Fenzi Dog Sports Academy - FF155: Go Ahead, Motivate Me! Engagement for the Differently Motivated Dog

Course Details

This class has been created for handlers working with dogs who do not fit the traditional picture of a “work-oriented” dog. These are dogs who tend to be naturally independent, environmentally focused, or seemingly uninterested in training for its own sake, and who often struggle to maintain engagement using common reinforcement strategies such as toys or high-energy play.

Some of us really enjoy training and competing, but our dogs came to us for reasons other than sport potential. Some were chosen because they are easy to live with and have lower day-to-day needs (in terms of physical exercise and/or high-level mental stimulation). Some joined our lives through rescue or rehoming. Sometimes we are passionate about a breed, but that breed has not been selectively bred for handler-directed work. Others, despite having a pedigree that suggests “they should love training,” simply do not display the innate drive or enthusiasm we expected.

When working with these dogs, it can feel confusing or discouraging to apply familiar training strategies and see little improvement. Progress may be slow or inconsistent. Enthusiasm may drop quickly within training sessions. Engagement can be fragile.

Comparisons with highly driven sport dogs, whether they are at our in-person classes or in the flood of social media reels and clips we see each day, often leave us wondering what we are doing wrong, or whether our dog is even capable of enjoying training at all.

The goal of this class is not to turn our less “work-oriented” dog into something they are not. Instead, we focus on building genuine engagement, motivation, perseverance, resilience, and handler focus using approaches that are specifically effective for dogs who are not innately handler-focused or work or toy-obsessed. We look at how to create training that feels worthwhile to our dog, how to support persistence and emotional regulation, and how to develop reliable work even as we start to “reduce reinforcement” (i.e. when the food or toys are no longer immediately available).

As the class progresses, teams will learn practical strategies that lead to more successful and more enjoyable training sessions (for both our dog and ourselves), as well as improved performance and consistency in real-world and trial environments. These skills are developed gradually, with an emphasis on clarity, nurturing cooperation, adding fun, and acknowledging our dog’s emotional experience of work.

This class may be a good fit if your dog:

Is not innately driven to train or “work”.
Is naturally independent or environmentally focused.
Appears unenthusiastic about formal training.
Loses interest quickly during sessions.
Struggles to persist when tasks become challenging.
Rarely works with speed or intensity.
Is easily distracted by “anything” (e.g. sights, sounds, smells).
Performs significantly worse when food or toys are not available.

This class is suitable for anyone interested in developing a stronger relationship with their dog, whether training purely for enjoyment or with competition goals in mind.

Gold and Silver spots will likely include teams with an interest in obedience, rally, tricks, musical freestyle, nosework, agility, and other sports. Teams who are not planning to compete but simply want training to feel clearer and more rewarding for both themselves, and their dog, are also very welcome.

Interested in learning more about this class, check out this free podcast - https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/blog/e444-sharon-carroll-talking-about-differently-motivated-dogs

Teaching Approach

Note: There is a teaching assistant (TA) for this class. This means that all bronze students will be able to access individual feedback on all of their videos from our wonderful TA, Jennie Murphy. To access this feedback please join the private FB group after registering for this class.

Lectures will be released in two blocks each week: one at the start of the week and one mid-week. There will be practical exercises introduced weekly, with lots of flexibility for Gold level students to progress through the work at their own pace, selecting the exercises that most suit their dog and their own end goals.

All students are encouraged to follow along with the Gold and Silver students’ forums to get the most benefit from this class. This is where you will see the strategies applied in a real-life setting, with appropriate adjustments made as required to suit the needs of each individual dog and handler.

The content of this class is presented in written form, with the occasional diagram or chart to support the written information. Practical exercises are often supported with short video demonstrations. The videos may include audio voice-over but are always supported with a detailed written description.

Sharon’s approach is very practical and flexible. Her aim when teaching is to help students understand why their dog is performing the current behavioral responses and how, through changing our approach to training, we can increase our dog's enjoyment, enthusiasm, and desire to train. Students typically say that their increased understanding of the existing behaviors significantly improves their relationship with their dog and reduces their own feelings of frustration.

