Webinar Presentations

 Questions or Problems? Please send email to allthethings@fenziacademy.com

Webinars will run approximately 1-2 hours including presentation and questions.
Click here for a list of frequently asked questions  

Petra Ford - Designing Effective Training Plans

Date: Thursday, June 19th, 2025
Time: 3pm Pacific Time (Click here for time at FDSA (Pacific Time). 
Fee: $19.95 USD

Training for dog sports involves many moving parts, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. How should you structure individual sessions? Where do you begin? How do you track progress—and what do you do when things don’t go as planned? In this webinar, we’ll explore how to create a practical training plan that supports both your short-term and long-term goals. You’ll learn how to structure your sessions, monitor your progress, and adjust your approach when challenges arise—whether in training or in life. With a solid, flexible plan, you’ll be better equipped to stay on track and keep moving forward. Without one, it’s easy to lose momentum and get stuck. Let’s build a plan that sets you—and your dog—up for success.

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Nicole Wiebusch - Broken Connection: Why Your Dog Loses Focus

Date: Thursday, June 19th, 2025
Time: 6pm Pacific Time (Click here for time at FDSA (Pacific Time). 
Fee: $19.95 USD

Does your dog disconnect from you during training? Would you like some ideas on how to fix and prevent disconnection? Having a training plan and systematically working your way through increasing criteria, distractions, and generalization can go a long way toward reducing disconnection.
During this webinar we will define disconnection and discuss common reasons that dogs disconnect from their handlers. We'll talk about how to figure out why dogs disconnect, and we'll cover ways to fix it and prevent further disconnection in the future. You will be shown video examples of several different scenarios in which the dog disconnected and we'll talk through what likely happened. You will come away with a better understanding of why dogs disconnect and what you can do about it.
Note: this webinar will not cover extremely fearful dogs. That in itself is a complicated subject and there are other classes at FDSA that are better equipped for helping your fearful dog.

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*This webinar has run previously. Please check your Webinar Library to prevent a duplicate purchase.

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Sharon Carroll - Stopping Unwanted Sniffing

Date: Thursday, June 26th, 2025
Time: 3pm Pacific Time (Click here for time at FDSA (Pacific Time). 
Fee: $19.95 USD

There are times we want our dog to sniff (e.g. scent work, tracking, and whilst relaxing on a sniffy walk), but there are other times we don’t want our dog’s nose on the ground (e.g. during training sessions and when competing in rally, obedience, agility, tricks, musical freestyle, etc.). In some sports we even want our dog to focus on sniffing for specific odours without spending time sniffing “distractions” (e.g. sniffing food, sniffing other dogs’ scent, etc.).

In all instances where we want to eliminate “unwanted sniffing” our first task is to determine the underlying cause. Unwanted sniffing during “work” occurs for a wide range of reasons, including:

• Our dog doesn’t yet have the skills needed to ignore enticing smells (e.g. food, the scent of other dogs, etc.).
• Our dog is stressed / confused about the “work”, and this results in the performance of displacement sniffing.
• Our dog is not stressed / confused about the “work”, but they are lacking sufficient motivation for the “work”, so the pull of the environment is stronger, and this results in our dog sniffing instead of “working”.
• Our dog has developed a habit of sniffing during “work”, or in specific environments / situations / exercises.

Each of the above reasons needs to be addressed in a totally different way, so the first step is to work out WHY our dog is sniffing, then we can move forward with an effective strategy for eliminating the unwanted sniffing.

In this webinar, we will discuss each potential reason in detail, together with practical exercises you can use to accurately identify the specific reason YOUR dog is sniffing. We will then move on to discuss the different strategies for reducing / eliminating unwanted sniffing for each of the underlying drivers.

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Coming Soon!

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Crystal Wing -  FUNctional Obedience: Where the RUBBER Meets the Road

Date: Thursday, June 26th, 2025
Time: 3pm Pacific Time (Click here for time at FDSA (Pacific Time). 
Fee: $19.95 USD

Does living with your dog sometimes feel like you’re riding in a Ferrari with a newly licensed teenager, and you’re barely holding on? Or, maybe you feel like you’re tootling along with a senior driver in an older Buick, smoke pouring out of the exhaust, waving people off the sidewalk? Either way, the partnership is not going how you imagined. You’re not alone, and there are many ways to help you and your dog feel more like a team.

