Being perfectionistic is a badge we often wear with pride, but perfectionism mostly doesn't serve us. It doesn't serve us if we're learning new languages and it doesn't serve us when we are training our dogs. Have you ever refrained from saying something or asking a question because you didn't know how to word it quite right? Do you know you would make more progress if you didn't care about getting things perfect but you don't know how to get over that perfectionism? If you're a...

TRIGGER WARNING: behavioral euthanasia There are so many different ways I could have titled this episode. The title could have said: on dealing with haters and threats, or on processing grief, or on the power of friendship and love from both friends and strangers, or on paying it forward and helping others by sharing their story. Logan, like so many of us, got way more than they signed up for when they rescued Nobu who was a victim of the dog meat trade. Not just in terms of having to...

Do you sometimes feel yourself end up living in a place of regret about things you wish you had done differently for and with your dog? Are you extra hard on yourself for having made mistakes? Do you go to the place of what ifs a lot? Then this episode is for you. I talk about what regret is and most importantly about the thought error you are probably making when it comes to what specifically you are blaming yourself for. Plus I give some practical tips as to how you can stop beating...

What do most guardians of our podcast dogs have in common? They go down the dog training rabbit hole, learning all there is to learn about dogs and dog training. At some point most of them have the thought:  “I might as well become a dog trainer now!” Sara is no different. We talk about that, but also about the importance of communication in her journey with Kiwi, a desert mix, as Dubai’s strays are often referred to. What made her discontinue training with the balanced trainer that had been...

Weaponized incompetence, had you heard of it?  Until recently I  had honestly never heard the term. It’s when someone pretends to be really bad at something in order to not be able to do it, like training or walking the dog… In this episode, I examine how mindset plays into that. Can incompetence be a weapon if we choose to not let it be? https://kajsavanoverbeek.com/bonus-episode-010-weaponized-incompetence-when-you-believe-your-training-to-be-sabotaged/

There’s nothing more maddening than working off of a recipe that doesn’t properly specify the ingredients, or their quantities. It’s like when someone tells you to add a “dollop” of something and you wonder: Big dollop? Small dollop? Teaspoon full? Ladle? Internally you. are screaming for someone to please just give you an exact measurement already! We want the same when it comes to our dogs. We want a specific step by step training plan. All bases should be covered. We want every...

Very fittingly. I learned about Jay, whose a canine author, blogger and freelance Writer, and her dog Finn through a piece of her writing. It was an article that Jay wrote for Dogs Today a while ago, but that still makes the rounds among guardians of challenging dogs. What she wrote resonates deeply with most of us. You can read the full article here: https://dogstodaymagazine.co.uk/2019/02/19/the-emotional-toll-of-reactive-dog/ But here are two quotes: There are any number of articles that...

In this episode, I address the concept of passing stress down the leash to your dog and all of its variants. I ask you to question what's the chicken and what's the egg? Which came first? Your stress or the dog's behavior? Is your stress the result of your dog lunging or the cause? What does worrying about your stress, sensitivity or emotionality do for you? Does it make you doubt yourself? Judge yourself? Try to change yourself? Are you believing that your work is to become less emotional?...

Do you have to deal with comments from others when you’re out and about with your (challenging) dog? Do you get remarks on working with food rewards? Made fun of for “rewarding” your dog for lunging or barking?   Imagine going through that and getting snide remarks about your sexuality thrown into the mix. Like how of course it’s the dyke who brings a rug for their dog to relax on at a cafe. Airen has had to deal with experiences like this for a long time. He is a queer and trans person with...

If you’re someone who comes home from a dog walk to then classify it as good, bad, great, a disaster, or only a step shy of Valhalla, then you want to listen to this episode. Consider that it is actually you who makes your dog walks “bad” or “good”. And I say that very lovingly. Because it’s good news. Awareness is everything.  I explain some strategies you can follow to help you feel better about your dog walks, without having to resort to toxic positivity. Did you know you can just think:...

I loved this interview with Jennifer. Talking with her I understand 100% how she manages to work with all of her canine companions (and their people) so well. We talk about how she went from IT specialist to having a dog walking service and how she hasn’t regretted it at all. She talks about what it is like to foster dogs (and mentions that all of you who have adopted a dog from foster care should definitely feel free to keep photo updates on your dog coming indefinitely). Each one of them...

