Enrichment for the Real World
by Pet Harmony Animal Behavior and Training
You've dedicated your life to helping animals- just like us. Emily Strong was training praying mantids at 7. Allie Bender was telling her neighbor to refill their bird feeder because the birds were hungry at 2. You're an animal person; you get it. We've always been animal people. We've been wanting to better animals' lives since forever, so we made a podcast for people like us. Join Emily and Allie, the authors of Canine Enrichment for the Real World, for everything animal care- from meeting animals' needs to assessing goals to filling our own cups as caregivers and guardians.
Episodes
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#190 - When to Be Concerned About Certainty
“Guaranteed results”, “done in 30 days”, promises to “fix” your dog. Sounding sure is persuasive, and boy, oh, boy. Some people have gotten very good at it. In this episode, Emily and Ellen talk guarantees in behavior work, promises of outcomes, and the type of certainty that is a big ol’ red…
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#189 - Why Behaviors Cluster Together
In this episode, Emily and Veronica talk about why multiple dog behavior problems often cluster together (stranger danger & vet challenges, sound sensitivity & separation anxiety, resource guard & handling issues…) and how Pet Harmony focuses not on playing whack-a-mole with the symptoms, but on...
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#188 - Behavior Advice You Couldn't Bring Yourself to Follow
After years of having clients come to us, scared and worried we’re going to parrot advice that leaves their stomach in knots, we’re finally laying it all out there. And yes, it gets a little spicy. In this episode, Emily and Tiffany talk about bad dog training advice our clients have gotten that…
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#187 - Dogtor Andy: Compassionate Veterinary Care
In this week’s episode, we’re joined by Dr. Andrzej (Andy) Ogrodny, DVM, DACVIM (SAIM), also known online as Dogtor Andy. Dr. Andy is a board-certified small animal internal medicine specialist, with a knack for making complex medical topics approachable, digestible (pun intended), and…
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#186 - Your "Good Enough" Enrichment Plan
If you’ve ever lay away at night running through the list of everything you didn’t do for your pet today… welcome to the club. In this episode, Emily and Tiffany discuss why “enough” feels impossible, what “basic” care actually means, and how to build a plan that works on any day, even your...
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#185 - Troubleshooting: Perfectionism's Worst Nightmare
Last episode, Emily and Ellen talked about how perfectionism can keep you stuck waiting for the “right” time, circling the perfect plan. And when Plan A is the only plan you have, then every stumble feels like a catastrophe. In this episode, Allie and Emily talk about why troubleshooting is...
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#184 - Perfectionism is Your Enemy
Perfectionism is a fickle little creature. It doesn’t always show up as striving for exact perfection. Sometimes, it’s the little bouts of waiting for the next “right” thing. Waiting for winter when the streets are calm to work on leash skills. Waiting until spring, when the weather is nicer...
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#183 - Beccy Hughes: There's No Wrong Way in Animal Care
In this week’s episode, we’re joined by Pet Harmony’s newest consulting team member Beccy Hughes! With decades of animal care and training experience, Emily and Beccy talk about the wonderful, windy story behind Beccy’s skills. From college, to a career in marine mammal training, to finding…
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#182 - What If You Used the Enrichment Framework on Yourself? 4 Real Stories
Enrichment is just for pets. It’s for the humans too. It’s for pet parents trying to keep their cool while their dog parkours around the house or their cats who keep making biscuits on their chest at 3 in the morning. It’s for the pet professional who is building the multi-layer plan for a family...
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#181 - Sneak Peek! What's New in the Pet Harmony Enrichment Framework
It’s been seven years since Canine Enrichment for the Real World came out, and you know what, you learn a lot in 7 years. After teaching hundreds, if not thousands, of people how to use the Pet Harmony Enrichment Framework, Allie and Emily kept seeing the same breakdowns happen in the same…
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#180 - 5 Things That Burn Out Pet Professionals
You didn’t get into animal care work because you wanted an easy career. You got in because you care about animals and the people who love them, well past the point of convenience and ease. In this episode, Emily and Ellen name five patterns we see (and have personally lived) that wear pet...
