Webinar Week 2022
** Click here to register **
For a limited time only, 18 webinar recordings will be made available for purchase
to celebrate our five year webinar anniversary!
Featuring Instuctors:
Amy Cook, Andrea Harrison, Chris Zink, Chrissi Schranz, Deb Jones, Denise Fenzi
Erin Lynes, Jane Ardern, Julie Daniels, Karen Deeds, Kristina Spaulding,
Irith Bloom, Leslie McDevitt, Megan Foster, Sara Brueske, Sarah Stremming, Tara Monahan
Questions or Problems? Please send email to help@fenziacademy.com
Webinars will run approximately 1-2 hours including presentation and questions.
This is not a live purchase. Students will not be able to ask questions.
This purchase will place a recorded version of the webinar directly into your webinar library.
Amy Cook, PhD - The Conversation of Social Play! - April 7th, 2022
Interacting with your dog in social play may seem like something that is supposed to come naturally, but actually it's quite a complex interaction! Collaborating in play involves a lot of listening, suggesting ideas, waiting your turn, improvising, and sensitivity, and on top of that it's a cross-species communication! No wonder most of us can use a bit of help!
In this webinar, I break down for you the elements of the social play conversation, teaching you how to get it started, which elements can make your dog feel more comfortable with you as a play partner, what a "no" looks like vs. an "I'm thinking about it," and what to do with the enthusiastic "yes!" when that seems like more than you can safely withstand!
Social play is useful for relaxing your dog, for knowing if they're ready to train or ready to do behavior modification exercises, but it's also just a lot of fun and really helps build your bond with your dog. Come learn what social play (that's playing without toys!) is like, how to get started, and how to get past some of the misfires that inevitably happen. Learn how to make your dog laugh!
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Amy Cook, PhD - Helping Your Sound Sensitive Dog - May 12th, 2022
Many dogs struggle with the sounds of living in our modern life, whether it's fireworks, delivery trucks, electronic beeping or even neighbors and dogs walking past your house! But helping them take sounds in stride isn't always straightforward, and myths are everywhere!
Fortunately, working with sound sensitivity can be straightforward, and there are very specific things you can do to help your dog learn new meanings for the sounds that worry them. Whether they're too alert to normal outdoor sounds, or want to hide away from the big ones, there's a step by step approach you can take that will shift things for your dog.
In this webinar Dr. Cook will give you a 4 step procedure to give new meaning to sudden sounds, starting with safe sounds and then progressing, so you know it works before you apply it to the real thing. Time to throw a Noise Party!
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Andrea Harrison - Bouncing Back: Recovering from “Bad” …trials, workshops, training sessions, and more - August 18th, 2022
Join Andrea for another of her thought-provoking, inspiring and action-oriented webinars. In this webinar, Andrea will be discussing the various issues that we as dog sports handlers need to recover from as well as the science behind why we are so impacted by some things. A variety of pitfalls/traps and different blocks will be discussed and then Andrea will cover 10 very specific tools that will help you bounce back and move forwards when hard things happen. Specific ways you can apply the tools to your own situation will be covered in the interactive discussion and Q and A session at the conclusion of the presentation.
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Chris Zink, DVM - Picking a Puppy: 4 Steps to Evaluate Puppy Structure - April 14th, 2022
In this webinar, Chris will walk you through how to set up (stack) puppies so you get a consistent stance for evaluation of structure (it’s not as hard as it might seem), and the 4 main structural features to examine, whether you are picking a puppy for performance or as your next show dog. She will use lots of photos and drawings to help you understand what to look for and why those particular structural features are important to your new partner’s future.
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Chrissi Schranz - Radius Training: The Invisible Long Line - January 6th, 2022
Imagine you are comfortable with your dog anywhere between 0 and 50 feet from you when you’re out in public - but no further than that. You want your dog to know this, and choose to stay within a 50-foot radius around you even if you don't "make" them stay close by micromanaging them with a long line or constantly calling them back.
Radius training teaches your dog the concept of where they can be in relation to you. A dog who understands their radius well will move around you freely, but stay aware of where you are. They will check in and keep an eye on you. They will slow down when they are ahead of you and about to overstep, or speed up when they are behind you. They will change directions with you, and at the same time enjoy a lot of freedom to sniff and run within the radius. It’s like an invisible long line.
The concept of the radius is useful for both walking and hiking off leash, and on a long line without pulling. In the latter case, the line becomes a safety feature like a seatbelt rather than the reason that keeps your dog from running off. What keeps your dog from running off is the concept of the radius, just like what keeps you from getting into a car accident isn’t the seatbelt - it is your awareness of your car in space. Staying on the road rather than driving off a cliff is a skill that eventually runs on autopilot for experienced drivers. The same goes for your dog staying in their radius.