Sometimes we imagine that doing our utmost for our dogs has to feel like we are making a real effort. In other words, it has to feel hard. But does it really have to? Are we stressing ourselves out unnecessarily? Is it simply because we are not used to the fact that doing our best can feel like smooth sailing too? That’s what this episode is about. The FREE mindset-mini course "THINK Your Way to a Better Relationship With Your Dog" is available...

Trigger Warning: behavioral euthanasia   This episode is full of amazement, wonder, celebration, grief, sadness, guilt, love and I want to say almost any and all of the emotions from all over the spectrum.   It’s long and unedited because a story like that of Meaghan and Sunny, which unfortunately does not have a happy end, needs to be told in full.  As you listen to the episode you’ll hear how close happiness and sadness really are. You may judge or not, you may find relief in the story or...

Trigger Warning: Behavioral Euthanasia Many of you will know Annie as the author of the book “The Midnight Dog Walkers” and as a dog trainer who specializes in dealing with reactivity and aggression cases and we do talk about that, but in this episode she also talks about life with her own dogs, Radar, Echo , Zimmie , Cooper and Finn (the latter two also being known affectionately as “the hooligans”). Annie explains how she shifted her thinking around what she wants from and for her dogs and...

Remember the star charts for kids?  You only add stars for good behavior and never remove any for bad behavior. How come we don't treat our dog training "star charts" with the same respect? When we are working with our challenging dogs, every setback makes us tear down the star chart and start from the beginning again. Why? And, also... stop it! What's a way to know if you're doing that? Listen to your self-talk. Anytime you hear yourself say "We were doing so well up until now...", that's...

A travel souvenir from NicaraguaImagine falling in love with two abandoned 5 weeks old street dog puppies whilst abroad in Nicaragua. The second you lay eyes on them you know you’re in trouble because you’re not going to give these dogs up. So you crowdfund in pre-crowdfunding days to get the money together to bring these dogs to the Netherlands. Once they get there you find out, that the vet abroad provided you with falsified papers and you lose your now-teenage dogs to a 4 months...

Are you always trying to keep everyone in your household happy? I was. In this episode, I talk about how that can backfire and create the opposite of what you want with examples from my own life. Fair warning, it was recorded on the fly, while walking Rusty, so the audio is not awesome, but the message might resonate. If you want to learn how to have a happier household without trying to keep everyone happy, then sign up for a free consult with me and learn all about how coaching can do...

So much good stuff in this episode! I want to turn half of the quotes in this episode into memes. Like, how learning how to do agility with a border collie is like learning to drive in a Lamborghini. Meet Tara Stillwell and her dogs Eva, the red and white border collie, Curri, the sable border collie and Duke the mini-Aussie. It’s absolutely clear to me that Tara has put a lot of effort into reflecting on how her dogs have affected all the relationships in her life. How the expectations...

Do you have a drop it cue? Not your dog, you… Can you drop your expectations? Can you drop your frustration? Can you drop your anger? Can you drop your schedule and improvise when something doesn’t go according to plan? I know that you can. That you can be a champion at “drop it”. What if you could drop the idea of what life with your dog is supposed to be like and take life as it comes? No expectation, no disappointment, no frustration. The FREE mindset-mini course "THINK Your Way to...

Nicole den Broeder & Haley Imagine falling in love with a rescue dog from Spain, who started life by the side of a road, and then spent some days in the vet clinic fighting for her life. You decide to help find her a home by spreading her picture online. You then figure, why not foster her? And finally, she just becomes yours, but not without overcoming many difficulties. Imagine living in a flat, an apartment complex, the farthest from the elevator and the staircase. Now your dog gets...

In this episode, I go a little meta on you.  Do you know what frustration feels like for you in your body? I talk about the importance and benefits of being able to pinpoint different emotions in your body. How can being able to describe the physical sensation of frustration help you feel less frustrated about life with your challenging dog? The books I mention in this episode are: Burnout Burnout: The secret to solving the stress cycle, by Emily Nagoski and Amelia NagoskiDare to Lead:...