Drinking From the Toilet: Real dogs, Real training

A behind-the-scenes look into the reality of dog training, behavior, teaching, and learning. We love our dogs, we love our jobs, but sometimes it's not all unicorns and rainbows. Sometimes at the end of the day, you just need a drink and friend who gets it. We'll keep it fun, and keep it real.

Last refreshed: May 14th, 2026 at 6:41 PM ⓘ

Follow this podcast in the Metacast mobile app to refresh it and see new episodes.

Follow on

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

RSS

Podcasts are better in Metacast mobile app

Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episodes

#12 - Conversation with Theresa McKeon

This week we are talking with Theresa Mckeon from TAGteach International. If you are in the dog training world, either professionally or as a hobby, and aren't familiar with TagTeach, you should definitely check it out. TagTeach is a really cool way of looking at teaching and learning. It's an approach that applies clicker training philosophy to teaching human learners. Like clicker training with animals, TagTeach facilitates learning by breaking skills down into pieces and giving instant and me...

Apr 24, 2017•58 min

#11 - What to do when you get stuck

Have you ever been trying to train a behavior, or maybe UNtrain a problem behavior, and after making a certain amount of progress... get totally stuck where you can't seem to move forward to the next step? Happens to me all the time. Well, hopefully not as often as it used to. But it definitely comes up. In this podcast, we talk about a strategy to apply when you find yourself stuck while training. Anytime we are trying to shape a behavior, and get trapped on a plateau of some intermediate step....

Apr 10, 2017•29 min

#10 - Ignore this (just kidding!)

I've been spending some time lately pondering on how my use of language has changed… or even evolved somewhat in the area of dog training. It sounds like splitting hairs, but I do think the specific words that I use to talk about my training or to my students about their training… makes a difference. One of the words I've spent some time thinking about is "ignore" and how my use of the word has changed. By ignore, I mean when we deliberately, intentionally disregard a behavior. Ignoring is HARD ...

Apr 05, 2017•13 min

#09 - Conversation with Amy Cook

This week we spend some time hanging out with Amy Cook, PhD. Amy is a fast-talking, tap-dancing, ultra-cool dog geek who teaches with me at the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy. Amy has been training dogs for over 20 years. She earned a PhD in Psychology from UC Berkeley. Her research focused on the dog-human relationship and its effect on the problem-solving strategies dogs employ. She is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant through the IAABC, and specializes in working with shy and fearful dogs. In thi...

Mar 28, 2017•29 min

#08 - Using a distraction as a cue

In this episode, I consider the term "distraction proofing", what it means, how I feel about it, and some considerations we should have when training with or for distractions. Before I started this episode, I didn't like the term "proofing", mostly because it's something I associate with errors and punishment. Ick. Not my thing. I prefer to focus on *building* behavior and keeping the success rate as high as possible and training as error-free as possible. So typical distraction proofing isn't u...

Mar 21, 2017•26 min

#07 - Conversation with Shade Whitesel

Shade has the exceptional qualification of being one of the only trainers out there training and competing successfully in the sport at high levels and with excellent scores, all without using physical corrections! She has a creative, yet practical, approach to training, always keeping in mind what's best for the dog and for the relationship. We talked about: :: The challenges of training a traditional sport like Schutzhund/IPO :: How our mindsets have shifted into being more comfortable with mi...

Mar 14, 2017•37 min

#06 - Conversation with Laurie Luck

Did you know Laurie Luck was my instructor when I went through the Karen Pryor Academy as a student? She was! In fact, she is largely to blame for my current situation, particularly my existence on social media and even this blog! Even after graduation, she just couldn't shake me. And here we are several years later, sharing a drink and talking about dogs. An entrepreneur and social media enthusiast, Laurie delights in sharing her knowledge and experience with dog owners across the country. She ...

Mar 06, 2017•35 min

#05 - It's more than a click (or clicker)

This week we talk about why I consider myself a clicker trainer, what that even means, and what I do when I'm not actually clicking. http://www.wonderpupstraining.com

Feb 27, 2017•17 min

#04 - The Relationship Between Frustration and Extinction

Today's topic is frustration. The inspiration for today's topic is brought to you by a combination of my personal life experience and a Dr. Susan Friedman of BehaviorWorks. In one of her excellent presentations at Clicker Expo, she mentioned: Happiness is a function of positive reinforcement Depression is a function of punishment and FRUSTRATION is a function of extinction. The first two are interesting, but the third really struck me. And so that is what this episode is about. Especially since ...

Feb 21, 2017•24 min

#03 - ...Guest starring Leslie McDevitt

Leslie McDevitt is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) famous for her popular and powerful program Control Unleashed (often abbreviated as "CU"). Through her classes, seminars, books, and DVDs, Leslie helps dog owners and training instructors turn stress into confidence, and distraction into focus, using methods that are entirely based on positive reinforcement. Her Control Unleashed program is designed specifically to help dogs with "issues" learn how to relax focus and work off-leash re...

Feb 11, 2017•34 min

#02 - Shaping vs Luring... mortal enemies?

So I got sucked in by some people who were Wrong on the Internet. Shaping is a training subject near and dear to my heart, so I can get a little worked up when falsehoods or misrepresentations get slung around. This episode is a bit of a soapbox yes, but also contains (I think) a few helpful tips. If you've struggled with shaping, maybe this will help. http://www.wonderpupstraining.com/podcast

Feb 11, 2017•17 min

#01 - Who am I? What am I doing? Why am I in this handbasket?

In our pilot episode of Drinking From the Toilet, I introduce myself and explain the goals for this podcast. It's short and sweet. Want to reinforce me for effort? (please?) Head over to iTunes and leave a review... preferably 5 stars. Thank you! Drinking From the Toilet A podcast by Hannah Branigan Episode 01 - Who am I? What am I doing? Why am I in this handbasket? In our pilot episode of Drinking From the Toilet, I introduce myself and explain the goals for this podcast. It's short and sweet....

Feb 06, 2017•5 min

← Prev

Hosted on Libsyn

For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android