#119 - Try it: Teach "Go To A Safe Space" From Behind a Barrier
Build strong foundations for lifelong skills, one treat toss at a time.
June 16, 2025
TLDL (Too Long, Didn’t Listen):
✅ Protected Contact Isn’t Just for Aggression – Teaching behind a barrier can help you stay safe and build trust and success, even with behaviorally healthy pets.
✅ There’s More Than One Way to Train a Skill – Emily shares two foundational strategies, but remember: this is just the beginning. You’ve got options!
✅ Focus on Foundations First – Big progress starts with small steps. Build your “go to a spot” behavior thoughtfully to ensure long-term success
Episode Overview:
In this episode of Enrichment for the Real World, Emily Strong shares two ways to teach your dog to go to a safe space from behind a barrier, a skill that supports emotional regulation and improves outcomes for both aggressive and behaviorally healthy animals.
You’ll learn when and why Pet Harmony uses this technique (spoiler alert: a lot!), how it supports protected contact and training distance, and what you need to get started. This episode is all about creating safe, achievable wins, no matter where you’re starting from!
Links & Resources from the Episode
🧾 For full episode transcripts: Arial | OpenDyslexic
🎧 Episode #117 – Training an Aggressive Dog Safely: The Ins and Outs of Protected Contact
Going Down a Rabbit Hole?
Dive deeper into the world of enrichment, behavior, and building harmony.
🎧 Episode #16 – Flight Training Mini-Sode – Have questions about teaching a Flight Cue? Check out this episode!
📚 Protected Contact at Home: Creating Safe Spaces for Pets and People – Learn how to set up protected contact environments in your home for better results and less stress.
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Meet the Hosts
Allie Bender, CDBC, CPDT-KA, SBA
Allie Bender is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant, Certified Professional Dog Trainer- Knowledge Assessed, and a Shelter Behavior Affiliate. She has been in the animal welfare industry since 2006 and professionally training since 2012. She is the founder and co-owner of Pet Harmony, co-author of Canine Enrichment for the Real World, and a national speaker.
While in the animal sheltering industry, Allie realized that her passion lied in helping pets with maladaptive behaviors. Specifically, she wanted to help prevent animals with rehabilitatable problems from being euthanized. She loves working with dogs and cats displaying stranger danger, resource guarding, and leash reactivity. Her favorite thing about working with pets and their people is seeing relationships grow and seeing harmonious households develop.
Emily Strong, CDBC
Emily Strong is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant and Shelter Behavior Affiliate. She has been in the animal welfare industry since 1990 and has been a behavior consultant since 2008. She is the co-owner of Pet Harmony, co-author of Canine Enrichment for the Real World, and a national speaker.
Emily started working with animals at a young age and struggled with the notion that you have to hurt, scare, or intimidate animals to help them. When she discovered the behavior sciences and learned that it wasn’t necessary to do so– that we can care for emotional, mental, and physical health simultaneously– she plunged headfirst into animal behavior. Emily loves helping current and prospective behavior professionals and working with pet parents through our in-depth services. She enjoys working with all species.
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Results are not guaranteed because behavior, human, canine, or otherwise, are not guaranteeable.
