“Dogs are here to teach us. And if you don’t open your eyes to that, you’re going to miss life lessons.”

– Susan Garrett

Susan Garrett (@susangarrett) is an incredible dog trainer. She has a B.Sc. in animal science, and for more than two decades has been one of the most consistently successful competitors in the sport of dog agility.

Susan has been on the podium of the world and national championship events more than 50 times, winning those events a total of 38 times. She was of great help to me when I first adopted Molly, my own pup, and her book Shaping Success (The Education of an Unlikely Champion) was selected as the 2005 dog training and behavior book of the year.

Susan is a champ not only for her competitive track record, but for her ability to convey concrete tips and recommendations for:

The most critical exercises for your dog

The three types of reinforcement

How to use crates properly

What you should do in the first 24 hours of adopting a puppy

How training a dog is like training an Olympic athlete

And much, much more!

We discuss every facet of behavioral modification and conditioning, which applies to much more than dog training. These are techniques that work on everyone from chickens to cats to irritating in-laws.

If you only have 5 minutes, you’ll want to learn why negative reinforcement isn’t as effective as positive reinforcement — even for people.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!

#200: Susan Garrett -- Master Dog (and Human) Trainer https://rss.art19.com/episodes/264b56b8-3e45-4b38-a740-d90bb8951132.mp3 Download

Listen to it on iTunes.

Stream by clicking here.

Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”

Want to hear another podcast about powerful communication? — Listen to my interview with Malcolm Gladwell. In this episode, we discuss routines, habits, and tools, how to make your stories relatable, and why he eats as little as possible in the morning (stream below or right-click here to download):

#168: Dissecting the Success of Malcolm Gladwell https://rss.art19.com/episodes/9ad9500f-1dd0-44c5-9a39-4d64dee7d6a6.mp3 Download

This podcast is brought to you by Four Sigmatic. I reached out to these Finnish entrepreneurs after a very talented acrobat introduced me to one of their products, which blew my mind (in the best way possible). It is mushroom coffee featuring chaga. It tastes like coffee, but there are only 40 milligrams of caffeine, so it has less than half of what you would find in a regular cup of coffee. I do not get any jitters, acid reflux, or any type of stomach burn. It put me on fire for an entire day, and I only had half of the packet.

People are always asking me what I use for cognitive enhancement right now, this is the answer. You can try it right now by going to foursigmatic.com/tim and using the code Tim to get 20 percent off your first order. If you are in the experimental mindset, I do not think you’ll be disappointed.

This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service led by technologists from places like Apple. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it’s all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams.

Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they’ll show you for free the exact portfolio they’d put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Well worth a few minutes to explore: wealthfront.com/tim.

QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Scroll below for links and show notes…

Selected Links from the Episode

Connect with Susan Garrett:

Twitter | Dogs That Listen | Susan Garrett Agility Training | Facebook | YouTube

Show Notes

What is the sport of dog agility? [08:27]

What separates a good handler from a great handler? [09:37]

What differentiates Susan’s approach to training from others? [10:26]

Susan contrasts choice-based training with punishment-based and reinforcement-based training. [11:32]

Susan explains how her ItsYerChoice game introduces the premise of choice-based training to dogs. [13:47]

The three big reinforcements for a dog. [16:11]

The first thing to identify: where’s the value for the dog? [16:24]

Explaining the reinforcement (or reward) zone. [18:03]

“It’s a crowded bar and you’ve got to tip with twenties!” illustrates a technique vs. incentive issue. [19:09]

Why crate games build the foundation for successful training. [23:40]

Explaining restrained recalls. [28:50]

What is the collar grab game? [31:17]

Is “call once” a relative or variant of restraint recalls? [34:37]

Giving the dog a choice is just one way behaviors are shaped. [35:50]

How I reacquainted myself with Molly after a long absence. [39:23]

Susan explains transfer of value and why you shouldn’t always make food available. [42:10]

The dos and don’ts of getting a new puppy (and how it ties in with trying to do 10,000 kettlebell swings in 28 days). [45:10]

Our dogs are just trying to help us become better dog trainers. [47:55]

Susan’s first 24 hours with a new puppy — and why she’s never had a puppy wake her up after the first night. [50:12]

Potty training: why Susan always raises dogs to do their business on a leash, and how giving that “business” a name helps the process. [52:44]

Clicker training: it works for dogs, marine mammals, and Olympic divers. [55:28]

Why negative reinforcement isn’t as effective as positive reinforcement — even for people. [1:02:59]

How do you avoid doling out negative reinforcement when bad behavior is exhibited? [1:11:03]

Susan explains how the San Diego Zoo got a troublemaking, diabetic mandrill to love getting his blood drawn. [1:14:10]

X pen versus tethering. [1:20:24]

What is jackpotting, and what does science say about its value in training? [1:23:39]

Susan talks about a couple of her mentors and how they’ve contributed to the scientific study of animal behavior. [1:24:35]

Why do chickens make excellent subjects for a trainer trying to understand positive reinforcement? [1:30:28]

“Dogs are brilliant at figuring out patterns of reinforcement.” [1:31:30]

The three Ds: distance, duration, and distractions. [1:34:31]

Why did I stop using the bell on the door, and how can I reintroduce it by shaping Molly’s behavior? [1:36:54]

What are some of the common mistakes Susan sees people making? [1:40:04]

Is there a way to calm down your dog? [1:42:32]

Susan talks about her “dog-free” vacation to Ireland. [1:45:23]

Most people try to train from the world of “don’t,” but dogs only understand “do.” [1:49:02]

Even AcroYoga uses positive reinforcement. [1:49:56]

Striving to become a better trainer for the benefit of your dog makes you a better person. [1:50:27]

Tools to bring home for your dog before you adopt. [1:51:20]

Why Susan advocates online learning. [1:55:24]

What kind of training does Susan recommend staying away from? [1:56:13]

People Mentioned

Related and Recommended

The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than 500 million downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.