Join Chrissi in this webinar to learn how to teach your dog this useful concept, and make your off-leash or long line adventures stress-free and enjoyable for both you and your dog!
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Deb Jones, PhD - But He Does it Perfectly at Home!: Building Focus in Challenging Locations - January 20th, 2022
If I had $1 for every time I’ve heard “but he does it perfectly at home” I’d be living the high life on a private island. As you continue on your dog training journey you will become aware, sometimes painfully aware, that what your dog KNOWS and what your dog DOES can be two very different things. So how can you make those two things match? This webinar will help show you the way forward!
Teaching behaviors and skills is only one part of the training equation. Generalizing those behaviors and skills to a variety of challenging locations is key to success, and typically much harder than initial training. Deb will discuss how to establish, build and encourage focus in new locations, and then how to then add trained behaviors to your focus sessions. If you start with focus first you will have much more success.
Topics we will consider in this webinar include choosing training locations wisely, trainer/dog responsibility, habit & context, setting realistic expectations, setting up for success, and making good training decisions in the moment.
Deb will provide you with some basic focus exercises that you can then use as the foundation on which you can build your training sessions. Starting with focus and then building strong behavior chains is the key to success out in the real world.
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Denise Fenzi - Touchy Heely: Contact Heeling for Ringsport, Behavior Work and Life! - September 8th, 2022
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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Denise Fenzi - Gaming the System: Develop Your Creative Training Potential! - April 14th, 2022
Incorporating creativity into your training plan is critical if you want your dog to remain excited and focused on the training game even when there are no cookies or toys to magnetize your dog. Creative training gives your dog an innate reason to pay attention - the work is interesting! Your dog doesn’t know what might happen next! The solution to the puzzle may not be obvious! And while you’re at it, you'll develop resilience and persistence - it’s okay to be wrong!
But wait, there’s more! There’s the handler as well. When you incorporate creative strategies into your training, you’ll begin to think in new ways and quite likely find holes in your training before they become problems. You will find yourself looking forward to your training, and enjoying the game that training should be!
This webinar will provide plenty of video examples of creative training, along with ideas to help you come up with your own creative training plans. You can learn to be more creative.
Join Denise in this webinar, and find yourself itching to train your dog.
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Erin Lynes - Strong Seniors: Exercises and Enrichment for your Aging Dog - January 6th, 2022
Is there anything more glorious than an ancient dog with a smile on their face? I can hardly think of anything that even comes close.
One of the challenges we face as dog sports enthusiasts is finding ways to keep our retirees strong and filling their days with joy and meaning once they've past the point of regular sport training.
This webinar will look at the day to day lives of senior dogs and how we can make small changes to improve their safety and comfort as their body ages. This includes some household adaptations as well as gentle conditioning and exercise suggestions that target the areas that often tend to weaken first in older dogs.
I will discuss two types of training that you want to consider for your aging pal. First we'll look at proactive practical husbandry exercises that can reduce stress for both of you as care requirements increase and change with age. Then, we'll look at some frivolous training games -strictly for the fun factor- that can be adapted to various levels of mobility challenges. These can be especially handy for dogs where previously loved games like fetch are no longer a great idea.
Additionally, I will introduce you to the concept of 'No Two Days The Same'- where you can can combine the comfort of routine with varying enrichment opportunities to improve your dog's behavioral diversity and keep their curiosity and optimism up!
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Jane Ardern - Relaxation vs Anticipation with Release Cues - December 9th, 2021
This webinar will cover training different release cues for different situations.
We will be looking at the differences between relaxation and anticipation. Understanding where these are helpful and where they can be counter productive.
The webinar will contain both theory and video on training different release cues.
Owning 7 field bred working spaniels has taught me a lot about helping high drive dogs to relax, switch off and wait patiently when working.
At the end of the webinar you will have:
1) A better understanding of how reinforcement and its timing impacts arousal.
2) Ways to train different release cues for both settling and waiting in anticipation.
3) Varying reinforcement to support arousal and learning.
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Julie Daniels - The Arrival Skill Set: Using Control Unleashed Patterns to Acclimate in a New Environment - April 21st, 2022
Does your dog struggle with entering a new environment? Are they anxious, aroused, reactive or shut down? Whether your dog is delighted, nervous or upset to be there, Control Unleashed patterns can help. The CU conversational training developed by Leslie McDevitt offers a different approach to acclimation.
This webinar is an introduction to using CU language on the road with your dog. No prior CU training is necessary. Join Julie Daniels, Certified Control Unleashed Instructor (CCUI) to learn how she teaches, uses, and combines CU patterns to help dogs feel safe and empowered as they arrive and settle in.
