How to Communicate with Your Dog, from a Westminster Champion

TED Talks Daily | Guest: Jennifer Crank | November 19, 2025

Episode Overview

In this engaging TED Talk, world champion dog agility competitor Jennifer Crank shares transformative lessons from the world of dog agility—lessons on teamwork, trust, and, most of all, communication. Drawing parallels between interspecies communication and human relationships, she demonstrates how deeply understanding and adapting our signals and language can spark exceptional connection and collaboration, whether with dogs or with people. The episode is both an inspiring showcase of canine athleticism (with the adorable border collie High Five) and a practical exploration of what it takes to truly communicate across boundaries.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Spectacle of Dog Agility

• [04:22] Host Elise Hu describes the atmosphere as Jennifer Crank enters the stage with High Five, her border collie, and initiates a dazzling agility routine live.
• Jennifer shares her background:
  • Competing in dog agility since the age of six.
  • Now a world champion with multiple canine athletes in her team.

What Makes Dog Agility Unique

• The Complexity Behind the Scenes
  • Dog agility has evolved from a backyard hobby into a global, fiercely competitive sport.
  • “At a proper competition, you have 18 to 22 obstacles on approximately 10 to 12,000 square feet arena…The goal is to run those obstacles in order, making no mistakes, and faster than any of your competitors...But there’s a catch. Every course is different. In fact, the judge almost never reuses the same course twice.” — Jennifer Crank [05:14]
  • The sheer number of possible course configurations: “6.4 quadrillion different courses available.” [05:36]
  • Only 8 minutes are allowed for handlers to study and memorize each new course.

The True Challenge: Communication, Not Physical Skill

• Skill Mastery vs. Split-Second Signaling
  • “At the highest levels of competition, dogs rarely make mistakes. So that means the difference between winning and losing comes down to speed.” [06:30]
  • Modern competitions are so precise that finishes are measured to the one-thousandth of a second.

Interspecies Communication—Decoding ‘Dog Language’

• Beyond Human Defaults
  • Jennifer emphasizes that agility isn’t about issuing commands but building a nuanced system of signals, timing, and trust.
  • Humans gravitate to voice and hand signals, but “those are unnatural cues for the dog.”
    • “The most natural cues for them are motion, location, shoulders, and eye contact…This is emotion-based communication. It’s very innate, very instinctual.” [08:07]
  • Example: An untrained puppy will chase a running human, not respond to verbal commands.

Live Demonstration: The Power of Clear, Natural Cues

• Jennifer demonstrates on stage how her movements, not her words, guide High Five through complex agility maneuvers.
• “This time what I’m going to do is…not ask for the tunnel and I'm not going to holler her name or scream anything frantic. We're going to see if she can watch my motion.” [10:15]
• Timing and clarity are critical: conflicting signals between body and voice will confuse a dog, especially at speed.

The Teamwork Metaphor

• Driving Comparison
  • “So she's the driver, she's in the driver's seat…I'm just the one navigating and letting her know where to go.” [12:13]
  • “You can't just be swerving across and getting off. It's my job to communicate to her where we're going and to do so in a timely manner. But I also don’t want to be so early that… it costs us a bunch of time…” [12:32]

Building Connection, Trust, and Joy

• Adapting to Your Teammate’s Needs
  • Each dog is different; training must fit the individual’s strengths, weaknesses, and temperament.
  • “Train the dog you were given. All of my dogs are a little bit different.” [13:46]
  • Adjusting communication and expectations is key to fostering a mutually rewarding relationship: “I want them to be having a good time out there.”

Universal Learning: Lessons for Human Relationships

• Jennifer closes by drawing out the human parallels:
  • “You have to ask yourself the same question, whether it's raising a child, leading a team at work, or arguing with a spouse. Am I speaking their language?...Am I trying to understand them, or am I just trying to control them?” [14:35]
  • The best communicators build trust and create connection, not just compliance.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Communication in Agility:

  • “The real challenge is in this interspecies communication. Building a system of signals, timing and trust so refined that the dogs can run full speed, making decisions in milliseconds based on nothing more than the information the handler is providing.” — Jennifer Crank [06:56]

• On Effective Teaching:

  • “I often tell my students that I could have laryngitis and both arms in a sling, and yet still I could run an agility course. Because I'm not relying on their least natural cues of verbal and hand signal.” — Jennifer Crank [08:52]

• On Connection and Joy in Teamwork:

  • “The best runs are when there’s a real connection between the dog and the handler. It’s not just about watching her on course. It’s about actually making eye contact with her. It’s why I will never be caught running an agility course in sunglasses.” — Jennifer Crank [13:06]

• On Universality of Communication:

  • “The best relationships are going to be when they trust you enough to run full speed into the unknown, knowing that you will get them through safely. And not because you ask them to, but because they want to. That’s agility and that’s communication at its best.” — Jennifer Crank [15:18]

Important Timestamps

• [04:22] – Introduction of High Five and live agility demonstration
• [05:14] – Technical demands and structure of dog agility competitions
• [06:56] – The real challenge: building interspecies systems of trust
• [08:07] – The six cues of communication; what’s natural for dogs
• [10:15] – Live maneuver demonstration: importance of motion over verbal cues
• [12:13] – Driving analogy for handler-dog teamwork
• [13:46] – Tailoring training to the dog you have; “train the dog you were given”
• [14:35] – Applying agility communication lessons to human relationships
• [15:18] – Closing reflection on trust and partnership

Tone and Atmosphere

The talk is lively, practical, and deeply insightful, blending expert sport demonstration with humor and compelling storytelling. Jennifer’s warm, encouraging style—backed by real-time stage performance with her dog—makes the episode both entertaining and resonant with anyone interested in deeper levels of connection, leadership, or teamwork.

End note: For an even more vivid experience, TED encourages listeners to check out the video to see High Five in action and to witness the agility cues demonstrated live.