Fenzi Dog Sports Academy - OB330: Obedience Games

Course Details

If you like to think of training as a game, then this is the class for you! If you have a busy schedule and are always on the go and finding your obedience training taking a back seat - come play and see how it's possible to fit in little pockets of obedience game training into your day!

This is not a skills class but designed to present many short, fun, and fast paced games for all levels of competition obedience training.

This course will cover games for retrieves, go-outs, pivots, setups, recalls, signals, impulse control and more! Time to throw out the predictability and build a love for the game of obedience! Some games will be "tried and true" and we'll also see what you can come up with too! We’ll lose the formality and build enthusiasm by mixing things up and keeping everybody on their toes and paws! By adding “game training” and less predictability, we build relationship and transfer reinforcement to the act of playing!

With enjoyment comes speed and snappy responses! We will work on building speed going away and coming back - a really pretty picture to see in the ring! The faster your dog wants to come back the quicker their response/retrieve will be. First, we build energy and attitude for the game, and then precision is developed over time. We will work on never showing disappointment and learn to think about what could unintentionally squash momentum or speed. The idea is to not jeopardize speed and enjoyment for accuracy.

By approaching sessions in this manner, you will find it's easier to work on reducing your classic reward schedule. The games and movement refocus both trainer and dog to enjoy the activities and not so much the giving or taking of treats! Dogs may start to prefer engagement or toys over treats with these fast paced games. Your sessions will end with your dog wanting more!!

Teaching Approach

This class offers written lectures, no verbal lectures, and videos of varying lengths. It is rare that relevant speaking takes place within a video; they are designed to be watched and follow the ideas presented in the lecture. Lecture videos may run from 30s to 3 minutes long, with the average between 1-2 minutes. The lectures are designed to help a student understand the purpose of the exercise and how it might vary by dog. Care is taken to keep lectures short. This class will work best for students who learn by reading text lectures, watching videos and who like having structured lesson plans.

Instructor: Julie Symons

Julie Symons (she/her) has been involved in dog sports for over 25 years. Starting with her mix, Dreyfus, in flyball, she went on to train and compete in conformation, agility, obedience, herding and tracking with her first Belgian tervuren, Rival. Rival was the first CH OTCH MACH Belgian...(Click here for full bio and to view Julie's upcoming courses)

Prerequisites & Supplies

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Prerequisites: The class will be most beneficial for teams preparing for Novice obedience competition or higher with a willingness to think outside the box and try new things! Most games will have a "beginner" and advanced level.

Concepts from Ob-ility helpful, but not required.

Equipment: Basic set of obedience equipment (minimum 2 jumps, broad jump (can improvise)), some ring gating, cone/pool noodle upright for teaching wraps, small food bowl, retrieve items (toys, dumbbell, gloves (more than 3 ideal)), coffee filters (optional), agility tunnel (optional), mat, large platform or pvc box where dog has room to do tricks/position changes. I use a 3'x3' pvc box for my belgians.

Drac PVC box

Sample Lecture

For my sample lecture I'm sharing the Game of Fronts lecture! With fronts being a precision behavior, this will show some fun ways to make it more exciting while maintaining clear criteria!

When you are feeling good about your speedy recalls and retrieves, you will want to work on positions for fronts. Some fronts are pretty straight forward in the ring ... Novice recall, Drop on recall. Signal recall and even Directed Jumping as we can pivot as they come in. More challenges on the retrieve exercises as now the dog is multi-tasking with having to hold glove/DB/articles. The broad jump is tricky due to the tight turn, but it helps that we are turning to setup the front position. Another challenging front position is the Retrieve over High Jump exercise as they have to do many things at once, hold, jump, collect and front. I include a video below on how I setup to maximize success on the ROH.

Here are some various tried and true techniques on fronts. These ideas focus on speed, a focal point when getting close, and that center line on your body.