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Karen Deeds - Reactive Integration: Putting Pieces Together - March 10th, 2022
An integrated approach for developing a behavior modification plan when working with fearful and reactive dogs.
Reactivity: The label given to dogs that present with growling, barking, lunging, squealing, jumping up and down, or even redirecting to the leash or to the handler at the sight of a trigger, whether that be another dog, a person, or anything else!
When working with reactive dogs, I believe in an integrated approach…Reinforcement strategies, changing emotion, teaching alternative behaviors, impulse control that creates predictability, confidence building, and of course a vast array of behavior modification techniques is all part of the plan. In this way, you can build a stronger foundation on which behavior modification can be applied. We all know that a weak foundation in anything, a home, a relationship, dog sports, or dog behavior, can contribute to weakness in the long run.
This webinar will give an overview of the integrated approach taken for working with reactive and fearful dogs.
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Dr. Kristina Spaulding & Irith Bloom - Understanding and Addressing Stress - July 28th, 2022
Stress is a huge factor in animal behavior. Join Dr. Kristina Spaulding and Irith Bloom to learn more about stress – what stress is, how stress affects learning and behavior, and why the way we train needs to take stress into account. Whether you are struggling with an over-the-top dog who just can’t seem to focus at agility trials or battling more serious behavior issues, this webinar is for you!
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Leslie McDevitt - Silence is Golden - September 29th, 2022
Have you had it with your dogs barking .....when they want stuff? When they have FOMO in class or a trial? When they see something exciting? When they just feel Extra?
Leslie will give you a simple program to help your dog get calm and quiet.
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Megan Foster - Prepare & Predict: Timing of Cues - May 19th, 2022
The secret to staying ahead is good timing. Good timing is all about predicting behavior, and I do think this gets lost in agility. We need to be able to predict commitment and know that our dogs will stay committed so that we can provide proactive cues to our dogs on course. We are so often waiting to see something specific, but if we wait until we see it, we will be too late in our response. We have to understand our cues and our dog’s responses to them well enough that you can predict when they will land and how they will land based on the cues that have been given. This is the same predictive behavior that we require in good training, in order to click or mark the correct moment.
There is connection between obstacles. There is commitment to the current obstacle. There is a proactive cue given for the current obstacle that puts the dog on the correct path to the next obstacle, allowing the ‘timing loop’ to repeat for every obstacle on course. It is consistency within this loop that builds confidence in our dogs and in return, confidence in ourselves. When the dog learns that they can rely on this timely information, you learn to rely on their predictable responses to information, which makes planning your handling strategy so much easier.
In this webinar, Megan will break down the skills that the handler needs for good timing and the skills that the dog needs for good timing, and how she goes about building that in herself, her own dogs, her students, and their own dogs.
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Sara Brueske - Let it Go! Teaching the Out - February 24th, 2022
In this webinar, we'll discuss a variety of ways to teach your dog to drop a toy. Whether it is in a game of tug or after retrieving a toy, the "out" can be one of the most challenging behaviors to teach your dog.
Having a variety of methods to choose from when teaching your dog how to "out" will lead you to a greater likelihood of success and less frustration in the learning process. You will also learn about potential frustration-based bad habits to watch out for when building this behavior.
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Sarah Stremming - Happier Crating: Solutions for Common Crate Concerns - October 14th, 2021
A follow-up to Sarah's Happy Crating program, this webinar dives deeper into next steps, common crating missteps, and the solutions for such issues as barking, FOMO, and refusal to enter the crate. Happy Crating gives you the foundation, and Happier Crating takes it all that much further!
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Tara Monahan - From the First Step: Understanding Gait Mechanics - March 24th, 2022
Do you struggle to tell the difference between an amble and a walk? Do you second guess yourself when you're trying to figure out what lead your dog is on? Do you want to know exactly what a balanced trot looks like? This is the seminar for you!
From the First Step: Understanding Gait Mechanics will introduce participants to the intricacies of canine movement. The ability to recognize and evaluate how dogs move is an essential skill for canine professionals, but it's also a very valuable tool for all pet owners. When an owner knows how their dog should move they are able to recognize when their dog's gait changes and be proactive in their approach to their dog's care. By knowing what is right, they are more likely to notice when something is wrong.
This webinar is designed with a diverse audience in mind, and everyone is welcome. It will provide a structured entry point for people who are just starting their learning journey, as well as a scaffolded learning experience for people who are hoping to build upon their current understanding of canine locomotion.
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Questions or Problems? Please send email to allthethings@fenziacademy.com
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