Instructor: Sharon Carroll

Sharon (she/her) has been a professional animal trainer for 30 years. She has been both a presenter and trainer in a range of animal shows, and currently operates, a dog training and behaviour consulting business based in Newcastle, Australia. (Click here for full bio and to view Sharon's upcoming courses.)

Syllabus

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Written topics are released in two batches each week, one at the start of the week and one mid‑week. Each week builds systematically on the previous week, moving from foundational concepts around engagement, arousal, and communication, through to motivation, environmental challenges, confidence, and finally sustained work and competition preparation.

Week 1 – Engagement, cooperation, and communication.

This week lays the conceptual foundation for the entire class. We explore engagement as a choice and as an independent, reinforceable behavior. We examine how communication, cooperation, and clarity influence our dog’s willingness to participate. We also discuss opting‑in and opting‑out behaviors and explore common challenges, such as treat rejection, through a diagnostic lens.

Lecture topics include:

About engagement
Factors that contribute to enthusiastic engagement
Cooperation
The relationship between drive and rules
Rejecting treats, toys, and play
Communication
Opt‑in behaviors and opt‑out behaviors
Work time, break time, off time
The importance of enrichment
Compromising and setting fair expectations

Week 2 – Reinforcement and building reliable work.

Week 2 focuses on the mechanics of learning. We take a detailed look at operant conditioning, reinforcement versus rewards, markers, reinforcement schedules, and how behaviors are established and maintained. The emphasis is on building reliability and clarity so that behaviors remain strong even when visible rewards are reduced or absent.

Lecture topics include:

Adding work
Operant conditioning
Markers and reward events
Reinforcement schedules
Establishing a new behavior
Rewards versus reinforcement
Reducing reinforcement
Ending an exercise or sequence

Week 3 – Motivation and competing drivers.

This week examines motivation in depth and its relationship to reinforcement. We explore intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation, how different behaviors are maintained, and how to adapt training strategies when motivation is fragile, situational, or easily displaced. We also discuss strategies for maintaining enthusiastic engagement, even when the rewards are left behind.

Lecture topics include:

Extrinsic motivation / Intrinsic motivation.
The relationship between reinforcement and motivation.
The importance of prioritizing motivation.
Building motivation with our DM dogs.
“Stop” versus “go”
Speed
Competing motivators
Leaving rewards behind

Week 4 – The environment, and engagement under distraction.

Week 4 shifts the focus outward to the environment. We examine how environmental salience competes with work. This week introduces structured strategies for acclimation, information gathering, and state regulation, allowing dogs to notice their environment then shift to dismissing / ignoring stimuli in the area, so as to remain engaged with the task at hand.

Lecture topics include:

The environment
The interplay between work and the environment
Acclimation
Habituation, perception, and context
Labeling the challenge level of the environment

Week 5 – Confidence, clarity, and reducing perceived effort.

In Week 5 we explore the relationship between confidence, clarity, and motivation. We look at how confusion, miscommunications, and information processing affect performance, and why behaviors perceived as low effort are more likely to be offered enthusiastically. This week focuses on building understanding, reducing negative emotional responses, and supporting confident interaction with challenges such as spatial pressure and novel objects.

Lecture topics include:

The relationship between confidence and motivation
Confusion and errors
Errors of anticipation
Repetition
Hesitation due to information processing
Understanding and clarity

Week 6 – Mental stamina, readiness, and putting it all together

The final week targets sustained engagement and real‑world application. We focus on building mental stamina, preparing our dogs for longer periods of focused work, and systematically responding to lapses in engagement. This week also covers readiness to work, increasing formality, and key considerations for those preparing for competition.

Lecture topics include:

Mental stamina
Planning towards competing without treats or toys
Key points about rewards
A systematic guide for responding to lack of handler focus
Start routines, end routines, arousal governors
Formality
Considerations when competing

Prerequisites & Supplies

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There are no prerequisites for this class.

Sample Lecture

Although reinforcement and motivation are distinct concepts, they are also closely related.

Motivation.

Motivation is present BEFORE a specific behaviour is performed. Motivation is the desire to perform the specific behaviour; it is what “drives” the individual to initiate and maintain the behaviour.

Typically, the higher the level of motivation, the more enthusiastic, intense, and/or focused our dog will be as they prepare to undertake the task, and whilst performing the task.

