Hi

With the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday (or at least for those of us here in the States), many of us will be traveling to visit family and friends. So I though I'd share a great podcast I heard the other day in case you need something for your road trip.

In this episode of The Tim Ferris Show, Tim interviews master dog trainer Susan Garrett. Susan is a world class competitor in the agility dog world, and teaches people how to use positive reinforcement to, in her words, "form better relationships with her dogs."

I liked this episode for so many reasons. For one, it inspired me to spend more time working with my dog. To be completely candid, with a busy practice and family responsibilities, I haven't really done much in the way of training with him, and as a result, he's acquired some common canine problem behaviors (e.g., barking at the door when people come in to name just one... kind of like a dog version of the saying about the cobbler's kids not having shoes). This episode served as a friendly kick in the rear to address some of these things head on. 

Second, regardless of whether you have a dog, it's a nice example of how to talk about using positive reinforcement, shaping, and so forth in lay terms. In other words, it's a great example of how to communicate behavioral principles to, "normal people." 

I hope you enjoy this podcast as much as I did. Do be advised however that Tim's shows generally start out with about four to five minutes of advertisements, and this one is no exception. So do yourself a favor and skip ahead a few minutes if you don't want to listen to that stuff. 

I'll also try to have Session 16 out in the next few days as well. I'll send a separate email with more details regarding that episode. 

All the best,

Matt