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F3011: The Urban Dog Survival Guide: Creating Calm in the Concrete Jungle

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F3011: The Urban Dog Survival Guide: Creating Calm in the Concrete Jungle

Course Details

3 WEEK CLASS - Urban training doesn’t fail because dogs are oversensitive and incapable. It fails because handlers enter complex environments without a clear plan. Most training advice focuses on what to do once the dog reacts.

In dense cities, pressure accumulates quickly: narrow pavements, lift lobbies, blind corners, bicycles, unpredictable dogs, sudden noise.

This course teaches handlers how to:

• Plan outings before stepping outside
• Evaluate whether a location supports learning
• Assess whether their dog’s skills are ready for that environment
• Execute walks without escalating cues or micromanaging
• Exit strategically before erosion begins

Instead of pushing dogs to just “get used to it,” students will learn how to design conditions that make calm sustainable. This is a decision-making clarity class for urban environments. It strengthens judgment, not just technique. It reflects work developed in one of the world’s densest urban environments, where poor planning compounds quickly.

Teaching Approach:

 

Clara Jaime KohInstructor: Clara Jaime Koh

Syllabus

View Full Syllabus

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Design an outing with a defined objective 
• Categorise environments correctly
• Assess whether their dog’s skills are ready for a location
• Execute a walk without escalating cues
• Adapt sessions strategically instead of reactively
• Reduce micromanagement and preserve relationship quality

Week 1: Recce & Pre-Walk Planning - Theme: Stop walking blindly.

This week teaches how to:

• Recce locations without the dog
• Identify density patterns and bottlenecks
• Predict pressure points
• Define outing objectives
• Pre-decide exit strategies

Students can clearly explain:

• Why they chose a location
• What the purpose of the outing is
• What would trigger an early exit

Week 2: Skill Readiness & Environment Matching - Theme: Match skill strength to environment.

Students learn to categorise locations as:

1 ) Learning Places - Calm enough to build and refine skills.
2) Stretch Places - Slightly harder but manageable.
3) Survival Places - Too dense or unpredictable. Get in, get out. Do not train here.

Core concepts:
• Latency (response speed)
• Duration (hold time)
• Recovery speed
• Why repeated exposure in high-pressure areas erodes confidence

Students can:
• Demonstrate a trained behaviour indoors
• Demonstrate it in a low-distraction outdoor setting
• Identify where it breaks down
• Correctly decide when a location is not appropriate

Week 3: Execution Without Micromanagement - Theme: Run the plan cleanly

Students integrate planning + skill readiness + execution.
They learn to:
• Define the outing type before stepping outside
• Apply fallback strategies early
• Avoid trigger stacking
• Exit deliberately instead of reacting late

Students can:

• Complete an outing without escalating cues
• Demonstrate an effective fallback strategy
• End a session intentionally

Prerequisites and Equipment

This course is designed for:

• Urban handlers living in dense or unpredictable environments
• Dogs that listen at home but struggle outside
• Trainers working with clients in busy cities

Gold students should:

• Understand reinforcement and basic marker training principles
• Have trained at least two behaviours (e.g. emergency u-turns, middle)
• Be comfortable filming their training sessions 

Registration

GOLD LEVEL $149 - Students may ask instructors questions and post up to six minutes of video per week for instructor feedback.  Access to all class materials and can post to class forums. 

SILVER LEVEL $99 - Students may ask general questions in the discussion forum and post ONE 90 second video per week (3 total) for instructor feedback. Access to view all class materials and class forums. 

BRONZE LEVEL $49 - Students have access to all class materials and may view all class forums.  A Teacher’s Assistant (TA) will be available for this class. Instructions will be provided in the classroom after registration.

For additional details on enrollment levels please view our Getting Started section on our Help Page.

Three week class will start May 1st and end May 21st, 2026. 

Registration opens April 22nd at 10:00am Pacific Time.

 

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