S2 · E2Nov 28, 2025 · 1 hr
BLACK FRIDAY SALE for dog professionals! From now until 12/5. Get $75 off the self study or $250 off the private: Reactivity Refined Course and Mentorship.
Herding breeds are special dogs. Highly intelligent, sensitive, and with a die hard work ethic, they aren't designed for pet dog homes. What one might think of as reactivity in a herding breed, someone else might see natural behaviors we have bred them for. Why is it that herding breeds tend to display reactive behaviors more than other breed groups? And what can you do to support them more?
In this episode I bring in Liz Randall CPDT-KA to discuss:
Why herding breeds are more prone to reactive behaviors in pet dog homes
The predatory sequence in dogs and how that applies to herding
Whether we should we use barking as a metric for thresholds in leash reactivity cases
How you might be inadvertently reinforcing a herding breed's reactive behaviors
And so much more
About Liz:
Elizabeth, or Liz, Randall has lived and worked with animals since early childhood. Growing up in a dog- and horse-centric family, she was an avid, competitive equestrienne by age nine. Throughout high school and college years, she continued to dabble in a variety of equine endeavors, including multiple summer stints at a ranch in the Big Horn mountain range in Wyoming. She worked in the sports industry for ten years, following her love for the outdoors. In her mid-thirties, upon finding her hands full with a new rescue dog that operated “outside the box” in the behavior department, she simultaneously discovered clicker-training and the sport of dog agility. These two revelations quickly changed her career trajectory from sports marketing to living wholeheartedly in the animal training world.
Using the most current, positive reinforcement-based training methods, Liz has held her Certified Pet Dog Trainer credential (CPDT-KA) since 2011, and works regularly with both high level behavior modification and canine sport clientele, both locally in Southern California, and across the country.
Liz has competed in a variety of dog sports with all of her dogs, but focuses primarily on dog agility. She and her dogs have won and podiumed at a multitude of major national and regional events over the last decade. Liz works with clients in the San Diego, California area, at private facilities across the US, and online. She loves to teach her students the importance of learning theory, how to better observe their dogs, and technical training mechanics.
She also stays informed and educated on the ever-evolving practices of dog training, behavior modification, and behavior analysis. She has attended dozens of lectures and seminars of many of the pre-eminent leaders of the animal training industry. She is a graduate of Dr. Susan Friedman’s Living and Learning with Animals course, attended Ken Ramirez's week-long Dive Deep; An Advanced Training Course, and traveled to Mexico to study street dogs with Sue Sternberg. Ongoing, continuing education is a critical component of Liz’s work, and she is a lifelong student and learner.
Her true love is being well off the beaten path out in nature with her dogs.
For in person clients: www.resilientdogs.com
Online agility teaching platform with Rachel Downs: www.topodogs.com
For courses on helping reactive dogs for both pet parents and dog professionals go to www.jessicawheatcraft.com
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