10 Best Dog Training Podcasts: 2024 Reviews & Top Picks

Podcasts are a great way to learn something new during your commute or while you walk your dog. There are hundreds that you can listen to, including ones with tips on how to train your dog. Dog training podcasts teach new and experienced dog owners the ins and outs of dog training and canine behavior. They can help you get started with your new puppy or take the next step in your journey to becoming a professional dog trainer.

Check out these reviews of the 10 best dog training podcasts available on Apple Podcasts. They include everything from adoption tips and house training to behavioral problems and their causes.

 

A Quick Comparison of Our Favorites of 2024

The 10 Best Dog Training Podcasts

1. Dr. Dunbar’s iWoofs Podcasts — Best Overall

For training to be as effective as possible, you should start when you first get your new puppy. Newbie dog owners can find the process to be daunting, and this is where Dr. Dunbar’s iWoofs Podcasts comes in as the best overall dog training podcast. It’s hosted by a veterinarian who’s also a dog trainer and animal behaviorist.

The episodes range from discussing what you should expect during your puppy’s first day and night at home to going over the essential supplies that you’ll need, the importance of proper socialization, and how to house train your newest family member. It’s not all focused on puppies, though. The other topics include the first steps of dog ownership, adopting adult dogs, and understanding animal behavior.

While the content itself covers everything that you might want to know when it comes to dog training, the audio quality isn’t always the greatest.

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2. Dog Talk with Dr. Jen

Backed by her experience as a professional dog trainer and a veterinarian, Dog Talk with Dr. Jen is one of the most informative podcasts on behavioral problems. Although she focuses primarily on correcting behavioral problems, she also discusses the basics of puppy training, including recall commands and house training.

The podcast is designed to help both new and experienced dog owners with both puppies and adult dogs. Dr. Jen also explores the medical side of certain behavioral problems so you can better understand why your dog is misbehaving and work better to correct it.

Focused as this podcast is on behavioral problems, there aren’t many advanced tips for dog owners who want to take the next step in their training.

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3. Animal Training Academy

If you’re interested in learning about animal behavior to help you train your dog, the host of Animal Training Academy podcast, Ryan Cartlidge, interviews animal behavior experts all around the world to give you well-rounded advice on the best ways to train animals.

Aimed at both amateur and advanced animal trainers, this podcast is perfect if you prefer hearing multiple opinions on a topic.

Since it focuses on animal behavior rather than specific training tricks, this podcast mainly has episodes on horses, zoo-keeping, and dogs. If you want to focus solely on training your dog, the extra content might be unnecessary.

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4. The Puppy Training Podcast — Best for Puppies

Amy Jensen’s The Puppy Training Podcast is aimed at training puppies, including service and therapy dogs. As a professional dog trainer, Jensen relays instructions that are clear, concise, and easy for new dog owners to follow. Her calm approach and simple explanations help you build confidence as you work with your puppy.

Since The Puppy Training Podcast is hosted by Baxter & Bella Puppy Training — an online puppy school — most of the training tips and techniques are aimed at young dogs. While the basics can be useful for adult dogs, another podcast aimed at correcting learned behavior might be more useful for owners with older dogs.

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5. Drinking From the Toilet

Many people focus on the necessity of training overall and don’t consider the difficulties that you can face while training your dog which can be disheartening for first timers. Drinking From the Toilet by Hannah Branigan uses a humorous approach to explore the successes and mistakes made during training sessions. Branigan draws on her own experiences training real dogs to explain the techniques and potential mistakes.

Designed for both new and experienced dog owners, Drinking From the Toilet includes interviews with other dog trainers for a more well-rounded view of dog training.

Although the humor is a refreshing change from the seriousness of most dog training podcasts, some dog owners might find it difficult to apply the techniques to their training sessions with their dogs.

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6. Cog-Dog Radio

Part of the Cognitive Canine Online Dog Training Program, Cog-Dog Radio is hosted by a professional dog trainer and a veterinarian. The podcast focuses on positive reinforcement and is aimed at both new and experienced dog owners, Cog-Dog Radio is best suited for competitive dog sports training, like agility.

Between agility training and animal behavior, the hosts also address controversial issues regarding dog training, such as the benefits of crates.

Stremming records a few of the podcast episodes while walking her dogs. While this is a unique way to approach a dog training podcast, the audio isn’t always high quality or easy to listen to throughout the series.

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7. Canine Conversations — Dog Training Podcast

Inexperienced dog owners who aren’t sure what they need to research before getting a dog can benefit from Robert Cabral’s Canine Conversations Podcast. It’s filled with all sorts of information about dogs, from training tips, competitive sports, and dog health to canine behavior and how to adopt shelter or rescue dogs. The wide range of topics makes the podcast a helpful resource for experienced dog owners too.

Cabral is a professional trainer and behavior specialist with experience training dogs for competitions and as protection dogs. He’s also worked with shelter dogs throughout the U.S.A.

While the topics are extensive and useful for everyone, the amount of information provided can be daunting to new dog owners. It can be difficult to pick out the most relevant information for your situation.

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8. Dog Training Q&A What Would Jeff Do?

Many dog owners have trouble training dogs that are aggressive or suffer from severe separation anxiety and are often directed to specialist trainers, like Solid K9 Training. Hosted by Jeff Gellman, The Dog Training Q&A What Would Jeff Do? podcast started as a radio show in 2009 before becoming a podcast in 2015.

Gellman answers questions from dog owners about the best way to solve unwanted behavioral issues in dogs without giving up on them. He also hosts a live radio show several days a week to answer questions on the go.

Although the podcast is informative and often fun to listen to, Gellman does use expletives during his show, which some listeners may not like.

