewers Featured Biscuits: Cloud Star Tricky Trainers Soft & Chewy treats are a must have for dog trainers and guardians. Cloud Star uses fresh, natural ingredients prepared simply in small batches and without corn, wheat, soy or artificial colors and flavors. You can find more info on tricky trainers at: Cloud Star | @cloudstarpets   Featured Guest: Heidi Armstrong's career chose her after retiring from professional mountain biking and a life-changing injury. She is an injury recovery coach and founder of Injured Athlete's Toolbox. She helps athletes overcome the mental and emotional fallout of injury. Heidi values fostering a joyful, clever, free-thinking, agency-centered creative relationship with her dogs. In 2004, Heidi adopted Bella, and Bella went on to help Heidi deepen her relationship and understanding of dogs. Heidi and Bella were one of the founding therapy dog teams with Austin-based Divine Canines and they trained and competed in agility and rally obedience, hiked many thousands of miles together and cherished many frisbee sessions.  In June of 2020, Heidi rescued Cheza (which means "play" in Swahili). Heidi continues to foster Cheza's greatest joy - using her body and balancing through trick training, hiking, swimming, agility, performing, rally obedience, SAR work and commercial work. Cheza and Heidi are also a therapy dog team with Divine Canines. You can check out Cheza and Heidi on Instagram, or see Cheza and friends in a 2022 Puppy Bowl commercial. Other resources on agency: What About Agency in Training by Ellen Yoakum Predictability, Choice, Control, Oh My! by Emily Strong Of Hostages & Relationships by Suzanne Clothier Why Dogs Should Have More Control Over Their Lives by Jessica Pierce, Ph.D. Ken Ramirez, The Art and Science of Animal Training Conference, Teaching an animal to say “no”.  And follow up article by Equine Clicker Training on ASAT Conference 2017: Jesus Rosales-Ruiz and Ken Ramirez. We hope you enjoyed the conversation and please don’t forget to give your dog a biscuit from us. Until next time. Where you can find us:⁠⁠⁠⁠ @beers.biscuits⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠@thetimelessdog⁠ ⁠⁠⁠| ⁠⁠⁠@peterpiper_pickel⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Ideas, Questions, Comments – Email us: [email protected] You can find a closed caption version of this episode on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/@BeersBiscuits   Be Gentle! - This episode was produced by us on AudioDirector. Music: "Aw Cute" by Cutesy Chamber Ensemble - Available for download on Uppbeat: https://uppbeat.io/browse/artist/cutesy-chamber-ensemble License code: TE0HJL5AE2KA9Z03