Fenzi Dog Sports Academy - AG320: Agility Skills and Drills

Course Details

** Note for August Term of Skills and Drills - This session will have the same exercises as the April term and it will also have additional exercises new for the August term! Including bonus exercises with weaves and contacts!**

This course will be using various sequences and exercises to work on handler timing, cues, crosses, and how to work each sequence from various handling positions and distances.

There won't be a lot of formal "lectures", but more of lots of different exercises and drills that will be posted and gone over. There will be some base lectures covered on Amanda's handling style and cues. You will not be required to use Amanda's handling style, all handling styles and systems are welcome here!

Each week a 2 beginner style exercises will be posted and 2 advanced style exercises will be posted.

Ring sizes will tend to lean toward the small size to include multiple size yards. (50x50) and most exercises will use Jumps, Tunnels, and Hoops (jumps can be used in place of hoops).

Bonus exercises will also be posted with larger ring spacing and more equipment used.

Registration

There are no scheduled sessions for this class at this time. We update our schedule frequently, so please subscribe to our mailing list for notifications.

Registration will begin at 11:30 AM Pacific Time.

For answers to commonly asked questions see our FAQ page.

Enrollment limits: Gold: 12 students, Silver: 25 students, Bronze: unlimited.

Silver level for this class is offered as "Working Silver". In addition to asking GENERAL clarification questions about the class lecture materials, silver students will now have the opportunity to submit two short videos, one minute each, for critique and review. You may submit two questions. Each question MUST have a one minute video attached so the instructor can actually answer a question that they can see. The question must relate to a topic in the class and the video must be a demo of the question. Please see the discussion forum for a detailed explanation - feel free to sign up at bronze, read the explanation, and then come back here to upgrade to silver if that interests you, and if space is available.

If you are interested in a bronze level subscription, you can sign up at any time during the registration period.

Syllabus

Week 1 -

How I Handle and My Cues

Exercises:

Vertical Distance

Sends

Pinwheels

Week 2 -

How I teach Distance (condensed version)

Exercises:

Serpentines

180s

Sends with Distance

Week 3 -

Crosses

Exercises:

Discrimnations

Lateral Distance

Week 4 -

Exercises:

Wing wraps (or Tights)

Turns out of tunnels

Week 5 -

Exercises:

Serpentines with pinwheels and 180s

Wing wraps from a distance

Week 6 -

Exercises:

Backsides (and backsides from a distance)

Putting multiple sequences together

Sample Lecture

Sample Exercises:

For our first exercise, we are going to work on Sends! I teach sends with either a food or toy target (the "T" in the diagram is the target area)

I always back chain my sends, starting at the last jump (#3 in this case) and sending to the target, I will then slowly start to back up, until I am behind #2, continue backing up until pretty soon, I am behind #1 and sending down all three jumps (or hoops) to the target. (toy or food)

Send Diagram

Wk1SendwithTarget

Starting out I am moving with the dog, helping them drive down the line to the target. I am always looking for my dog to really drive and focus forward down the line of obstacles. When I feel like the dog is really driving down the line and giving me nice focus for the entire line, I will then start to add some different angles.

In the diagram below I have angled the last jump, I want to keep working on those nice drive sends down the line, even if there is a bit of angle to the last jump. For the purpose of this exercise start where the handler is in this diagram, on the left side of the jumps.

Wk1Sendwithangle

I would like everyone to start with these sends, and I would also like to add some distance to these exercises as well!!

When I start adding distance to things like this, I like to back chain, just like I did when back chaining the straight line above to the target.

So send with just one jump while you as a handler stay behind the jump, then you and the dog will continue to move back, but you as a handler will not drive down the line with the dog, instead staying back while the dog drives ahead.

The diagram below shows the handler staying behind while the dog drive ahead to the target.

Wk1SendwithDistance