Course Details
Every team is on a trajectory, and that trajectory either takes them down a path of success or down a path fraught with challenges. The difference along this path is rarely related to the problems that the team is facing. Instead, it’s because the team left the path earlier on in their development that would have built rock solid foundations.
This class is for developing teams or teams who need a little remediation in order to make sure that they stay the course optimal development. We will be using games, exercises, and drills to tackle the big ticket concepts like Independence, Focus, Confidence, Sourcing, and more. The concepts are what will make or break the team’s ability to work advanced skills later on.
In addition to games, exercises, and drills, the class will be given lecture material that will explain crucial concepts and the “why” with respect to training decisions and hide placements.
This class is about taking Foundations from Good to Great.
Teaching Approach
Each week you will receive several lectures released at the begining of the week. There will be theory based lectures as well as lectures and assignments on the current topic. Initially, searches can be done at home however the learner will be enouraged to also work outside of the home. This class offers extensive written lectures, no verbal lectures, and videos of varying lengths. It is rare that relevant speaking takes place within a video; they are designed to be watched in order to follow the ideas presented in the lecture. Lecture videos may run from 1 to 4 minutes long, with the average between 1-2 minutes. The lectures are designed to help a student understand the purpose of the topic and how its application might vary by dog. Care is taken so that learners who learn by both watching and reading will be successful.
This class will have a Teacher's Assistant (TA) available in the Facebook study group to help the bronze and silver students! Directions for joining that Facebook group will be in the classroom after you register.
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Syllabus
This class will include both lecture material and Games, Exercises, and Drills targeting such fundamental concepts as:
- Confidence
- Independence
- Focus
- Sourcing
- Odor Obedience
- Love of Novel Areas
Week 1: Confidence
Week 2: Independence
Week 3: Focus
Week 4: Sourcing
Week 5: Odor Obedience
Week 6: Love of Novel Areas
Prerequisites & Supplies
Students should have been exposed to the different elements. We will not be introducing the different elements in this class. This class is an excellent follow-on from NW120 or equivalent or for teams that need to remediate their foundational capabilities.
Sample Lecture
What Makes a Search Confidence Building?
The source of confidence actually comes from empowerment and motivation. Even though motivation comes from confidence, the reverse is also true. Remember, the two work like gears. In this lecture we will explore what makes a search confidence building.
Although we are focusing on confidence in the first week, you will find that as we build the fundamentals your dog’s confidence will soar.
Sometimes we might think that making a search easy makes it confidence building. That's not true. Easy searches are only confidence building if they offer situations that are mildly to somewhat challenging. Easy searches in easy environments can create excellent reinforcement history because the rate of reinforcement is high. Initially, that is an excellent tactic. However, as a dog develops skills, we need to shift our approach for confidence building to something a little bit more challenging.
What is challenging?
Challenging is giving the dog something doable that stretches the dog just a little bit. Doable is critical. If we make it so hard, the dog may quit. So we just want to stretch the dog just a little bit. We find that challenging searches can be empowering, however only if the dog has a choice to search and the option to opt out of the search.
Empowerment is an incredible tool to building confidence. However, the dog does need choices. We cannot compel a dog to search nor should we. If the dog has a choice, and the dog chooses to search, the outcome is much more powerful then if we told the dog where to sniff. This is where empowerment meets independence. Independence creates confidence when coupled with desire. We will explore all of these concepts in this course.
So empowerment comes from choice and an opt out. This means that the dog can choose to search. You may be thinking how that works, but it really means that we give the dog opportunity and motivation, and the dog will make the choice we want. However, it also means that if the circumstances are too stressful for the dog that we will honor the dog’s need to stop the search. You always want to be an advocate for your dog and you need to make sure that you always have the dog’s best interest at heart. I have been in a situation where I felt my dog was too stressed in competition to compete and I withdrew in the middle of a search. That's really OK to do and I think in the long run was the best thing for him.
Let's talk a little bit about motivation.
Motivation can stem from interest and challenge. I'm going to tell you a story. When I was flying to Copenhagen to teach, I accidentally knocked my tablet behind the seat next to me (it was empty and I was in business class… wow!!). It took me and the flight attendant to get it back but because the tablet was within reach, only just, my motivation to get it back was stronger than if it was easy to get. Having a little bit of a challenge made a big difference. The same thing is true for our dogs. When something is a little bit of a challenge, it sparks interest and motivates them to complete the task. The trick is to make it just the right degree of interesting and challenging.
For the exercises that we do this week, keep in mind your dog. Make it challenging, however make sure that your dog can tell you that this it's too much. If it's too much you need to honor that and try something just a little easier.
Testimonials
A sampling of what prior students have said about this class...
This is a new class for June 2020.
Registration
There are no scheduled sessions for this class at this time. We update our schedule frequently, so please
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Registration opens at 12:00noon Pacific Time.
