Enrichment for the Real World

Pet Harmony Animal Behavior and Training
  • 5.0 (48)
  • Pets & Animals
  • Updated Weekly

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. 

  1. #171 - No, Not All Dogs Need Walks

    1d ago

    #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 for all your past dogs, but your current dog, the one you love so deeply, is capital S Struggling, and you spend almost every walk trying not to cry.  In this episode, Emily and Ellen hope you feel a little relief, and even a little liberated when they make their case that, no, not all dogs need walks. Instead, they will help you think through your goals, your needs, and what is actually going to work for you and your beloved companion. Because there are a whole lot of ways to get your dog the movement they need that don’t require busy streets, a flood of stress, and a miserable time.  TLDL (too long, didn’t listen): 3 Key Takeaways  1️⃣ Movement can be joyful – Don’t stick with movement that leads to meltdowns; instead, find something that sparks joy. 2️⃣ Small things often – One more trip to the kitchen, lap around the dining room table, or stretch on the stairs will add up.  3️⃣ Screw “No Pain, No Gain” – Just because it is easy doesn’t mean it isn’t effective. Seriously.  For the full episode show notes, including the resources mentioned in this episode, go here. Amazon Affiliate Storefront Find products we recommend at the Pet Harmony Amazon Storefront. As an Amazon Associate, Pet Harmony earns from qualifying purchases. More from Pet Harmony Pet Parents: enrichment ideas and practical behavior tips 📸 Instagram & Facebook: @petharmonytraining Pet Pros: relatable moments and support for your work with pets and their people 📸 Instagram & TikTok: @petharmonypro 📬 Sign up for our weekly newsletter: https://petharmonytraining.com/join/ Subscribe & Review If this episode resonated with you, please take a moment to subscribe and review. It helps more pet parents and pros find us—and makes our tails wag every time. Thanks for being here! 💛 Find some of Pet Harmony's ride or die brands, gear, and fitness equipment through our affiliate partner Paw Prosper.  And yes, we promise we actually use this gear with our own pets. 💗 Check out Blue-9, FitPaws, Help 'Em Up Harness, and more at http://petharmonytraining.com/fitness As an affiliate, we earn a small commission based on purchases from this link.

    57 min
  2. #170 - Q&A: How to Multi-Pet Household

    Jun 8

    #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 for success? Of course, in true Q&A fashion, we may meander a bit (look, we are who we are 😂), but we packed this episode full of real-life examples, how we guide clients through the process, and reflection questions to help you answer these questions for yourself.  Because while we are behavior consultants, we probably aren’t YOUR behavior consultant… at least not yet. 😉 TLDL (too long, didn’t listen): 3 Key Takeaways  1️⃣ Caregiving isn’t additive; it’s exponential – Budget, bandwidth, physical space, and the needs of every current household member all compound in ways most people don't anticipate.  2️⃣ Different needs ≠ unfair treatment  – Meeting each pet as an individual is equity. Use the enrichment framework to stay grounded.  3️⃣ Make your deal-breaker list before you meet the pet – Decide your non-negotiables before you're emotionally attached to a specific animal. Treat the first phase like a foster. It protects the animal, protects your existing pets, and protects you from shame-driven decisions later.  For the full episode show notes, including the resources mentioned in this episode, go here. Amazon Affiliate Storefront Find products we recommend at the Pet Harmony Amazon Storefront. As an Amazon Associate, Pet Harmony earns from qualifying purchases. More from Pet Harmony Pet Parents: enrichment ideas and practical behavior tips 📸 Instagram & Facebook: @petharmonytraining Pet Pros: relatable moments and support for your work with pets and their people 📸 Instagram & TikTok: @petharmonypro 📬 Sign up for our weekly newsletter: https://petharmonytraining.com/join/ Subscribe & Review If this episode resonated with you, please take a moment to subscribe and review. It helps more pet parents and pros find us—and makes our tails wag every time. Thanks for being here! 💛 Find some of Pet Harmony's ride or die brands, gear, and fitness equipment through our affiliate partner Paw Prosper.  And yes, we promise we actually use this gear with our own pets. 💗 Check out Blue-9, FitPaws, Help 'Em Up Harness, and more at http://petharmonytraining.com/fitness As an affiliate, we earn a small commission based on purchases from this link.