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#179 - My Dog Is Burning Me Out
“I did not sign up for this.” It’s the one little sentence that flashes in your brain as you clean up another accident, watch your dog blow up over the sounds of a car door three blocks away, or spend yet another Friday night at home alone. It’s one little sentence that sends you, and pet parents...
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#178 - Amelia Nagoski: Burnout
You’re tired. You’re deep in your soul, day in and day out, exhausted. In a world where everything is hard, the stress keeps on coming, and pushing is applauded while resting is punished, may we introduce you to Dr. Amelia Nagoski, D.M.A., co-author, with her sister Emily, of the New York Times...
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#177 - When You Can't Give Your Dog What They Want
We’ve all been there. The standoff where your dog is dancing and staring, waiting for you to do the thing, and you’re trying to negotiate a different plan. Maybe it’s 105 outside, and the heat has reached dangerous levels. Maybe wildfires have made the air unbreathable. Maybe it’s hurricane…
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#176 - My Dog's Barking Is Destroying Me
Does your dog barking make you jump out of your skin? Or send you down a shame spiral? Or have your dog’s triggers become your triggers? You are very much not alone. In this episode, we flip the script, and instead of asking, “How do I help my reactive dog?” we ask, “How can I help me, the…
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#175 - Get Your Dog to Relax
If you’ve been struggling to help your dog rest or relax, despite following protocols and trying your dangest, it’s time to zoom out and look at the environment. This week, Emily and Veronica dig into the three common ways the environment gets in the way, and why the classroom we’re teaching in...
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#174 - How to Calm Down a Hyper Dog
Y’all, we gotta give a little warning with this one, it may get a little spicy. To prep for this episode, we turned to the internet to see what advice pet parents are likely to find, and boy, oh, boy… We don’t even know how to end this sentence. In this episode, Emily and Tiffany are getting into...
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#173 - 5 Ways You’re F*cking Up Your Leash Reactivity Plan
Dealing with leash reactivity can really be a drag (only moderate pun intended 😂). Jokes aside, if you have a dog that does the whole barky, bitey, lungey thing on leash, to dogs, to people, or to the leaf that blew across the neighbor's roof, and you’ve been feeling like a failure, or are just...
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#172 - If Treats Fixed Reactivity, You'd Be Done By Now
You bought the “good” treats, you know, the all-natural, human-grade, $14-a-bag ones. You've got the *perfect* dedicated pouch after hours of research. You’ve studied your protocol. Shoot, at this point, you could probably coach your friends through it. And you have followed it with the devotion…
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#171 - No, Not All Dogs Need Walks
You've been told your dog needs daily walks. We get it; everyone has. When you were a kid and wanted a dog, your guardians probably said something like, “Okay, but you have to make sure to feed, water, and walk them…” And that probably stuck with you until now. Maybe that routine has been great…
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#170 - Q&A: How to Multi-Pet Household
In this Q&A episode, Allie, Emily, and Ellen tackle the questions they hear most often from clients, mentees, and the internet: Should I get another pet? How do I treat my pets fairly when they all need different things? And how do I actually bring a new animal home in a way that sets everyone up...
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#169 - Kiki Yablon: Why Your Dog Won’t Settle When You’re Busy
This week we’re joined by Kiki Yablon, behavior analyst, dog trainer, KPA faculty member, and general bad a**. Kiki’s incredible skills of observation, communication, and implementation are honestly inspiring. If you’ve found yourself running around in circles trying to figure out how to apply…
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#168 - Stop Waiting to Know the Right Thing. Here's How to Decide
You know that feeling where you're staring at what feels like a total dumpster fire, and you’re just… frozen? It’s not because you don't care or because you don't know anything. It’s because you're waiting to feel certain before taking action. You’re waiting to know you’re doing the right thing....
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#167 - Are You Designing Plans for Your Dog... or for Your Anxiety?
Hey, hi, hello. Do you also fall into the pet parent spiral? Worrying that you aren’t a good pet parent, that your dog is suffering, and that you aren’t doing enough. After a two-hour planning session, you have a color-coded, 14-item document that addresses every single thing your dog has ever...
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#166 - Your Dog is Not Symptom Spreadsheet
Do you ever feel like you and your dog are on the Hot Mess Express together? The challenges just keep coming: leash reactivity, resource guarding, body-handling sensitivities, gut issues, sleep disruption all at once, and that’s just the dog’s list. 🤣 Your first instinct may be to make a nice,...
