Want to train fun, active tricks that "wow" your friends? This class focuses on teaching more extreme tricks that are sure to impress. In this class we will teach body stalls, rebounds, dog catches and other tricks suitable to create a stunt dog routine.
This class is recommended for fit and active dogs as it does require a lot of jumping and body awareness. This class would be difficult to adapt for large breeds but can be adapted for small dogs.
Teaching approach:
The instructor will use a combination of written lecture and short demonstration videos. Lectures are released once a week and some build off of each other, but not all. There is no TA for this class at this time.
Sara Brueske (she/her) has been training dogs for over 15 years, and has experienced a large variety of breeds and sports during that time. Having graduated as a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner ... (click here for full bio including Sara's upcoming courses)
The dog catch serves as a great trick to teach for body awareness and trust building between dog and handler. The dog catch that we’ll teach will also serve as the foundation for a dog catch off of an object or a box jump that we’ll work on later in class.
The foundation for a dog catch is the same as the foundation for teaching a rebound which we’ll cover in a future lecture. To prevent your dog from randomly offering a dog catch and flying at your face when you least expect it (generally while you are trying to have a pleasant conversation with the new neighbors that just moved in), be very conscious about what body cue you want to use, even better to add a verbal cue on top of that.
Grab a chair, some treats and your dog in an area with decent traction. Handlers with young dogs, please be aware of how they’re dismounting, do not allow them to jump from your lap as repeated jumps can lead to growth plate injuries.
With you sitting in the chair, arrange your dog on your left or right side (keep it consistent). Put treats in your far hand and encourage them to jump into our lap. You may have to reward for two paws at first, or even just teach your dog to climb into your lap while you’re sitting on the ground. Once your dog is all four paws in your lap, mark and reward in position, then toss a cookie to encourage them to jump off. Repeat. The criteria that we are looking for is that they jump rather than crawl into your lap.
If your dog struggles with wanting to jump onto you, you can start with a wider bench or ottoman. Sit on the far edge away from your dog so they can jump onto the perch first and then move across your lap. As they can confidence, move closer to the other edge so they are jumping onto your lap rather than the perch as seen in the video below.
Once your dog is confident leaping into your lap while you are sitting in a chair, begin to place your arms around them as you are reward, as if you are catching them. If your dog seems uncomfortable about this step, ease into it. The criteria of this step is to “catch” your dog as if you were standing up. Don’t forget to reward each repetition, we want dog catches to be AMAZING to our dogs. You can add a verbal cue when you are happy with how your dog is performing this step.
The next step is to add height and slowly remove the landing platform that is your lap. Pile pillows or other objects under you to gradually increase into a standing position. Don’t forget to be mindful of your body and verbal cue. I generally stand with my catching side leg slightly bent to give a surface for my dog’s to aim for. I also open my arms to encourage my dog to jump up while saying “hop up”.
A sampling of what prior students have said about this class ...
I loved this class! It was our first time taking a "just for fun" class instead of something specific to address a behavioral challenge or a sport we trial in (these classes are fun too, but you know what I mean--our first class without a specific goal in mind). Sara's feedback is so specific and creative, and I feel like she really got us through some things that I previously had no idea how to train.
I loved this class so much and have so much material left to go through, I would seriously consider re-enrolling the next time it came around. Thank you Sara and the Fenzi team!
Sara's approach to this class was always to consider the ability and safety of the dog ("if too young don't do this because ..."), which eI specially liked hearing. She explains things very well with videos that are clear demonstrations. While she may talk fast : ) the pace of the class is perfect !
There was so much cool stuff in here! I have barely scratched the surface.
The class had SO MUCH content, it was great! I think it's perfect to address a wide range of dog and handler ability levels. I feel like I ended the class with lots of new skills and a good foundation to keep going through the rest of the material. My dog knew a few of the tricks already but we were able to really improve on them and expand on what we didn't know. I imagine more advanced dog and handler teams could benefit from the course too.
Great class, my basenji caught on pretty quickly to many of the tricks, partly because the protocols were so well described and shown in the videos and thus easy to follow.
Great stuff. While there was more work than I could accomplish in the six weeks, I appreciated the focus of starting with foundational skills and then how to progress those because now I know how to continue to keep working on the tricks even once the term is over.
Registration
Next session starts: August 1, 2026Registration starts: July 22, 2026Registration ends: August 15, 2026
Instructor: Sara Brueske
