Course Details
This is a class about preparing our dogs for the competition or seminar environment. Over and over I see dogs that are unprepared or rehearsing behavior we don't want at seminars, classes and trials. Over time this leads to more stress from both handler and dog and I want to help out with that!
I developed this class because I want to teach handlers how to ask these questions of their dogs in every environment they expect to train and trial in:
- Can you collect reinforcement?
- Can you hear your reinforcement cues?
- Can you hear your behavior cues?
- Do you feel safe?
- Can you control your excitement?
- Can you switch reinforcement?
- And what does the dog saying "no" to any of those questions look like?
- Can you chill for a minute while I talk to the instructor, ring steward, trial secretary, go to the restroom, walk my other dogs, etc...?
It also doubles as a class on how to achieve calmness and confidence in certain life skills that I think are vital for creating great traveling companions, ones you can take anywhere. Quiet calm crating, loose leash walking and protocols to “hear” what your companion dog is telling you about the environment are all good things. When we have those things in every area, training the competition behaviors comes easily! What this class is not is a class on training. I’m assuming you have the chops and the knowledge to train basic skills, my job is to tell you and get you to practice those skills in 5 different environments in class. I’ll include some basics before expecting some out and about behaviors, but I’m expecting students and dogs to have some knowledge of shaping behaviors, of what location marker cues are, etc…. This is also not a class on how to create calm crating for a dog that is currently screaming in the crate or x-pen at agility class. I'm expecting basic crating skills to be taught already,while in class, we work on skills like remaining quiet while other dogs work, walk by, things go bang, etc.. For more information on how to shape, and train, refer to many of the foundation skill classes offered in the Fenzi academy or take my Crucial Concepts for Competition class. For anxiety or reactivity, I recommend Amy Cook's Management or Bogeyman classes, and for multi dog/barking/stationing concepts, I recommend Lorreta's Multi Dog class. For quiet crating, we have numerous webinars on the subject through the academy.
Teaching Approach
This class consists of lectures released once a day or every other day. Each concept is presented in steps/recipes and you work on one piece of it during the week. For instance, we may cover loose leash walking, down stay, and crating all in week 3, but we'll cover one part of that in each subject. Lectures themselves consist of bullet points, with written explanations of each step, along with short videos showing each step. Most lectures are meant to go in order of each other, for instance, it's hard to skip the first 2 weeks of class and come in on the 3rd week without the foundations of the first 2 weeks. However, I will always work at a student's pace and encourage that!
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 will be in the classroom after you register.
Instructor: Shade WhiteselShade Whitesel (she/her) has been training and competing in dog sports since she was a kid. Always interested in how dogs learn, she has successfully competed in IPO/schutzhund, AKC obedience and French Ring. Her retired dog, Reiki vom Aegis, IPO 3, FH 1, French Ring 1, CDX, was 5th at the...(Click here for full bio and to view Shade's upcoming courses)