    56 min
  3. #169 - Kiki Yablon: Why Your Dog Won’t Settle When You’re Busy

    Jun 1

    #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 the science to your training, felt your eyes glaze over at jargon, or broken down trying to work while your dog yells at you, we promise, Kiki’s teaching brings a beautiful, practical, and applicable simplicity to behavior change. Tune in to hear Emily and Kiki talk about some real nerdy stuff, how “outside” skills help you as a dog trainer, and so much more (we get a little windy in this one 😂)  TLDL (too long, didn’t listen): 3 Key Takeaways  1️⃣ Describe what you’re doing – Saying “I’m doing classical conditioning” leaves a lot open for interpretation. Instead, describe what you’re doing, and see how it opens you up to see other factors influencing your outcome.  2️⃣DRO is time-based, not behavior-based – If you're reinforcing a specific alternative, that's DRA. DRO is about the absence of a behavior for a set interval.   3️⃣ New behavior comes from old behavior – Learners don't start from scratch when something stops working. They pull from their history. A richer repertoire means more options before problem behaviors resurface.  For the full episode show notes, including the resources mentioned in this episode, go here. More from Pet Harmony Pet Parents: enrichment ideas and practical behavior tips 📸 Instagram & Facebook: @petharmonytraining Pet Pros: relatable moments and support for your work with pets and their people 📸 Instagram & TikTok: @petharmonypro 📬 Sign up for our weekly newsletter: https://petharmonytraining.com/join/ Subscribe & Review If this episode resonated with you, please take a moment to subscribe and review. It helps more pet parents and pros find us—and makes our tails wag every time. Thanks for being here! 💛 Find some of Pet Harmony's ride or die brands, gear, and fitness equipment through our affiliate partner Paw Prosper.  And yes, we promise we actually use this gear with our own pets. 💗 Check out Blue-9, FitPaws, Help 'Em Up Harness, and more at http://petharmonytraining.com/fitness As an affiliate, we earn a small commission based on purchases from this link.

    1h 49m
  4. #168 - Stop Waiting to Know the Right Thing. Here's How to Decide

    May 25

    #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.  So, you gather one more resource, take one more course, do one more deep dive, and each bit shows you one more gap until certainty, starting the cycle all over again.  Here’s the problem, though. That certainty you're waiting for? It isn't coming.  In this episode, Allie and Emily give you a different approach to help you do, even when you don't feel ready. We talk about three main considerations, safety, functionality, and sustainability, to help you make a reasoned, reversible first pass. The best plans require troubleshooting, not perfection.  TLDL (too long, didn’t listen): 3 Key Takeaways  1️⃣ Paralysis is usually an imposter syndrome problem, not a knowledge problem — More education won't fix it. Getting started will. 2️⃣ Safe → Functional → Sustainable — Three questions to find a starting point that's thoughtful, realistic, and adaptable. 3️⃣ Complex animals don't need complex plans — The plan that gets done consistently beats the perfect plan that never starts. For the full episode show notes, including the resources mentioned in this episode, go here. More from Pet Harmony Pet Parents: enrichment ideas and practical behavior tips 📸 Instagram & Facebook: @petharmonytraining Pet Pros: relatable moments and support for your work with pets and their people 📸 Instagram & TikTok: @petharmonypro 📬 Sign up for our weekly newsletter: https://petharmonytraining.com/join/ Subscribe & Review If this episode resonated with you, please take a moment to subscribe and review. It helps more pet parents and pros find us—and makes our tails wag every time. Thanks for being here! 💛 Find some of Pet Harmony's ride or die brands, gear, and fitness equipment through our affiliate partner Paw Prosper.  And yes, we promise we actually use this gear with our own pets. 💗 Check out Blue-9, FitPaws, Help 'Em Up Harness, and more at http://petharmonytraining.com/fitness As an affiliate, we earn a small commission based on purchases from this link.

    1h 9m
  5. #167 - Are You Designing Plans for Your Dog... or for Your Anxiety?

