Fenzi Dog Sports Academy - CC230: Construct a Winning Conditioning Plan for Your Sport Dog

Course Details

Build a Winning Conditioning Plan!

Fitness and conditioning are the foundation of everything we do with our dogs, whether they compete in sports, step into the conformation ring, or simply enjoy an active life by our side. Every dog, at every life stage and every experience level, benefits from a thoughtful, targeted conditioning program.

If your goal is a strong, capable dog who moves well and stays active for years to come, a custom fitness plan is essential. Whether you are just beginning your fitness and conditioning journey or you have established a foundation and are ready to progress further, this class meets you where you are.

This class is designed for anyone who wants to be intentional about their dog’s fitness, from young dogs just starting out, to adult dogs competing in sports or the show ring, to senior dogs who benefit from continued strength and mobility work. You will be guided step by step through building a custom, progressive fitness plan tailored specifically to your dog, with a focus on safe progression, thoughtful exercise selection, and long-term durability.

Teaching Approach

Learning happens best with clear structure, consistent expectations, and a step-by-step approach that builds skills intentionally. With years of university-level teaching experience, I bring research-informed methods and thoughtful lesson design to every class. My goal is to help handlers understand not just what to do, but why it works, so they can raise confident, capable dogs who move intentionally and perform their best in sports, the show ring, or everyday life.

In my online classes and workshops, handlers are guided step by step to create custom conditioning plans for their dogs. Each week includes lectures with videos and images to bring the concepts to life, while homework follows a consistent, progressive structure that builds foundational skills before adding more advanced exercises. Supplemental materials offer alternative equipment options and creative DIY solutions, making it easy to participate no matter what setup you have at home.

Students enrolled in working Gold spots receive personalized guidance through a combination of voice-over video reviews and written feedback. This approach allows each team to get targeted, practical support while also giving auditors the chance to learn by observing the coaching process and applying those insights to their own training.

This class will have a Teacher's Assistant (TA) available in the Facebook study group to help the Bronze and Silver students! Directions for joining that Facebook group will be in the classroom after you register.

Instructor: Ashley Escobar

Ashley Escobar (she/her) has been training dogs and their people for over 20 years. She is a retired college professor of mathematics with a masters of mathematics and also holds a master’s degree in veterinary science, with advanced veterinary coursework and a background in clinical canine rehabilitation also studying animal biomechanincs. ..(Click here for full bio and to view Ashley's upcoming courses)

Syllabus

View Full Syllabus

Week 1

Evaluate the dog in front of you.
Form follows function - “Basic Anatomy.”
What is the Front?
What is the Core?
What is the Rear?
Warm-up
Cool-down
Foundations for fitness

Week 2

All about the REAR!
Proprioception
Why do we care about it?
How do we improve it?
Homework Exercises

Week 3

All about positions!
Tightening up some sloppy components.
Proper positions.
Sits, downs, and balanced stands.
How to achieve good form and what it should look like
Adding to our exercises! – Homework

Week 4

All about the core & front.
Could a stronger core help?
Strengthening the core.
Adding to our exercises! – Homework

Week 5

Cardiovascular
What counts for Cardio in a conditioning plan.
Cavaletti Poles
Adding to our exercises! – Homework

Week 6

Putting it all together.
A complete conditioning plan that includes:
- Mental
- Balance
- Strength
- Flexibility
- Cardiovascular
How to progress

Prerequisites and Equipment

No prior experience in canine fitness or conditioning is required. We will begin from your current starting point and build progressively. To participate, you will need the following equipment:

A stable platform large enough for your dog to stand in a balanced, stacked position
Two foot targets, such as pavers, feed bowls, wooden discs,
foam pads
elevated platform (e.g., a Klimb table or a suitable homemade alternative)
An inflatable human balance disc

Whatever equipment you have at home, we will put to use :)

Sample Lecture

CC230 A Note on Fatique Sample Lecture

It’s best to train one behavior at a time. For example: If your dog doesn’t have a front foot target or a rear foot target understanding…Focus on teaching one then moving onto teaching the other.

Very important! Perfection is not an expectation! All dogs are uniquely wonderful and learn with individual flavor. You will need to work at your dog’s pace. Please don’t compare your dog’s level with anyone else.
Be sure to end each session with a marker word “all done” letting your dog know work is complete and then play with your dog. Conditioning work is often not super exciting as it’s enforcing controlled movements. For a lot of high drive sport dogs, this can be a challenge. If I end each session with a fun game of tug or static toy retrieves etc., my high drive dogs quickly associate conditioning work with their favorite games ;)

What sport is your dog involved with?

