Fenzi Dog Sports Academy - DS515: Indoor Retriever Games for Outdoor Success

Course Details

Let's face it, Retriever field work is an outdoor sport. But this time of year we might rather be inside!

Good news! I'm sharing my 6 favorite indoor training games that build real skills that translate to real field work when the weather improves.

All 6 games can be played inside your house. This class, by Retriever trainer Jennifer Henion, will focus on one skill game per week of class. It's a great way to get in shape mentally and physically for the spring training season.

Game One: Kitchen Triples

This game teaches Line Mechanics & Line Discrimination when there are multiple "marks" or "blinds". You practice heel position, steadiness and focusing on this one, not that one.

Game Two: Run by the Bumper to get a Bumper

This one helps with Handling Training. And cue discrimination. Yes the bumper is there, but I want you to follow my other cues BEFORE you get released to it.
Great for blind retrieves - builds control at the end of the blind.

Game Three: Target Disc Casting & Whistle Sits

Piggy backing on Game Two, this one creates a super fun way to build casting skills and add whistle sits in between.
Great for blind retrieve handling and building value and strategicallybuild tolerance for several casts and whistles is a row.

Game Four: The March to Freedom

Great for teaching slow, controlled walking to the performance line. It can be real hard to walk slow toward something you're really excited about!
We'll make our own holding blinds from stuff in the house, and practice the routine of getting in, coming out and walking to the line before being sent to a food bowl or bumper.

Game Five: Hide & Run the Blind game

This one helps teach the concept of what a blind retrieve is for the dog. "It's something I hid for you and now we're going to find it together!"
It is so fun to grow this game, adding distance, obstacles, whistle sits and casts!

Game Six: The Honor System!

Make the skill of Honoring into a crystal clear behavior chain - that is very rewarding!

Imagine how ready you'll be after practicing these games for 6 weeks! You would be so prepared for your real field training this spring - AND SO READY for your performances this year! Not just your dog's skill, but your relationship with each other! What could your dog learn about you and your cues in six weeks of games?! What amazing level of nonverbal communication can you develop with each other?!

Teaching Approach:

Each week you will get one new game to teach, starting with Game One: Kitchen Triples. You get 6 days to build it and polish it. I will post video instructions showing each building block of the game and how to put it all together. Under each video, I'll add written instructions. There will be a written homework assignment for each game, too, so you are clear on the milestones and the end goal of that game.

Coaching and Help: Gold students can submit questions and videos of their work often for every one of the games to get help for polishing your performance!

Silver students may submit written questions and can submit 2 videos of their work throughout the 6 week course. It's possible to group the first 3 games in your first video for feedback, and the second 3 games in your second video for feedback.

For Bronze students - you get to see all of the Gold and Silver student questions and video! You will learn from their challenges and victories - as well as my coaching feedback for those videos and forum questions. Just know, I LOVE it when students post questions in the forum - it is really fun and engaging for me to answer them each day of the course - so bring it on!!

Guest Instructor: Jennifer Henion

Syllabus

View Full Syllabus

SYLLABUS

Week One

Game One: Kitchen Triples

This game teaches Line Mechanics & Line Discrimination when there are multiple "marks" or "blinds". You practice heel position, steadiness and moving left or right to focus on "this one, not that one."
On day one, you'll get the lesson videos and a written homework assignment. With 7 days to build the foundations and put them all together into the full game performance.

Week Two

Game Two: Run by the Bumper to get a Bumper

This one helps with Handling Training. And cue discrimination. Yes the bumper is there, but we want the dog to follow your other cues BEFORE they get released to it.
Great for blind retrieves - builds control at the end of the blind.
On day one, you'll get the lesson videos and a written homework assignment. With 7 days to build the foundations and put them all together into the full game performance.

Week Three

Game Three: Target Disc Casting & Whistle Sits

Piggy backing on Game Two, this one creates a super fun way to build casting skills and add whistle sits in between.
Great for blind retrieve handling and building value and strategicallybuild tolerance for several casts and whistles is a row
On day one, you'll get the lesson videos and a written homework assignment. With 7 days to build the foundations and put them all together into the full game performance.