    May 18

    #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 done, might do, or could theoretically do on a Tuesday.  No? Just us? In this episode, Emily and Ellen dig into a common trap we see people fall into, both pet parents and professionals alike: building plans driven by anxiety, fear of judgment, and the desperate need to feel covered... rather than what actually helps the animal in front of you. Whether you're a pet parent trying to do right by your dog or a professional trying to prove yourself to a client, this episode will help you recognize when your plan is actually about you and give you ways to break out of the spiral.  TLDL (too long, didn’t listen): 3 Key Takeaways  1️⃣ Anxiety-driven plans exhaust everyone — when a plan is built to cover every possible problem and prove your competence, it collapses under its own weight. Overwhelm leads to inaction, not progress. 2️⃣ Ask the one audit question — "If I removed this, would the animal be meaningfully worse off? Or would I just feel less covered?" Anything in the second category is worth cutting. 3️⃣ Start with a sapling, not old growth — the minimum effective plan is the one you, or your client, can actually do. One consistent thing done well creates more change than twelve things never done. For the full episode show notes, including the resources mentioned in this episode, go here. Amazon Affiliate Storefront Find products we recommend at the Pet Harmony Amazon Storefront. As an Amazon Associate, Pet Harmony earns from qualifying purchases. More from Pet Harmony Pet Parents: enrichment ideas and practical behavior tips 📸 Instagram & Facebook: @petharmonytraining Pet Pros: relatable moments and support for your work with pets and their people 📸 Instagram & TikTok: @petharmonypro 📬 Sign up for our weekly newsletter: https://petharmonytraining.com/join/ Subscribe & Review If this episode resonated with you, please take a moment to subscribe and review. It helps more pet parents and pros find us. Thanks for being here! 💛 Find some of Pet Harmony's ride or die brands, gear, and fitness equipment through our affiliate partner Paw Prosper.  And yes, we promise we actually use this gear with our own pets. 💗 Check out Blue-9, FitPaws, Help 'Em Up Harness, and more at http://petharmonytraining.com/fitness As an affiliate, we earn a small commission based on purchases from this link.

    50 min
  6. #166 - Your Dog is Not Symptom Spreadsheet

    May 11

    #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, neat list and start checking off boxes.  Leash reactivity = counterconditioning. Check.  Resource guarding = trades. Check.  But the list keeps growing, and growing, and growing, with no end or rest in sight. In this episode, Emily and Tiffany break down why that one-to-one approach, playing whack-a-mole with symptoms, often leaves everyone on the team, pet, parent, and professional more overwhelmed and drained. Emily and Tiffany walk through what it actually looks like to shift from playing the terribly unpleasant symptom whack-a-mole game to a systems-based approach that asks: “What do all these symptoms have in common?”  TLDL (too long, didn’t listen):  1️⃣ Most co-occurring behavior problems share a root — They're symptoms of the same underlying issues, not separate emergencies requiring separate plans. 2️⃣ Overwhelm is a framing problem — When everything feels urgent, nothing gets done. A systems lens makes progress sustainable for everyone involved. 3️⃣ Do the foundational work first, then see what's left — Stress management,  communication, and safe space skills often reduce multiple challenging behaviors without targeting them directly. For the full episode show notes, including the resources mentioned in this episode, go here. Amazon Affiliate Storefront Find products we recommend at the Pet Harmony Amazon Storefront. As an Amazon Associate, Pet Harmony earns from qualifying purchases. More from Pet Harmony Pet Parents: enrichment ideas and practical behavior tips 📸 Instagram & Facebook: @petharmonytraining Pet Pros: relatable moments and support for your work with pets and their people 📸 Instagram & TikTok: @petharmonypro 📬 Sign up for our weekly newsletter: https://petharmonytraining.com/join/ Subscribe & Review If this episode resonated with you, please take a moment to subscribe and review. It helps more pet parents and pros find us—and makes our tails wag every time. Thanks for being here! 💛 Find some of Pet Harmony's ride or die brands, gear, and fitness equipment through our affiliate partner Paw Prosper.  And yes, we promise we actually use this gear with our own pets. 💗 Check out Blue-9, FitPaws, Help 'Em Up Harness, and more at http://petharmonytraining.com/fitness As an affiliate, we earn a small commission based on purchases from this link.

