Fenzi Dog Sports Academy - FF270: Training in Harmony: Developing Clarity, Connection, and Confidence

Course Details

This class dives into the Six C’s framework: Compassion, Connection, Clarity, Confidence, Curiosity, and Creativity. Together, these elements strengthen behavior by improving focus, engagement, and recovery when training gets challenging. Great training isn’t just about fixing or obtaining behavior… it’s about creating understanding that allows for joyous work and clarity.

Each week includes games and skill-based exercises designed to help you apply that week’s “C” concept in real time. If you already have training goals or behaviors you’re working on, you’re welcome to apply the concepts to your own work instead. Think of it as a guided framework with room for handler’s choice. I’ll help you tailor the ideas to fit your team and your goals.

You’ll learn to:

Apply the Six C’s framework and how each step supports clear, consistent communication.
Discover training examples you can apply immediately to improve precision, motivation, and teamwork.
Understand how relationship-based communication translates directly into smoother sessions, faster progress, and more reliable behavior under pressure while focusing on joy and partnership along the way.
Build reliable behaviors through clearer communication, better timing, and consistent reinforcement.
Use curiosity and creativity to troubleshoot and adapt in real time

The Six C’s give you a foundation of understanding and partnership that benefits every team, at every level. It’s especially helpful for trainers who find themselves overthinking, micromanaging, or struggling when things don’t go as planned. When communication improves, training gets easier, your dog gets happier, teamwork naturally shines and results follow.

Teaching Approach:

Lectures (5-10minutes) will be released daily on weekdays following Motivation Monday, Try It Tuesday, Workout Wednesday, Thoughtful Thursday, and Flex Friday. Lectures will be primarily via videos and will include written instruction, a mix of short and long training videos with transcripts, and reflection prompts as well as optional podcast episodes. Each lecture ties directly to real training scenarios so students can immediately apply the concept.

This isn’t a traditional skills class where you master one step before moving to the next. The learning here is fluid and individual, because we’re working with concepts that invite exploration and curiosity rather than recipes or rigid progressions.

Gold Level Expectations

Gold students may follow the weekly themes and training suggestions, or they may bring their own training goals and apply the Six C’s to their current work. Both approaches are welcome.

Gold students should plan to share short video clips and brief reflections on what they’re noticing in their training. Progress will vary by team, and that is completely normal. This class supports growth, not perfection.

Silver Level Expectations

Silver students are encouraged to choose a training goal or follow the weekly themes. Silvers may ask questions about their own situation twice during the course with video submissions, and are invited to participate in discussion threads to deepen their understanding.

Bronze Level Expectations

Bronze students can follow along at their own pace. Having a personal training goal is optional but encouraged, as it helps anchor the weekly themes and join the class Facebook group.

Syllabus

View Full Syllabus

This class is NEW for 2025-26. Expect this syllabus to evolve throughout the term based on the progress, interests, and goals of enrolled students. The Six C’s framework creates structure, but how we explore each concept will be shaped by the teams in class.

Concept Topics:

Week 1 Compassion — Recognizing the emotional needs of both ends of the leash

Understanding frustration… in dogs and humans
Decompression and recognizing your dog’s natural recovery patterns.
Seeing your dog as they are, not as you hoped they’d be
Grace in the messy middle

Week 2 Connection — Attunement, engagement, and shared focus

Noticing micro-signals
Building simple connection rituals
Responding to your dog’s choices
Engagement that begins with tiny moments of attention and grows with practice

Week 3 Clarity — Clean communication that reduces noise and increases understanding

Markers, reinforcement delivery, and cue clean up
Simplifying criteria
Establishing predictable patterns
Helping your dog succeed through clear expectations

Week 4 Confidence — Stepping into capability and supporting bravery

Small wins that build momentum
Layering difficulty with intention
Safe challenges that stretch without overwhelming
Helping dogs and handlers trust their choices

Week 5 Curiosity — Observing without judgment and exploring what’s possible

Shaping as a way to observe your dog’s thinking
Experimenting with setups, props, and environments
Staying open when things go differently than planned
Turning “mistakes” into learning information

Week 6 Creativity — Flexible, joyful training that adapts to the team in front of you

Remixing familiar skills
Creating new games from old patterns
Letting your dog’s preferences inspire your session
Training as play, exploration, and expression

Course Flow

Each week follows a simple rhythm:

Motivation Monday to set the tone…
Try It Tuesday for a small skill or experiment…
Workout Wednesday for practice…
Thoughtful Thursday for reflection…
Flex Friday for adapting the ideas to your lifestyle and dog.

