You look around and there is just SO much information out there…so many exercises, so many methods… it’s overwhelming!
What you need is someone to break it all down. Give you a clear roadmap to take you from where you are now to your finish line (UD? UDX? OTCH dreams?)
That is EXACTLY what we do in this class.
This class will provide you with clear, step-by-step instructions for getting started on every exercise in AKC, UKC, CDSP, and even the new TEAM exercises.
Just getting started with a young dog and don’t know where to begin? This class is for you!
Never taught scent discrimination before and don’t know how to get started? Start here!
Just finished a CD with your Saluki (congratulations!) and now you’re thinking thoughts about Open, but he’s never put anything in his mouth that wasn’t food? We can help!
Foundation is everything, so in this course, we will work on the critical, multi-purpose foundation skills necessary for building solid, precise, reliable performance in the ring. And, we will emphasize making it simple, fun, and most importantly EFFICIENT!
In this class, you can choose to work through the entire program or focus on one or two exercises that particularly interest you. You will receive all of the lecture material and exercises on the first day of class.
The Skillbuilding class progression (1-4) will take you through evaluating your behaviors, building the fundamental components of each exercise, getting them on cue, chaining them together, and proofing and polishing them for the ring. But it all builds off the behaviors taught in this class. Don’t miss it!
Note: The Skillbuilding series does include some basic heeling skills, but we don’t cover heeling extensively. It’s a huge subject, so we’ve devoted separate courses to heeling by itself in order to do it justice.
Registration
There are no scheduled sessions for this class at this time. We update our schedule frequently, so please
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This class currently available for pre-requisite purchase only.
Syllabus
Skills Covered:
Platforms - Front paw platform, pivoting independently around a platform, sit.
Targeting - Nose, Paw and Chin
Beginning Fronts and Finishes - with and without platforms
Positions - Sit/Down/Stand
Beginning Retrieve - Take it/Hold
Wrapping
Beginning Jumping (safe for any age dog)
Beginning Scent Discrimination (no retrieve necessary)
Fading Lures
Getting behaviors under stimulus control (on cue)
Prerequisites & Supplies
Equipment needed:
Clicker and Treats Pivot platform - 4-6" (or higher), approximately shoulder width for the dog Tall cone, stool, jump standard or other object Flat target 5-6 (or more) Identical (numbered) metal objects for scent articles - Candy tins, spoons, jar lids, etc Retrieve object(s) - Stick or dowel-shaped, does not need to be a formal dumbbell
Optional: Platform for Sit or Full body
Prerequisite skills: You will get the most out of this class if your dog is already familiar with the click/treat contingency, has focus and attention skills in a familiar environment, and you both have some experience with shaping and capturing behaviors.
While there are no official prerequisites, I strongly recommend Performance Fundamentals or Shaping.
Sample Lecture
Wrapping an Object
Objective: Dog runs out, turns tightly around an object and returns to handler.
Focus: Speed and distance
For this behavior, we are going to teach the dog to go around an object. This is a fun trick that shapes quickly and easily, and is extremely useful in teaching any jumping-related behavior and several other places as well. This trick is a great place to practice your shaping skills if you or your dog are new to shaping without luring or prompting.
You can start this behavior with just about any tallish/vertical object. My personal dogs all learned initially going around a stool in my kitchen. In my classes, we often use cones. You'll eventually want to use a jump standard, but you can really start with anything.
Start by standing *very* close to the cone. Get really friendly with it. There should be no daylight between you and this cone.
When the dog's nose happens to wind up on the other side of the cone from you, click and drop a treat by your side.
After he eats the treat, he's likely to move to reorient to your front. Click and toss a treat by your other side.
Continue clicking as the dog's nose crosses the plane of the cone, dropping the treat by your side in the direction he was facing.
When you've got a good pattern going, with the dog moving confidently back and forth, take one teeny step backward.
Continue to click/treat in the same fashion.
Take another teeny step backward. There's now a little bit of air between you and the cone.
Keep on clicking and treating as the dog goes back and forth, gradually moving a step or two back as long as he is confidently going around the cone.
At some point, you will reach a distance from the cone when the dog goes between you and the cone instead of out and around the cone. Don't panic! Go back to the last distance where the dog was successful and do a few reps there. Then take a half step back and try again to increase the distance, but this time in smaller increments. It may be helpful to ping-pong between the shorter and more challenging distance.
Too easy? Try a restrained send to add speed (see paw targeting for details). Add a distraction between you and the cone. Add a distraction behind the cone.
Testimonials
A sampling of what prior students have said about this course ...
Great, great class materials. I will be going back to these lectures over and over to help with all elements of the obedience requirements. Wonderful addition to the toolbox. Diana S
Obedience skill building I was very helpful and has sparked my interest in continued training with my standard poodle! Hannah is very knowledgeable, caring, and prompt on feedback. I throughly enjoyed the class and learned more than I expected to. Tammie S.
Hannah's feedback was incredibly insightful, detailed, & presented in such a caring & positive way! It was one of the most successful & safest online learning environments I have taken part in!
I only worked on scent discrimination, but Hannah talking me thru training it, and it going really well and my dog 'getting' it - priceless! I think I got my money's worth sometime during week 1, when she had me do duration chin rests with my dog closely followed by nose touches to the lid in my hand, in order to get a more calm nose touch - absolutely genius!
Hannah is an engaging and adept instructor. She presented great lectures and gave really good feedback to the gold students.
My dog has low confidence and needed some solutions to training the skills in this class that were not all represented in the video. Hannah was fantastic every single time with recommending how Perri and I could be successful. I feel so empowered and enthusiastic about continuing to train my dog to do Obedience after this class. THANK YOU!!! The Obedience Skillbuilding 1 course was exactly what I needed to take the basic skills my puppy and I already had, and start learning how to build on that foundation and work towards higher level obedience exercises. When I started, the idea of competing in obedience was intimidating, and now it feels extremely achievable!
I have actively trained and competed in Obedience for over 15 years. I took this course with my first small dog and first terrier. I have tried to train this dog using methods, techniques learned previously but they all fell short and my instructors were encouraging me to get a new dog. The methods Hannah used have helped me find a new love in training my dog. For our relationship and his needs this was the best course I could ever take. My dog is responding quickly to these methods and I have accomplished things with him that have failed many times over the last 2 years. His issues regarding competing will include more than "training method" so we may not compete - or most likely I will find another Fenzi class to help me in that area! Rachel J