Week Four

Game Four: The March to Freedom From Holding Blind to the Line

Great for teaching slow, controlled walking to the performance line. It can be real hard to walk slow toward something you're really excited about!
We'll make our own holding blinds from stuff in the house, and practice the routine of getting in, coming out and walking to the line before being sent to a food bowl or bumper.
On day one, you'll get the lesson videos and a written homework assignment. With 7 days to build the foundations and put them all together into the full game performance.

Week Five

Game Five: Hide & Run the Blind game

This one helps teach the concept of what a blind retrieve is for the dog. "It's something I hid for you and now we're going to find it together!"
It is so fun to grow this game, adding distance, obstacles, whistle sits and casts!
On day one, you'll get the lesson videos and a written homework assignment. With 7 days to build the foundations and put them all together into the full game performance.

Week Six

Game Six: The Honor System!

Make the skill of Honoring into a crystal clear behavior chain - that is very rewarding!
On day one, you'll get the lesson videos and a written homework assignment. With 7 days to build the foundations and put them all together into the full game performance.

Also in week six, I'll give you a template for creating your own indoor games for your own special challenges!

You'll also learn some core strategies for moving these games outside when it's time. And show you how these indoor games become real skill sets to use at group training or real test events.

Sample Lecture

Welcome to Week 3 !!! Handling Games - Target Casts & Whistle Sits

Lecture One: What we'll cover this week.

Before we start let's talk about the origin of Game 3.

What is Handling? It's the use of whistle stops and directional arm casts to direct the dog to a retrieve.

In Retriever field tests, there are two main reasons to use Handling.

1) Blind Retrieves, when the dog has drifted off route to the bird.

2) Marked Retrieves where the dog has lost his sense of where the mark landed and needs to be handled to it. In both cases, judges want to see your dog respond quickly and accurately to your whistle and casting cues.

In most cases of Handling your dog, you will find it necessary to whistle sit and cast your dog multiple times to change her direction and get her back on route. And with each extra whistle or cast, the dog typically less and less compliant, especially if they're near the end with lots of scent in the air. Judges want to see good control and accuracy all the way to the bird.

So how do you practice multiple whistles and casts in a way that is FUN, rewarding and clear to the dog? You guessed it! The Target Casting & Whistles game!

One last point before we dive in. Why Targets? Why not cast to Bumpers or Platforms? You will see that I'm using pink plastic discs as targets to cast to. The targets give me a LOT of options during the game.

When I cast to a target, the dog simply has to go to it or toward it. They don't have to pick it up in their mouth or get onto it and sit down. So as they reach the target, here are the different things I can do to build my game:

I can reward immediately with food delivered to mouth or release back to a reward station - a bumper, food bowl or bird.
I can whistle sit the dog as they reach the target, wait 2 seconds, then cast them back to the reward station
I can whistle sit, then cast the dog to a new target. And decide whether to whistle again, or cast back to the reward station

Using targets lets me build value and clarity for each cast, each whistle. And it lets me chain multiple casts and whistles together, while still maintaining joy and value!

What's in Store

To set the stage, watch the video below. It shows real footage of field handling at a Master Hunt Test. And an overview of what our Game #5 looks like in my living room. Lastly, it shows some of the foundation skills to practice before you teach the games. Our next three lectures will zoom in on the foundation skills and how to build your Target Casting & Whistles game from the ground up. Each one will step by step lesson videos and written instructions. So first, watch the video in this lecture. Then go to Lecture Two.

Overview Video:

Coming Soon

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 9:30am Pacific Time.

DS515 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	✖

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DS515: Indoor Retriever Games for Outdoor Success

DS515: Indoor Retriever Games for Outdoor Success

Course Details

Teaching Approach:

Syllabus

Prerequisites and Equipment

Sample Lecture

Testimonials & Reviews

Registration

Registration opens at 9:30am Pacific Time.

DS515 Subscriptions

Gold

Silver

Bronze