Different sports require different musculature demand and workload from our dogs.
- What are the demands of your chosen sport?
  - I’m going to help you navigate this! But I want you to give this some thought. It will help you understand which exercises to select for your dog when we build their plan.
- Rate your dog’s current performance?
  - If your dog isn’t competing, then rate where you think they would fall based on training sessions. i.e. speed is at a sauntering rate, speed fades after one short session, speed is unmatched, but turns are to wide or no power when lead changes are required.
    - If you are reading this thinking, “Ashley, I have no idea what any of that means or how to see it!” I want you to watch a recent training video or competition video of your dog working. I want you to identify any area (it doesn’t matter how small or large of a movement) and identify where tighter lines could happen, where more power into speed could happen, where a balanced stand could have happened… YES! We are even looking at the way our dogs stand and sit while working!

Basic Terminology

Abduction – movement away from midline of the body.
Adduction – movement towards midline of the body.
Extension – limb is straight therefore angle of joint increases.
Flexion – limb bends therefore angle of joint decreases.
Proprioception – the sense of self-movement & body position, including the perception of the body’s position in a space.
Front end – shoulders and everything forward. We will include the neck for this class specifically.
Rear end – hip region and everything from there.
- Iliopsoas – muscle & tendon combo that connects the pelvis to femur (large bone in hind leg between hip & knee)
Core – includes abdominal area, trunk and spinal muscles.

This is Sealah. Australian Shepherd. She is balanced in her build shaped (square).

CC230 Sealah Sample Lecture

A dog that is naturally balanced will need a balanced conditioning program.

What does a balanced conditioning program include?

Front end
Rear end
Core
Flexibility
Balance
Cardiovascular

Testimonials & Reviews

Read All Testimonials

A sampling of what prior students have said about this class ...

Ashley Escobar is one of the best instructor/coaches I have had the pleasure of following! I have sought out great instructors all my dog training life as can be seen in my FENZI account...1990 to present dog training. The visuals were very good. Ashley's detailed descriptives were bang on and easy to follow. Her recommendation to follow a Gold/or 2 who compete in same sports even if not same conformation was so helpful but I was addicted and read her every comment and breakdown of submitted homework. I see great improvement in the 2 dogs under my care. Conditioning has become my new addiction! Thank you Ashley.

Ashley was amazing and I learned so much from this class. Loved loved loved her video feedback. I used to struggle trying to do conditioning exercises because I was never sure if I was doing them correctly. I am so much more confident now and now have a plan in place to continue to work on and grow our fitness level! Can't thank Ashley enough for this fabulous class!

Ashley was amazing! I am hoping next time I can secure a Gold spot with her in hopes of working with her closely. The detail and feedback she gives in her video responses that I followed was amazing! To break it down per the dog and even drawing out the positioning we needed to see. It helped a lot in realizing what I needed to do even for being at a Silver level.

Ashley is (how many adjective can I think of) pleasant, calm, friendly, instructive, helpful, able to adjust to different individuals and dogs, has lots of ideas to help different dogs at different levels, has lots of equipment ideas for those with and without (she has many DYI ideas)…I think you get it. She wants to help everyone and every dog, she is GREAT and the class is GREAT!

I wanted to thank you again for all of your help. This class has been amazing and your guidance and feedback has given me so much more confidence when it comes to doing rehab and conditioning with my dog!

Thank you for a fantastic class and all the excellent feedback, I feel like I have a strong conditioning plan in place both for now and as my dog progresses! This has by far been the best dog fitness/conditioning class I have ever taken.

Registration

Next session starts: February 1, 2026
Registration starts: January 22, 2026
Registration ends: February 15, 2026

Registration opens at 10:30am Pacific Time.

SILVER LEVEL Testing Project for February 2026 - In this session students will be permitted to submit ONE 90 second video per week when registered at the silver level. All "your dog" specific questions must be accompanied by video so the instructor can assess video and questions together. Silver students may also ask generic questions and participate in discussion forum threads.

CC230 Subscriptions

	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Tuition	$ 260.00	$ 130.00	$ 65.00
Enrollment Limits	12	25	Unlimited
Access all course lectures and materials	✔	✔	✔
Access to discussion and homework forums	✔	✔	✔
Read all posted questions and answers	✔	✔	✔
Watch all posted videos	✔	✔	✔
Post general questions to Discussion forum	✔	✔	✖
Submit written assignments	✔	✖	✖
Post dog specific questions	✔	With video only	✖
Post videos	✔	Up to 2	✖
Receive instructor feedback on	Questions All videos	Questions All videos	✖

Find more details, refund policies and answers to common questions in the Help center.