Fenzi Dog Sports Academy - NW260: Rockin Vehicles and Awesome Exteriors

Course Details

This course will take your Vehicle and Exterior Skills to the Next Level. Teams at all levels will find this course extremely valuable.

Vehicles are one of the least practiced elements yet are also one of the least understood. Stacy decodes the ins and outs of one of her favorite elements and shares all of her hidden secrets. Learn her "secret sauce". You will learn WHY Vehicles are challenging with a healthy dose of Scent Theory and Aerodynamics. This class will cover strategy for multiple vehicle searches and advanced level handling.

Exteriors are more often practiced but are often difficult due to scenting conditions and search area complexity. Stacy guides you through one of her other favorite elements in order to get you comfortable in understanding and navigating your search area. As with the Vehicles portion of this class, you will also get a ton of Scent Theory... which will come in handy when you start to apply your skills to larger and more complex areas (or even potentially BLANK Exteriors in NW3!)

Lecture materials will be enhanced to focus on the new and evolving needs of the NW3 handler...

Vehicle Material…

Strategies for working single hide vehicles in different wind/weather conditions
Strategies for working searches in swirling air flow and near buildings
Strategy for working unknown number of hides
Practice with inaccessible vehicle hides, starting with a single vehicle in your driveway
Strategies for unknown number of hides on vehicles
Strategies for identical vehicles
Blank Vehicle searches

Exterior Material…

Understanding how the dog uses the wind to search
Hide setting considerations
Enhanced Scent Theory
Exterior elevated hides
Understanding how far scent travels
Strategies for working known number of hides
Strategies for working unknown number of hides
Strategies for large spaces
Blank Exterior searches

NOTE: This class will offer a Teaching Assistant (TA) who will be available to Silver and Bronze students in the Study Group. FDSA TA's will answer questions and review videos in the Student Study Group.

Teaching Approach

Each week a series of lectures will be released (usually 3 to 5). The lectures will be a combination of supporting theory and setup examples. As is typical with Nosework, the student may need to apply consideration as to how to adapt the setup examples to their situation. The instruction will be written with short videos of example searches. The student may need to adapt the example to their own situation. Lecture videos may run from 1 to 4 minutes long, with the average between 1-2 minutes. The lectures are designed to help a student understand the purpose of the topic and how its application might vary by dog. Care is taken so that learners who learn by both watching and reading will be successful.

Instructor: Stacy Barnett

Stacy Barnett is a top nosework competitor and trainer, with many Summit Level titles in the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW), (Judd SMTx3, Brava SMTx5, Powder SMTx5). She is also a Wilderness SAR K9 handler with her certified dog, K9 Prize. Stacy has been a faculty member at FDSA since 2015 (Click here for full bio and to view Stacy's upcoming courses)

Prerequisites & Supplies

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Dogs are expected to be able to work multiple hides. Although there are no titling requirements, teams who are prepping for NW2 and NW3 levels will likely get the most out of this course. Elite level teams and up can also be accomodated.

This class can be accomplished with access to one or two vehicles that can be parked near neighboring vehicles. The ability to video vehicle searches effectively is strongly suggested for Gold teams. (Go Pro or equivalent capability is recommended for Gold Teams)

Teams must be able to work in novel exterior locations.

The desire to have FUN is a course requirement!

Sample Lecture

Blank Vehicles

In NW3, a blank vehicle search is definitely a possibility! But regardless of that, blank searches are a pivitol piece of a handler's education. Knowing when your dog is NOT in odor is probably more important than knowing when they are. Knowing when they aren't in odor is what allows us to clear large parts of a search quickly.

There are several consistent "behaviors" or qualities that we will see when our dog is working a blank search:

The dog will exhibit consistent tempo and rhythm - this means that the speed and manner of movement that the dog is demonstrating is very consistent
The dog will move on soft arcs, not tight turns - tight turns are indicative of odor. A dog not in odor will more in softer turns
The dog may slow down or act disinterested - this is dog dependent however many dogs will slow down or be more susceptible to distraction
the dog may over-detail - opposite of above, some dogs will overwork the area instead. This is often in response to the handler being interested in an area.
The dog may try to peel off the vehicle - this is equivalent to the dog wanting to leave a blank room. There is not point in staying!

Here's a video from a Level 3 Vehicle specialty that I did with Judd. The search was one vehicle. You can see that nothing is really compelling him... After a while, he starts to be interested by some novel odor on the wheel. Several times he tries to peel off the vehicle. We were correct! The vehicle was blank!

For our homework assignment, we are going to do a comparison search!

Testimonials & Reviews

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

Another phenomenal six weeks!!! Class after class Stacy brings out the best in everyone and provides detailed insight and feedback. She ensures success and encourages her students to challenge themselves while building confidence. Ana C.

Loved this class -- Stacy is a great instructor! I learned a lot about searching vehicles and exteriors and scent theory in this class. Lectures were easy to keep up with and understand. Stacy provided clear explanations and search strategies in her videos and participated in discussions as well -- all my questions on the discussion forums were addressed by her promptly. I had fun doing the homework and it gave me confidence and helped my dog and me succeed at out first NW1 trial. I'm looking forward to taking more of Stacy's classes to improve my skills!

Rockin Vehicles and Awesome Exteriors taught by Stacy Barnett is an awesome class. So much individual feedback - very positive approach when working with students. With all the time and feedback Stacy gave I felt like this class was designed just for me and my needs. My dog truly made astonishing progress by following the progression of the class. Well worth my time - outstanding class and outstanding instructor. Thanks, Stacy. Linda T

This is an amazing course for people who are looking to improve their nosework training in a methodical way! Stacy breaks up all the skills and scenarios into separate lectures with their own assignments, so you can work on one thing at a time. Also, the homework is very specific so you can place hides confidently without inadvertently making the search too difficult for your dog's experience level. Loved everything about this course!! I know I'll use the knowledge I gained from this course in every future search, even the interior ones!

Before this class, I was never super comfortable with the NW Element of Vehicles. Having done the exercises.... I am loving this Element. The only thing I would change is to make it the full 6 weeks covering Vehicles. That said.... We are doing some great Exterior exercises too!

Registration

There are no scheduled sessions for this class at this time. We update our schedule frequently, so please subscribe to our mailing list for notifications.

Registration opens at 12:00pm Pacific Time.

NW260 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.