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#165 - Juliana DeWillems: Set Your Dog Up to Succeed (Without Guilt)
Management is one of the most underused and misunderstood tools in dog training. KPA CTP and author Juliana DeWillems (she/her) joins Emily to reframe management (aka antecedent arrangement) not as a shortcut or bandaid, but as behavior science done proactively. They explore why good management...
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#164 - When Management Turns into Micromanagement
Is your dog’s management plan starting to feel more like a full-time job than a support system? In this episode, Emily and Tiffany break down the critical differences between strategic management and exhausting micromanagement. Whether you’re a pet parent feeling trapped in a plan that requires...
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#163 - Fears from Pets Past
Have you ever found yourself bracing for a repeat of everything that went wrong with a previous pet? In this episode, Emily and Veronica get real about how our experiences with past pets shape how we show up for the animals in our lives right now. From shame spirals to hypervigilance to carrying...
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#162 - Choice, Control, Agency, and Predictability
You've heard the buzzwords: agency, choice, control, predictability. But if you've ever tried to implement all of them at once and you know it can feel like trying to juggle 100 balls. Emily and Allie break down why agency isn't a pass/fail ethical litmus test, but rather a set of individual…
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#161 - The Difference Between Safety and Security
Have you ever watched your dog happily bolt toward a car, completely unbothered, while another dog trembles in a loving, calm home? Both dogs are caught in the gap between being safe and feeling safe, and it turns out that gap matters enormously. In this episode, Emily and Ellen unpack the…
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#160 - The Skill No Protocol Can Replace
Look. If memorizing protocols was the secret to being a great trainer, we'd all just hand out flashcards and call it a day. But that's not how this works, and deep down, you already know that. Emily (she/they) and Ellen (she/her) are getting into the skills that actually make a difference, but...
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#159 - When Your Training Isn’t Showing Results in Real Life
You nail a training session. Your dog is locked in, responding beautifully, and you feel that rare rush of “we’ve got this.” Then real life shows up and your dog looks at you like you’ve never met. Sound familiar? Here’s the thing: that moment is not a failure. It’s not evidence that you’re doing...
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#158 - Why Dogs Need Skills, Not Just Feelings
There’s a quiet assumption that runs through a lot of behavior work: if we can just change how an animal feels about something, the problem will resolve. Counterconditioning is a powerful tool, and Emily and Allie aren’t here to take it away from you. But in this episode, we’re talking about...
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#157 - Haylee Heisel: Why Giving More Doesn’t Fix Resource Guarding
Resource guarding is one of those behaviors that gets treated like it’s one simple problem with one simple fix. Just add abundance. Just countercondition it. Just follow this protocol. Except… it’s not that simple. In this episode of Enrichment for the Real World, Emily is joined by Haylee Heisel...
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#156 - Q&A: All About Resource Guarding
In this Q&A episode, we’re answering your questions about resource guarding. If you’ve ever lied awake at 2am thinking: “Is this normal?” “Am I overreacting?” “Did I cause this?” “Should I try that 30-second training hack I just saw on the internet?” This one’s for you. We don’t want you…
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#155 - Try It: Engaging Indoor Games for Pets
Do you ever feel like enrichment has turned into a second full-time job? Hours of prep. Fancy toys. Amazon carts. Storage bins. Guilt. In this episode, Emily walks you through three simple, adaptable foraging game categories that take under 10 minutes to set up and leverage things you already…
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#154 - Dog Training Advice: Find What Works
You scroll. One trainer says never let your dog look at the trigger. Another says your dog has to look at the trigger. Both sound confident. Both sound science-y. Now you’re more confused than when you started. In this episode, Emily and Claire talk about why dog training advice feels like such a...
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#153 - Why Dogs React Suddenly: Trigger Stacking
Ever have one of those days where your dog absolutely loses their mind over something they handled fine yesterday, and you're left standing there like, “Cool, cool, cool, love this for us, what just happened?” That wasn’t random. And no, your training didn’t “stop working.” In this episode, we’re...