    50 min
  7. #165 - Juliana DeWillems: Set Your Dog Up to Succeed (Without Guilt)

    May 4

    #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 increases a dog's options rather than restricting them, how it ties directly into enrichment, and why guilt around "not training" gets in the way of genuinely good outcomes. And for the professionals in the audience, they also get honest about building a sustainable dog training career, and it may look different than you think.  TLDL (too long, didn’t listen): 3 Key Takeaways  1️⃣ Management Isn't Cheating — It's antecedent arrangement, and when done thoughtfully, it improves welfare and the human-canine bond. 2️⃣ Management IS Enrichment — Arranging the environment to open up reinforcers and reduce conflict belongs in every enrichment plan. 3️⃣ There's No Single Right Career Path — Build toward your actual reinforcers. The "traditional" trajectory isn't necessary or always more lucrative. For the full episode show notes, including the resources mentioned in this episode, go here. More from Pet Harmony Pet Parents: enrichment ideas and practical behavior tips 📸 Instagram & Facebook: @petharmonytraining Pet Pros: relatable moments and support for your work with pets and their people 📸 Instagram & TikTok: @petharmonypro 📬 Sign up for our weekly newsletter: https://petharmonytraining.com/join/ Subscribe & Review If this episode resonated with you, please take a moment to subscribe and review. It helps more pet parents and pros find us—and makes our tails wag every time. Thanks for being here! 💛 Find some of Pet Harmony's ride or die brands, gear, and fitness equipment through our affiliate partner Paw Prosper.  And yes, we promise we actually use this gear with our own pets. 💗 Check out Blue-9, FitPaws, Help 'Em Up Harness, and more at http://petharmonytraining.com/fitness As an affiliate, we earn a small commission based on purchases from this link.

    1h 19m
  8. #164 - When Management Turns into Micromanagement

    Apr 27

    #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 constant perfection, or a behavior professional wondering if your recommendations are actually building capacity, this episode is full of frameworks and real-world examples to help you think more clearly about what supportive management actually looks like. TLDL (too long, didn’t listen): 3 Key Takeaways  1️⃣  Management vs. Micromanagement — Management is thoughtful antecedent arrangement that reduces risk and supports learning, while giving pets and people more options. Micromanagement is restriction-focused control that replaces skill-building, exhausts everyone involved, and keeps both humans and animals in survival mode. 2️⃣  Sustainable Plans Are Built, Not Defaulted Into — If a plan requires constant vigilance and zero mistakes, it’s not sustainable. Plus, it’s probably not actually management. Great plans include built-in breaks, “good enough” day protocols, and layered fail-safes that don’t rely on perfection to stay intact. 3️⃣  Freedom Is Designed, Not Earned — When freedom feels impossible, it’s usually a signal that the plan hasn’t been designed to accommodate it rather than evidence that the animal is too far gone. This reframe opens the door to building plans that increase choice, control, and autonomy rather than restricting them. For the full episode show notes, including the resources mentioned in this episode, go here. More from Pet Harmony Pet Parents: enrichment ideas and practical behavior tips 📸 Instagram & Facebook: @petharmonytraining Pet Pros: relatable moments and support for your work with pets and their people 📸 Instagram & TikTok: @petharmonypro 📬 Sign up for our weekly newsletter: https://petharmonytraining.com/join/ Subscribe & Review If this episode resonated with you, please take a moment to subscribe and review. It helps more pet parents and pros find us—and makes our tails wag every time. Thanks for being here! 💛 Find some of Pet Harmony's ride or die brands, gear, and fitness equipment through our affiliate partner Paw Prosper.  And yes, we promise we actually use this gear with our own pets. 💗 Check out Blue-9, FitPaws, Help 'Em Up Harness, and more at http://petharmonytraining.com/fitness As an affiliate, we earn a small commission based on purchases from this link.

    53 min
See All (172)

Trailer

5
out of 5
48 Ratings

About

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. 

Information

  • Creator
    Pet Harmony Animal Behavior and Training
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    172
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Enrichment for the Real World
  • Show Website
    Enrichment for the Real World

You Might Also Like