Train the Dog in Front of You: Roxane Pardiac on Music, Mindset, and Never Giving Up
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Roxane Pardiac has competed at AWC and European Open for over a decade with Jack Russells, a Golden Retriever, rescue Border Collies, Whippets, and more, while running a full-time mobile veterinary practice and managing 12 dogs. In this conversation, she shares the mental tools and training philosophy that made it all possible.
In this episode of The Champion's Journey, Roxane breaks down her unique course-walk technique: assigning a specific song to each dog based on their rhythm and cadence, then walking every course to that music. It's a handler performance strategy rooted in her horse training background, and it's immediately actionable for anyone running multiple dogs.
She also talks about training every animal as an individual, why she never forces a dog into a system that doesn't fit them, and how 'never give up' became more than a mindset; it became the thing that kept her competitive with every breed she loved.
Topics: dog agility handler training | handler performance | agility mindset | mental training for dog agility | training multiple dogs | course walk strategies
00:00 Introduction — Roxane's background and competition history
05:30 12 dogs, a vet practice, and world teams — how she manages it all
14:00 Training philosophy: the individual in front of you
17:00 The music technique: one song per dog for course walks
23:00 Lessons from horses: what transfers to dogs
27:00 Conditioning philosophy — why hiking wins over balance discs
34:00 Warmup and cooldown: #1 advice for performance animals
36:00 Never give up: from vet school to world stages with every breed
43:00 Proudest moments in competition
46:00 What's coming in 2026
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