We all have different lifestyles our dogs need to learn how to dog in, and this is where the “RUBBER” (Relationship, Utilitarian Behaviors, Boundaries, Expectations and Reinforcement) meets the road in FUNctional Obedience. In this session, we will draw real world analogies to help you think about the relationship you currently have with your dog, and to describe where you hope that relationship goes.

Continuing the car analogy, I have a high mileage stop and go lifestyle with three low mileage, high octane malinois. Have you considered how you would describe your lifestyle-dog relationship using the car analogy? Each dog, even within their breed, is individual in their “gears” and “drivability” much like their automotive (and human!) counterparts. Each dog has unique maintenance needs, both physical and mental! The same is true with us humans - and this is where relationship building truly begins!

This webinar will help you identify your dog’s needs, and more importantly your needs, within your life at this moment. The Relationship, Utilitarian Behaviors, Boundaries, Expectations and Reinforcement that I establish with my dogs, especially in my multi-dog household, keeps our day-to-day running smoothly. Here’s how: --> Relationships allow us to understand one another. --> Utilitarian Behaviors are the key to day-to-day life and reduce conflict. (There are behaviors that can help us enjoy life together better that we may not realize without reflection.) --> Boundaries are key to building strong relationships. Setting boundaries creates a safe environment where everyone’s needs can be met. --> Expectations give us habits and routines through consistency. --> Reinforcement is incredibly FUN and builds and solidifies all of the components… when the RUBBER meets the road.

Let me help you see both yourself and your dog differently, while reflecting on ways to improve your life with your dog through FUNctional obedience, no matter what your competition or non-competition goals are. This webinar is about reflecting, planning and observing your day-to-day life and how to make it better for both you and your dog(s). (Plus, spending time with an ADHD high school art teacher of 20+ years by day, and protection sport decoy/helper with three malinois by night, is guaranteed entertainment and education! Hope to see you soon!)

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*This webinar has run previously. Please check your Webinar Library to prevent a duplicate purchase.

* Click here to Register Now *

Shade Whitesel -  Footstep Tracking: A Guide to Foundations

Date: Thursday, July 3rd, 2025
Time: 3pm Pacific Time (Click here for time at FDSA (Pacific Time). 
Fee: $19.95 USD

Interested in teaching your dog to track? Notice that your dog likes to sniff stuff, keeps their nose down and wonder if you can harness that motivation?

I love tracking. I think it is one of the most wonderful things we can do for our dogs. They already know how to track. Making it consistent, and motivating and something that you do together with your dog, rather than fighting that tremendous instinct, can add some valuable pieces to your relationship.
My experience is in footstep tracking, most commonly used for IGP (Schutzhund), but I think teaching dogs this way can be a great foundation for any tracking sport. I’ll teach you how to add value to the footsteps themselves, teach an article indication, and then put the 2 parts together.
Join me for an introduction to footstep tracking to experience how fun it can be! Dogs that do best in this method love food, as it is heavy on the use of food in the foundation pieces.

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*This webinar has run previously. Please check your Webinar Library to prevent a duplicate purchase.

* Click here to Register Now *

Denise Fenzi - Touchy Heely: Contact Heeling for Ringsport, Behavior Work and Life!

Date: Thursday, July 3rd, 2025
Time: 6pm Pacific Time (Click here for time at FDSA (Pacific Time). 
Fee: $19.95 USD

"Contact heeling" means teaching your dog to maintain physical contact with your body while also allowing them the freedom to look around. You might be moving, standing still, sitting in a chair, or completing a task, and your dog will press against you to maintain contact! While originally trained for the Sports of French and Mondio Ring, this skill is useful in crowded environments, during training classes, or between working exercises...anywhere dogs frequently lose contact with their handler. In behavior work, contact heeling can allow both you and your dog to observe the environment while simultaneously retaining physical awareness of each other. So many uses!

Unlike precision heeling, there is no expectation of eye contact or a precise position at the handler's side. Indeed, the dog can be taught to rotate all the way around the handler - the only criteria is continuous physical contact. As a result, contact heeling can be relaxing and enjoyable for both parties.

Sound useful? It is! Join Denise Fenzi and learn how she teaches contact heeling, along with a discussion of the varied ways she uses this skill in both training and in daily life.

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*This webinar has run previously. Please check your Webinar Library to prevent a duplicate purchase.

* Click here to Register Now *

Questions or Problems? Please send email to help@fenziacademy.com