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PODCAST

Startline

Are you ready? I"m here to edutain (educate and entertain) you about the world of dog sports, primarily agility. Join me as I discuss my journey, and share successes, laughs and failures. I"ll talk about training and effective ways to work with your teammate. I"ll also speak with special guests & other trainers. My hope is to help you grow in the sport we all love. Every journey is different, but they all start with the startline.

kids & family pets & animals

All Episodes

01:45:15

Episode 53 - Connecting the Dots With Emma Parsons

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2025/07/12

I had the pleasure of chatting with Emma Parsons outside of a trial a few months ago and we were talking about the ways our own handling choices and training loops can unintentionally chip away at the connection we work so hard to build.These small missteps can slow our progress, undermine teamwork, and erode the trust we place in both our dogs and ourselves. So in this episode, we’re diving deep into how to recognize these patterns, preserve that essential connection, and keep our training on

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00:15:12

Episode 52 - Under Pressure

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2025/04/08

As you may know I work for a pet first aid & CPR company. In first aid, pressure is used to stop or slow the flow of blood. It’s applied intentionally to interrupt the body’s natural process in a life-saving way.In agility, pressure can be equally powerful—when used well. We apply it to converge on a line, to steer our dogs off a wrong course, or to ramp up intensity with our own acceleration. That’s the good kind of pressure—smart, purposeful, and effective. But just like in first aid, if

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00:13:59

Episode 51 - Never Let Disappointment in and Never...

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2024/11/15

This is a reminder that allowing disappointment in accomplishes absolutely NOTHING. We should never let disappointment win. It’s a battle we can always win. Preventing the poison of disappointment into our runs and relationships is 100% preventable and controllable. Happy to be listening and learning? Want to keep me motivated? You can ⁠⁠⁠buy me a matcha or a chai latte by dropping some coin here⁠⁠⁠ (hit the donate button right there on the homepage). Learn pet first aid & CPR - use discount

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00:48:28

Episode 50 - Agility Trial Supplies

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2024/08/05

I'm known to have EVERYTHING a person could need when away from home, even probably more than most people have in their home but I carry it in a convenient tool bag. From safety pins and measuring tape to pain relievers and stomach soothers, I am known as CVS - Cara's Variety Service.While I might be a handy individual to have at the agility trial, there is nothing stopping you from being this prepared. I review what's in my bag, provide a list, go over what I have in my car and a few

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01:03:16

Episode 49 - Mindset Strategies for Qualifying for...

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2024/06/06

I've been watching friends and good handlers crumble under the pressure of trying to qualify for the 2024 AKC Agility Invitationals. While I know how to comfort them and buy them a drink, I needed to lean on the expert Julie Bacon, AKA The Q Coach to help teach us all how to get a grip on the mindset that is melting our agility skills. Julie as always gives us helpful hints, tools and processes to get out of our head and get in the game. Or for some, to let go of the pressure and just have fun,

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00:38:44

Episode 48 - Unleashing the Power of Positivity in...

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2024/04/13

Positive reinforcement isn't just a training method; it's a lifestyle, one that can transform not only the way we interact with our dogs but also how we approach life's challenges. For many, myself included, it's been a profound shift in perspective. Positive reinforcement training isn't just about rewarding good behavior; it's about fundamentally altering how we perceive and respond to our dogs' actions. It encourages us to shift from a fault-finding mindset to a

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00:27:37

Episode 47 - When Trial Stress Breaks Connection

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2024/03/15

When our dog is stressed, we often find our connection breaks.Picture a Venn diagram where two circles, stress and connection intersect. It is here that we need to find our way back into connection and away from the dark cloud of stress. While connection has much to do with our dog's ability to perform the behavior you have cued, stress can prevent a known behavior from being able to occur in an environment for which you cannot or do not train, like a trial. In the episode, I discuss how you

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00:43:53

Episode 46 - What Makes a Good Trainer & How to Be a...

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2024/02/17

After listening and then re-listening to Daisy Peel's The Agility Challenge Podcast Episode 13 on Where to start when you're starting and what makes an expert an expert I was inspired to discuss with my listeners the points I agreed with as well as expand upon this concept. I wanted to discuss what makes a good trainer and how can you be a good student, it is a two-way street.I am still very much both. Hopefully, I will continue to be a trainer but I will ALWAYS be a student. I am a

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01:09:07

Episode 45 - Trapped in Inaction

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2024/01/30

When Julie Bacon from The Q Coach reached out to me to record an episode on the grief we both recently experienced we talked off-air after the episode about life and such. She asked how I was doing and I said I was stuck in inaction, and in that moment I realized I just inadvertently asked for help from the best person to offer it. While my grief certainly didn't help matters, I was trapped in the frozen tundra of my mind for quite some time. I have been performing to standards, I have remained