Many typical sport dogs / working dogs have an innate “drive” (intrinsic motivation) to perform specific sport and training related behaviors, whereas our differently motivated (DM) dogs may also have strong motivation to perform specific behaviors / activities, but these “behavioral drivers” may be less conducive to undertaking typical training / “working” tasks.

Typical sport / working dogs possess one or more of the following traits:

They are highly biddable (i.e. their genetics generate innate motivation to want to listen to the human and focus on the human, and they have an innate desire to determine what the human wants and to “comply” with the human’s requests).
They have a strong innate motivation to perform the required sport / ”work” behaviors (e.g. a nosework or tracking dog that has a strong innate desire to hunt / track / locate scent; a bitesport dog that has a strong innate desire to monitor movement in the environment, and to chase and bite; a herding dog that has a strong innate desire to interact with livestock; a retrieving dog that has a strong innate desire to carry / retrieve; etc.)
They have a strong innate motivation to perform behaviours that can easily be transferred into very powerful “reinforcement tools” (e.g. a strong desire to chase, bite, retrieve can allow toys to be used as high value reinforcement; a strong desire to move / run / circle (herd) can allow something as simple as wrapping a cone to be turned into a powerful reinforcer; etc.)

When we are working with our DM dogs, we often need to adjust our training strategies because:

Their reduced innate biddability results in our dog becoming very de-motivated about continuing to work with us as soon as they experience even a small amount of challenge (e.g. frustration that is not RAPIDLY resolved; any amount of mental fatigue; any amount of physical discomfort (e.g. a small amount of physical fatigue, environmental conditions that are less than ideal, etc.) etc.)
They may be very independent and possess limited drive (innate motivation) for the specific sport / work / activity we are undertaking. Hence their ONLY motivation to perform the behaviors will be derived from the potential opportunity to access the rewards / reinforcement we deliver.
Although all DM dogs are still highly motivated to undertake specific behaviors / activities, their individual innate traits may not lend themselves to generating viable reinforcers for typical training sessions (e.g. they may be driven to do independent activities; they may enjoy investigating aspects of the environment in an independent way; they may predominantly enjoy low energy activities; etc.)

Hence, when working with our DM dogs we may find ourselves almost exclusively using food as our primary reward / reinforcement and to motivate the initiation of behaviors in the learning phase. We may also need to utilize food to increase the value of other behaviors that may then be useful as reinforcers (e.g. using food to strengthen the value of toy play, or using food to strengthen the value of personal play / petting, etc.)

How reinforcement influences motivation.

Reinforcement encourages the performance of behaviors because the individual anticipates a benefit from performing the behavior (i.e. they anticipate that performing the behavior will lead to a pleasant outcome (i.e. the influence of “positive reinforcement”), [or that performing the behavior will avoid an unpleasant outcome (i.e. the influence of “negative reinforcement”)]. It is important to note though, that the behavior has to have occurred BEFORE our dog can associate the “good outcome” (reinforcement) with the behavior (i.e. reinforcement comes AFTER the initiation or completion of a behavior). This association has to have been repeated many times before our dog will be able to reliably predict that performing the behavior will result in a “good outcome”. Once our dog finds a behavior to be enjoyable / beneficial, then that previous reinforcement motivates future performances of the behavior.

The impact of intrinsic reinforcement on motivation.

When behaviors are intrinsically enjoyable the reinforcement occurs during each performance of the behavior, this then adds to the motivation to perform the behavior again in a future similar circumstance.

In this case, motivation to perform the behavior will remain consistently high over time (unless our dog is experiencing conflicting issues – e.g. they are extremely fatigued or injured, or their arousal is so high that they are unable to perform the behavior, etc.), and once the behavior is trained / established, it will be easy to reduce (or even eliminate) our externally provided rewards because the performance of the behavior provides innate enjoyment / fulfilment.

The impact of extrinsic reinforcement on motivation.

When we strategically provide extrinsic reinforcement (i.e. when we provide rewards that our dog is able to directly associate with the performance of a specific behavior), this can create motivation to perform that behavior again under similar circumstances (because our dog predicts that a “good outcome” is likely to occur if they perform the behavior, even though the actual performance of the behavior is not innately rewarding to them).