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9. Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast

If you have a sporting dog breed or want to try something new with your dog, the Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast helps you learn how to train your dog for a variety of popular sports. The podcast teaches about clarity, education, respect, and the importance of positivity in competitive sports. There are also episodes on horse training for listeners who are interested in training both animals.

Melissa Breau, the host, introduces you to the various trainers who teach the company’s online classes so you can meet everyone before you sign up for lessons. This gives you a chance to make sure their training ideas and explanations make sense to you before you pay for the course.

The show is hosted by an online dog training school and benefits from the experience of professional trainers and guest teachers. Many of the episodes are dedicated to promoting upcoming classes, though, which may be boring for some listeners.

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10. School for the Dogs Podcast

One fun dog training podcast to try out is the School for the Dogs Podcast hosted by Annie Grossman. She explores canine behavior in a fun, informative way and focuses on the benefits of positive reinforcement. She also frequently invites professional dog trainers and veterinarians to her show to give the audience a wider range of viewpoints to consider.

A few of the episodes do touch on Grossman’s personal opinions about politics and other dog trainers, which might not be interesting to everyone. The podcast is also aimed at first-time dog owners and doesn’t contain advanced training tips for more experienced trainers who want to take the next step.

 

How to Choose a Good Dog Training Podcast

There are hundreds of podcasts out there, including dog training ones, but not all are created equal. To help you train your dog, the podcast that you choose has to feel right for you. Whether you’re starting from scratch with a new puppy or correcting learned behavior in your adopted adult dog, keep these tips in mind during your podcast search.

Audio Quality

The quality of the audio in your chosen podcast might seem like a strange thing to focus on, but it’s essential. There’s nothing worse than listening to a podcast that you can’t understand, especially if you’re trying to learn from the advice that the host is giving you.

Podcasts with better audio quality will be clearer and much more pleasant to listen to. You’ll be able to hear the host and any guests that they’ve invited onto the show without interference from recorded background noise or a too-quiet microphone.

You should also consider the way that the host speaks. Recordings can make an already deep accent more difficult to understand, and if your host isn’t used to recording themselves, they might speak too fast or too quietly to be properly heard. Combined with the wrong audio equipment, the podcast will be a challenge for you to enjoy.

Content

Dog training podcasts don’t always focus on providing tips on how to train your dog; they sometimes explore canine behavior and other pet-related facts too. If you’re a new dog owner, listening to a podcast about dogs that goes over more than just how to train them is a great way to learn more about your newest family member.

But for listeners who want to take the next step in their dog training adventures, a podcast that focuses on how to welcome a new dog into your home isn’t going to be that helpful.

Carefully consider what you want the podcast to teach you or help you achieve. This will help ensure that the podcast that you listen to is the best suited for you, your experience, and your dog.

Easy to Follow

More than anything else, the instructions from the host of your chosen podcast need to make sense. It’s all well and good listening to someone give you advice, but if they don’t explain how to implement it in your own training, you’ll be no further forward than you started. Training videos can give you a more visual view of the techniques that the host is showing you, but podcasts rely solely on listening.

For the best results, find a podcast that makes sense and enables you to tailor the advice to your own dog.

Expert Advice

Everyone can tell you about their ideas on the right and the wrong way of training dogs, but the best advice comes from people who are experienced with training. Professional dog trainers, animal behaviorists, and veterinarians are all familiar with dogs and the best ways to train them.

Podcasts hosted by experts will include advice backed by experience in handling dogs and teach you how to understand their behavior. Most of these podcasts also include interviews with third-party veterinarians and dog trainers, to provide a different perspective.

Personal Preference

When it comes down to it, the advice that you take when it comes to your dog should ring true to you and your dog. While it can be difficult to tailor information from a podcast to your dog and training habits, the advice itself should at least make sense and be something that you’re happy to follow.

For example, many police K9 and military trainer podcasts recommend e-collars and prong collars rather than a solely positive-based approach. Not all dog owners are comfortable using less-than-positive reinforcement to teach their dogs, and they won’t listen to podcasts that encourage these methods. If you’re uncomfortable with corrective training measures, a podcast focused on positive reinforcement might be a better choice for you.

The same can be said for how the podcasts are handled. If the advice is riddled with ads and self-promotion, it might be a chore to listen to.

Potential Mistakes

Dog training comes with many positives but also many mishaps. The best ones won’t make effective training sound super easy, thus helping you not get disheartened when it takes longer than you expected for your dog to understand your commands. For example, if you’re a new dog owner, you might struggle to remember everything when you first start training your dog, leading to both of you getting frustrated.

Find a podcast that encourages you to enjoy your training sessions while also reminding you that nobody is infallible. Even the experts in the best podcasts have had their difficulties with training dogs, and the best way forward is sometimes to take a break and come back refreshed and calm.

Science Backed

If you’re completely new to dog training, it’s always best to start with tried-and-tested methods until you gain enough experience to develop your own style. Science-based podcasts give training advice that’s based on the latest research into animal behavior. If you’re not a fan of e-collars or other correction methods, many science-based training podcasts rely on positive reinforcement over punishments.

 

Final Thoughts

Available on Apple Podcasts, Dr. Dunbar’s iWoofs Podcasts is the overall best dog training podcast. Dr. Dunbar explores everything from introducing your puppy to your home to adopting an older dog and the challenges that come with it. Dog Talk with Dr. Jen is one of the best choices for discussing dog behavior and potential medical causes. Our final favorite is the Animal Training Academy, which explores a range of animal behavior to help you train dogs and horses.

We hope that these reviews help you find a podcast perfect for teaching you how to properly train your dog.

See also:

• 10 Best Cat Podcasts — Reviews & Top Picks
• 9 Best Dog Training Apps – Reviews & Top Picks

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