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#152 - Advocating for Your Anxious Dog as an Anxious Human
Advocating for your dog sounds simple, but it sure isn’t always easy. Your heart races, your brain goes blank, and a stranger (or family member 🙃) is giving you unsolicited advice while your dog is already at threshold. In this episode, Emily and MaryKaye dive into why advocating for your…
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#151 - Labels: Helpful or Harmful?
Labels are everywhere: reactive dog, bad pet parent, confident trainer, resilient learner. They’re meant to simplify things, and while they can be helpful, sometimes they do the opposite. In this episode, Emily and Ellen unpack how labels shape our expectations, our compassion, and our sense of...
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#150 - If You Aren’t Doing It, It's Not Doable
Hi, do you keep telling yourself, “I know what to do, I just need to actually do it?” Welcome. In this episode, Emily and Tiffany unpack a hard (and oddly relieving) truth: when something isn’t happening, it’s usually a design problem, not a motivation problem. More effort, more discipline, or…
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#149 - The Dangers of “Enrichment”
When we say The Dangers of “Enrichment”, the air quotes are doing a lot of work. In this episode, Emily and Ellen unpack how things labeled as enrichment can actually aggressively miss the mark. From the “more is better” mindset to breed-specific expectations and enrichment-as-micromanagement, we...
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#148 - You’re Getting Enrichment Wrong
You’re getting enrichment wrong. Yeah, we said it. (Lovingly.) In this episode, Emily and Allie unpack why enrichment so often feels overwhelming, guilt-inducing, or impossible to “do right.” Spoiler alert: it’s not because you’re failing. We talk about what enrichment actually is (and what it...
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#147 - Old Skill, New Scenario: Using What You Already Know
If your first response to a new behavior challenge is “I need to learn something new,” this episode is for you. Ellen and Emily talk about why “new” isn’t always the answer, and how to make the most of the skills already in your toolbox. From spooky sedation stories to “my perfect puppy isn’t...
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#146 - Try It: Create Your Enrichment Menu
Ever find yourself staring at your pet thinking, “What do we even do for enrichment again?” Same. Today we’re walking through how to build your pet’s Enrichment Menu: a simple, sanity-saving list of activities you already know help you and your pet. We’ll chat through how to brain-dump everything...
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#145 - Q&A: Dog Sociability
This week’s episode is built entirely from your questions! And honestly, we love that. Listener Q&As are some of our favorite conversations because they give us a window into what real pet parents and pros are navigating right now. And this batch? Chef’s kiss. We’re diving into the big topics you...
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#144 - Learning Over Threshold?
Ever try to teach your dog something new only to realize both of you are way too stressed to even remember your own names? Same. In this episode, Emily and our newest Pet Harmony team member, Veronica Garcia, dive into the “thinking and learning zone”. Learn what it looks like, why it matters…
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#143 - Enriching Your Pet When You Feel Like You’re Drowning
Sometimes life hands you broken bones, cranky tendons, surprise vet trips, or a whole new set of limitations you definitely didn’t order. And meanwhile, your pet still needs… well, everything. In this episode, Emily and Allie talk about what happens when your needs and your pet’s needs feel...
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#142 - Enrichment Guilt: When Enough Doesn't Feel Like It
Do you ever feel like you’re not doing enough for your pet? Yeah… us too. But you know what? You’re probably doing way more than you give yourself credit for. In this episode, Allie and Ellen get real about “enrichment guilt,” that nagging voice that makes you feel like you’re failing, and why…
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#141 - Gratitude, But Not The Toxic Kind
Let’s be real: sometimes, being told to “just be grateful” when things are hard feels… gross. We get it. Gratitude can be helpful, but not when it’s used to slap a smiley face sticker over real pain. In this episode, Allie and Ellen talk about what taking a descriptive approach to gratitude looks...
About this show
You've dedicated your life to helping animals- just like us.
Emily Strong was training praying mantids at 7.
Allie Bender was telling her neighbor to refill their bird feeder because the birds were hungry at 2.
You're an animal person; you get it.
We've always been animal people. We've been wanting to better animals' lives since forever, so we made a podcast for people like us.
Join Emily and Allie, the authors of Canine Enrichment for the Real World, for everything animal care- from meeting animals' needs to assessing goals to filling our own cups as caregivers and guardians.
Hosted by
Pet Harmony Animal Behavior and Training