Moving in place and running backward as your dog comes in.
Tapping legs on recall - either moving backwards or stationary.
Food drops in front - quick release of food for up and down your center line.
Use of your eyes to draw dog in. As I set up, I position my head so that I can see my feet. I then move my gaze up to my dog and do a recall. No head movement please :). I keep eye contact initially and then drop my gaze to my feet as she gets closer. I teach my dogs to meet that gaze.

For the Retrieve over High Jump, set your dog up as far back as you think they need. The line indicated to setup at is only the minimum distance, and you are allowed to setup farther back. I line MYSELF up to be centered with the jump, since dogs tend to jump more centered and this will support a better front position on the return for the dog.

Here's another game I play to help with that center position of my body. I first do lots of reward with my dog in a "squish" position, between my legs facing the same way I am. I did this with Savvy since she was a puppy. It is often her default response when she needs some reassurance or to feel safe. She really likes that position. I then do many thrus towards me and then back the other way. Here is some raw training footage of both Savvy who's pretty seasoned with this and the first time playing with Drac on this.

Testimonials & Reviews

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

Julie's Obedience Games includes a wealth of videos and information on how to train numerous obedience exercises using games that keep training fun (and effective) for both canines and humans. She is a highly dedicated instructor who provides detailed feedback for each gold team including additional suggestions if complications arise. This is a great addition to any FDSA obedience library and is a terrific class!!! Clarissa B

This class absolutely crushed my expectations!! Julie is an amazing and caring instructor who invests herself heavily into each student's success, and she has tons of brilliant games and ideas. One of the things I absolutely LOVE about these games is exactly what I had hoped for in signing up - there are so many things to train in dog sports, and we covered so many exercises in really fun and efficient ways!! And it really shows how much learning occurs even when working through new behaviors and chains...something that has been especially fantastic for me is sequencing things together in various ways. My comfort zone as a trainer is to just do parts and pieces. I don't do a lot of sequencing or chaining on my own, and obviously we have to that in order to get into the ring :-) To watch my dog put things together while learning new things is SO fun!! Julie is really creative with various exercises. This class was a blast, and I will absolutely look for it again in the future :-)

Talk about expanding your toolbox. So many great ideas here to fix things and create greater precision without actually focusing on a specific area. Everything involved doing things with joy, so the dog never even recognized that he was being "fixed." Loved this course! Mary Ann

As with all of the FDSA courses, this one is focused on you and your dog having a great time while achieving what you need to in the obedience ring. The lectures are super clear with great videos which is fantastic if you are following along at Bronze. All the lecturers at FDSA are enthusiastic and supportive and Julie is no exception. Louise R

This class was full of great ideas to make obedience more and more enjoyable for our dogs. Obedience has a lot of precise skills we need to work into chains, which can be challenging for many teams to progress their foundation skills to formal exercises. The ideas presented in the class provide creative and thoughtful steps to take known skill pieces closer to a ring routine. Games build momentum on known behaviours, increase what we are able to ask before a reward, and allow us to train several skills efficiently, all while making every session enjoyable without losing precision.

Obedience games teaches a fun way of training your dog without giving the "boring" repetition of practising the exercises over and over. Yet that is exactly what you are doing.

This is a new class for Fenzi and it way exceeded the class description. I know this is a class I will LOVE having in my library and referring back to in the future. Another fabulous class and fabulous instructor Ellen L.

Highly recommend this course level for those who are serious about keeping a happy and open communication with their dog, in training and in the rings.

Registration

This is a self-study class. The lectures will appear directly in your library, under the "Self Study classes" heading. Self Study classes do not have class homework forums. You will not have any access to the course instructor for questions or feedback. Please note there are no refunds on self-study classes so review all the information provided carefully before purchasing.

You will have access to these materials in your library for one year from the date of enrollment. You can keep your library pass current by enrolling in at least one course or workshop a year. Alternatively, you can purchase a library pass for $25 per year for as long as you wish to have access to prior class materials.

OB330 Obedience Games Self Study

OB330: Obedience Games

OB330 Retired

$50.00

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