Course Details
Do you have a dog that just isn’t really into toys? Maybe you’ve tried the whole “tug with your dog!” approach and it’s just not working. Or maybe your dog becomes easily over-aroused with toys, and you find yourself managing arousal more than training skills. Are you using food as a reward but progress seems slow and mundane? Or do you hear yourself saying “My dog just isn’t all that food motivated”.
In this presentation, Julie will share with you a variety of food games and activities that will not only provide ways to make your food reinforcers more valuable and effective but also add more focus, fun, and joy to your training relationship as well as in everyday activities outside of training!
About the Instructor:
Julie Flanery (she/her), CPDT-KA has been working professionally with dogs and their handlers since 1993, focusing on clear communication and creating a mutually rewarding and enjoyable working relationship. She and her dogs have titled in a variety of sports including Obedience, Freestyle, Rally, Rally-FrEe, Agility, Trick Dog, and Parkour.
Her first love though is musical freestyle, a sport that is magical and complex and that pushes her skills and strengthens her relationships with her dogs. Julie has earned a Championships in Heelwork-to-Music and Freestyle, a Grand Championship in Freestyle, and an Elite Grand Championship MCL in Rally-FrEe. She has achieved both High Technical Merit and High Artistic Merit in both Freestyle and Heelwork to Music several times over, including three prestigious Attila Challenge awards, as well as several “Top H.A.T.” awards for High Scoring Heelwork, Attention and Teamwork. She has been a competition freestyle judge since 2003.
In 2012, Julie developed the dog sport of Rally-FrEe to help freestylers increase the quality and precision of their performances. It has since become a stand-alone sport enjoyed by dog sport enthusiasts in 18 countries all over the world.
Feeling that handlers were missing out on one of the most beautiful and joyful of all skills, in 2022, Julie authored the acclaimed book, “ Joy of Heeling – Building Confidence, Enthusiasm and Precision through Games”. A step-by-step manual helping handlers and their dogs to love heelwork.
She currently trains and competes with her mixed-breeds, Phee, her 6-year-old Australian Shepherd x Shih Tzu and Will her up-and-coming 9-month-old Border Collie x Papillion.
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