Course Details
Games do more than make training fun! They actively teach the concepts and skills of focus and engagement in a way that is deeply motivating and reinforcing.
In this seminar, attendees will gain valuable insight into how engaging a dog’s mind and body through structured games that include patterns and choice, builds the ability to focus and creates an intrinsic desire to participate in the training process.
We’ll explore how building a repertoire of both “up-close and personal” and “go away” games (and their cues!) taps into the brain’s pleasure centers and helps dogs to shut out distractions, sustain focus, and strengthen retention, making training a win-win!
About the Instructor:
Julie Flanery (she/her), CPDT-ka, owner of Creative Canine LLC, has been working professionally with dogs and their handlers since 1993. She focuses on the needs of the dog and helping dog and handler teams form a strong relationship, through clear communication, positive reinforcement, and a reciprocal learning process.
She has titled her dogs in several disciplines including Obedience, Freestyle, Rally, Rally-FrEe, Agility, Trick Dog, Parkour and more. Her accomplishments include a Championship in Heelwork-to-Music, a Grand Championship in Freestyle and an Elite Grand Championship MCL in Rally-FrEe. She has achieved High Technical Merit and High Artistic Merit in both Freestyle and Heelwork to Music several times over, including three prestigious Attila Challenge awards, and several “Top H.A.T.” awards for High Scoring Heelwork, Attention and Teamwork. Julie has been a freestyle judge since 2003.
Julie is the author of the acclaimed book “Joy of Heeling” and developed the sport of Rally-FrEe to help freestyle teams improve the quality and precision of their performances. It is now a stand-alone sport enjoyed by dog sport enthusiasts worldwide. Julie competes with her dogs in musical freestyle and Rally-FrEe.