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00:54:03

Episode 44 - My Simple Pet Lab

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2023/11/16

In my day job of promoting pet first aid & CPR training I set Google alerts to scan the Internet for anything related to pet first aid & CPR. When I received a ping about a veterinarian-founded company that was filling a much-needed gap in pet care I reached out and had to learn more. Their products are just what pet owners and pet care professionals need to bridge the gap between comfort and a vet visit. My car now carries many of their products so when I am on the road, I know that if something

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01:18:05

Episode - 43 Back to Center

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2023/11/02

Let's be more holistic in our view of the agility community, the good and the bad, not everything will be perfect and we cannot lean towards one or the other too heavily. Remain in the center and accept that things may sometimes be amazing and sometimes not but as long as events occur more towards center, we will be Ok. There will always be outliers, dogs that are over-aroused in and out of the ring, reactive dogs, nasty reactive people etc. but the statistics aren’t showing that AKC agility

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01:01:47

Episode 42 - Avoiding Trial Tribulations

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2023/08/25

I started compiling a list on my phone of what could make trials better for you as the exhibitor and me as an exhibitor. While these are specific to AKC agility, much of this information can apply to all organizations. Keep these tips in mind to help make your experience be the best. We all were beginners once, we are all on our own journey but for this to work, we all have to participate in the community. Protect yourself and be part of something, you can do both. --- Support this podcast:

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00:29:18

Episode 41 - The Long Game

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2023/07/19

Do you look at the big picture or are you focused on the details? This is an interview question I ask new hires for my dog-walking company. The correct answer is, both. But in agility, I feel like we lose sight of the big picture. And I don't mean the goal of a MACH or to be the #1 in our breed, we very easily lose sight of the picture that our dogs should be able to run any course with any appropriate challenges consistently, as long as we gave them good information. Not because we lied in that

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00:49:21

Episode 40 - Canine Conditioning

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2023/06/30

Learn how to keep your pups in tip-top shape to be prepared to perform at their absolute best. While I obviously focus on agility, canine conditioning will help with duration sits in obedience, stamina in long nose work searches and in everyday life to afford your dog the physical and mental ability to keep up. The better shape they are in, the more longevity they have, and studies back me on this. I also share my workout circuit and how I acquired equipment on a budget. --- Support this

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00:34:33

Episode 39 - The Importance of Decompression

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2023/06/15

We compress the crap out of our dogs by putting them in situations that are not natural to them. This is not to say they are bad situations but they require a lot out of our dogs to handle the stimuli among other variables. Yes, over time many dogs become desensitized to all these situations, I would agree as my dogs age they become extremely comfortable and happy in their regular trial environments. However, we can help them bounce back to their baseline quicker and be more resilient if we give

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00:32:44

Episode 38 - Keeping Cool 2.0

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2023/05/26

When you have extra time please go back and listen to Episode 10 - Car Safety Setups & Keeping Cool it really covers an immense amount of useful information, so much so that I broke it down and redid it to a) remove the pandemic-isms and b) update some of the products I have found to be even better to help us and our dogs stay cool this summer. What it boils down to is a little bit of science, good cooling products and a great car setup. I help you keep your pups cool so the stress from the

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01:29:58

Episode 37 - Why Mindset Matters

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2023/05/19

I struggled to develop a title for this episode because it covers SO MUCH! Julie Bacon of The Q Coach and I discuss the importance of our mindset for the human and the dog parts of our team, but then we cover so much more! We discuss the difference between outcome goals and process goals, what we can control, and what it takes to get there. We offer tons of tidbits to staying organized, saving brain power for where you need it the most (the ring) and even more ways you can help reduce the stress in

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00:27:12

Episode 36 - All About ISC

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2023/04/29

I have been seeing and hearing a lot about ISC events or classes added to trials recently. ISC stands for International Sweepstakes Class. In my mind, this was a new addition to the AKC agility program which I admittedly knew very little about. Wanting to learn more about ISC, I went directly to the source, the director of AKC agility, Carrie DeYoung. Carrie shares a heap of information with us including that I was wrong about ISC being something new that was added, it's been around for 20

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01:24:16

Episode 35 - Solutions for Ring Stress (Stressed for...

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2023/04/15

Go listen to Episode 33 - Stressed for Success⁠ before you listen to this gem. Noreen Bennett of PawPrint Trials and I follow up on our Stressed for Success episode not just by providing solutions but also providing creative ways to unravel the uncertainty you may find you and your dog in on your agility journey. In our first episode about stress, we discussed how to recognize it. Now we cover how to actually combat it by building resilience in our dogs so we aren't just spreading the stress to

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00:41:42

Bonus Episode - Steve Basson and his dog Hogan, the...

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2023/03/30

I'm bringing this to you as a bonus episode because I wanted to be one of the first to interview Steve after his fantastic win at the 2023 National Agility Championship. He and his dog Hogan, who is not a Border Collie, clenched the final win for the 24" class with a touch less speed but 100% consistency as Steve gives us insight into his strategy. Learn how Steve and Hogan go from ACT (the most beginner agility title one can earn) to NAC (the highest and greatest agility title). We

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54 results

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