Course Details
Calling all BIG feelings dogs! Whether your dog demonstrates his feelings loudly and with big actions, or quietly and suppressed, this class is for you. We’re going to take a deep dive into the Control Unleashed skills that work best for our big feelings dogs. In addition to addressing general calming techniques and patterns and take a look at lifestyle and environment, we will also tackle the complex CU skill of Look At That (LAT).
When taught carefully and thoughtfully, LAT can become the game changer that turns triggers into opportunities for quite communication. We’ll also use the Animal Centred Education (ACE) framework called Free Work to address your dog’s emotions and physical structure in a way that lowers arousal, builds healthy patterns, and shapes physical and cognitive comfort, without the need of access to triggers or training. This class will change the way your dog feels from the bottom up, providing a healthier and happier dog for whatever their lifestyle requires.
Teaching Approach:
Kim releases lectures every few days based on the classroom progress. Skill-based lectures will include written text, a tutorial video, step-by-step instructions, and occasionally additional demonstration videos. Concept lectures will be mostly written text with occasional demonstration videos. Because this is a new class, bonus lectures or discussions may be added in addition to what’s listed on the syllabus.
Feedback is unique to each individual student and their needs. The feedback is written and may include timestamps or screenshots to point out specific points in the video (especially for Free Work exercises.) Focus is placed not just on the skill itself, but also the handler’s mechanics and the dog’s physical and emotional comfort level to ensure the most progress can be made. Recommended next steps are often included.
This class will have a Certified Control Unleashed Instructor, Nicole DuFresne, as the primary TA for the bronze and silver levels for part of the class.
Instructor: Kim PalermoKim Palermo CPDT-KA (she/her) is a Certified Control Unleashed Instructor and ACE (Animal Centred Education) Practitioner. She specializes in teaching Control Unleashed and ACE Free Work with private clients, teaches a high volume of in-person CU classes, and incorporates CU into all of her membership-style group pet dog classes for her dog training business, BlueDog, located north of Boston...(Click here for full instructor bio)