Content will grow with student participation. Gold students may work through the weekly themes or bring their own goals and apply the Six C’s to their current training.

Weekends for continued growth:

Compassion Vibe: The Art of Noticing.
Connection Vibe: Shared Moments
Clarity Vibe: Slow Observation
Confidence Vibe: Celebrate a Win
Curiosity Vibe: Exploration
Creativity Vibe: Follow Joy

Prerequisites and Equipment

Prerequisites

No prerequisites. All levels are welcome. If your dog has significant physical or behavioral challenges, please check with a vet or professional to ensure this class is a comfortable fit. Otherwise, come exactly as you are.

Supplies

No specialized equipment is required for this class. You’ll only need whatever you typically use to reinforce your learner: treats, toys, praise, or environmental rewards.

Students should have a way to take short video clips for self review. The class can be completed indoors or outdoors.

Sample Lecture

Week 1, Intro Lecture: Welcome to the Six C’s

Hi everyone, and welcome. I’m really glad you’re here.

NOTE: Want to watch a video of this lecture instead of reading it? Click on the video above!

Before we jump into training or themes or techniques, I want to take a moment to settle in together. This class is about understanding your dog with more clarity and understanding yourself with more compassion. It’s about creating a training space where both of you can breathe, think, try, and recover. And it’s about letting go of the idea that training has to be perfect to be meaningful.

I’m Crystal Wing. I’m a dog trainer, a retired high school art teacher, and someone who learns best by exploring, experimenting, and following curiosity. I’ve spent years teaching teenagers how to find their creative voice and years teaching handlers how to understand their dogs. Those worlds overlap more than you might think. We learn better when we feel safe. We think better when we aren’t afraid of mistakes. We connect better when we slow down enough to see what is really happening in front of us.

That is what the Six C’s are all about.

Let me introduce them.

Compassion
Compassion is where everything begins. Training gets messy. We get frustrated. Our dogs get confused. Compassion helps us pause instead of push. It helps us see our dog as they are today, not as the future version we hope they’ll be. It gives us space to recover and try again.

Connection
Connection is the moment when you and your dog are tuned in to each other. It can be a glance, a tail wag, a breath, or a feeling of “yes, we’re here together.” Connection makes training feel like a partnership instead of a performance. It can be quiet or playful or simple. And it is powerful.

Clarity
Clarity is communication that makes sense to your dog. It is clean markers, predictable reinforcement, simple criteria, and fewer mixed messages. When clarity grows, frustration decreases and confidence rises. Your dog starts saying “oh, I know what you mean.” You start saying “oh, I see what you’re telling me.”

Confidence
Confidence looks like bravery in small doses. It is the courage to try again. It is the willingness to stretch just a little beyond comfort. For handlers, confidence is trusting your timing and your plan. For dogs, it is knowing they will not be punished for experimenting, offering, or learning at their own pace.

Curiosity
Curiosity is the mindset that asks “what is happening here” instead of “why isn’t this working.” It invites you to explore before you correct. It encourages you to observe before you judge. Curiosity softens training and opens the door for creativity.

Creativity
Creativity is where training becomes expressive instead of rigid. It is finding joy in small moments. It is trying a new version of a familiar exercise or creating a game that fits your dog perfectly. Creativity reminds us that training can be playful, not pressured.

These Six C’s work together. They overlap, swirl, influence each other, and build on each other. You do not have to master one before moving on to the next. You will move through them again and again in different ways. That is exactly how this class is designed.

Throughout the course, we use a simple weekly rhythm.
Motivation Monday helps us start the week with intention.
Try It Tuesday gives you a small action.
Workout Wednesday is for practice.
Thoughtful Thursday is for reflection.
Flex Friday lets you adapt the ideas to your life and your dog.

You are welcome to follow the weekly themes or bring your own training goals and filter them through the C’s. Gold students can work entirely on their own behaviors if they prefer. The Six C’s framework will support whatever you are working on.

There is no pressure here to get everything right. There is no expectation that your dog will perform perfectly. There is no judgment if something goes sideways. This is a class about learning, recovering, and growing… not about perfection.

My hope is that by the end of these six weeks, you will feel closer to your dog, clearer in your communication, braver in your choices, and more curious in your training. And maybe even a little more creative in how you see what is possible for the two of you.

Welcome. Let’s get started with compassion.

Registration

Next session starts: December 1, 2025
Registration starts: November 22, 2025
Registration ends: December 15, 2025

Registration opens at 11:00am Pacific Time.

FF270 Subscriptions

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