When the behavior is not intrinsically motivating / reinforcing, and our extrinsically provided rewards drop below the threshold where our dog perceives enough “value” for performing the behavior, their motivation for performing the behavior will decline.

Behaviors that are not innately rewarding / enjoyable are more sensitive to changes in the value and rate of the rewards (reinforcement) we are providing and are more likely to rapidly decline in quality and reliability when there is any additional challenge (e.g. competing motivators, shifts in arousal, frustration, concern, physical or mental fatigue, etc.).

In summary……..

Motivation leads to the performance of a behaviour, the performance of the behaviour allows the individual to experience benefits for performing the behaviour (i.e. intrinsic or extrinsic reinforcement), and then the reinforcement contributes to the motivation to perform the behaviour again in the future.

Note: We discuss the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcement in more detail in the next topic.

Testimonials & Reviews

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

This was a great class! The description fit my girl to a T. We learned so much in the class. We have a better relationship now and I understand better what she needs and what she is telling me. It has made me a better trainer for her. The lectures are packed with great information and just as I'm trying to picture in my head what Sharon is saying there is an example in the lecture to make sure I'm fully understanding. Her feedback was kind, insightful, and very helpful.

Very good background education, but always made easy to understand for a layperson. The course was a good mix of theory and work. We were always free to work on what we needed the most, not the exact course homework. Very detailed analysis of the videos, especially with "failed" sessions. I learned the most from my failed sessions. I wish I had Sharons observation skill. It was amazing how she translated dog language to us dog people. And always encouraging comments, when one became frustrated with his distracted/not engaged dog. Because we have to work hard for what others get for free and that can be very frustrating from time to time. It gave me hope, that I can do agility one day with my non-working dog, even if it takes way longer than with a working type dog. I learned a lot and I also have a better relationship with my dog because I can understand and handle him better now. Thank you for that great class!

Sharon really gave her all in responding to each question posed by various teams! I learned so much and will continue to work on it. Already sessions have been more enjoyable for both my dog and I. She gave me a lot to think about and I can't thank her TA enough for all the wonderful work she did in the FB group!

This class is excellent!! The lecture material and individual feedback are outstanding!! My dog made significant progress during the 6 weeks of the class. I am so excited about his level of engagement and he just seems like a happier dog. He is now able to "work" despite some very challenging distractions. Sharon's understanding of canine behavior and her ability to explain and apply to individual teams is extraordinary. I would definitely recommend this class to anyone with a DM dog.

As with all Sharon's classes, the content was full of all the information you could possibly want or need. Everything was easy to understand and implement and illustrated with supporting videos. This course has and will continue to improve my relationship and communication with my dog.

I loved this course! I have spent years of trial and error and frustration figuring some of these things out and this course laid them out beautifully as well as giving me some new ideas and tools and helping me become more confident at explaining my approach to others. For anyone who wants to do sports with an independent dog who does not live for work, I can't recommend this course highly enough. Thank you, Sharon, for offering it!

The course Engagement for Differently Motivated Dogs is very informative and worthwhile. I have learned so much and can see changes in my DM dog’s behaviour after only 5 weeks. I strongly recommend this class to anyone struggling/working with a differently motivated dog. I have so many new skills that I need to practice with my girl - and she is loving it. Thx Sharon.

This is the best dog training course I have ever taken! From week one I learned so much about how to help my dog learn in a fun and effective way. I have seen huge positive changes in my dog’s confidence, engagement with me and enthusiasm for learning! We have made good progress on training goals that were stalled out. I understand my dog so much better and am excited to keep using the knowledge I have gained in this course to keep working on our training goals. Sharon Carroll really understands “differently motivated dogs” and how to motivate them.

This class was fantastic for my independent dog that has struggled to learn in many other classes. We now have a system for developing and maintaining motivation and she is much more engaged. I wish we had had this class as a foundation years ago!

Registration

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

Registration opens at 11:00am 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.

FF155 Subscriptions

	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Tuition	$ 260.00	$ 130.00	$ 65.00
Enrollment Limits	10	15	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.

FF155: Go Ahead, Motivate Me! Engagement for the Differently Motivated Dog

Course Details

Teaching Approach

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