Fenzi Dog Sports Academy - FE405: Thriving Under Pressure

Course Details

There is no escaping it. Our dogs will be under pressure in the ring. So let’s prepare them for it! Many people are not aware that the majority of errors in the ring are the result of some sort of pressure. Dogs feel pressure from the environment, the judge, barriers (ring gates, walls) and often from us. When we recognize pressure, we can teach our dogs to master it. In the past we taught our dogs to just endure it. Now I change my dog’s relationship to pressure. I want pressure to cue a positive conditioned emotional response. I teach it using a variety of fun games that dog’s love and find empowering. The games build confidence and resilience that carry over into the ring environment. The games can benefit dogs of all ages, experience levels and temperaments.

Teaching Approach

This class will have written and video spoken lectures each week. Each lecture will be broken down into small pieces. There will be video examples demonstrating all exercises. Because everyone has their own learning style, I encourage students to move at their own pace. I understand that each dog and handler are unique and do my best to accommodate their needs. Students will need to move around with their dogs as is required for typical exercises pertaining to your sport. I will work with you to modify the exercises to your abilities. A few of the games will require quick physical movement from the trainer for short periods and distances.

Instructor: Petra Ford

Petra (she/her) graduated from Rutgers School of Health Related Professions 17 years ago with a degree in physical therapy and has experience working with an extremely varied caseload including pediatric through geriatric clients with a vast range of diagnoses. Her areas of expertise included in-patient rehabilitation, orthopedics and neurology. (Click here for full bio and to view Petra's upcoming courses)

Syllabus

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Week One

Identifying pressure
Think like a dog!! (or a human for that matter….)
Determining if it’s a pressure error
Developing a hierarchy of pressure for your individual dog
- Barrier
- Person
- Environment
- Moving towards pressure
- Backing into Pressure
- Pressure moves towards dog
Release of Pressure is Most Salient Reward
Mechanics of Release and Reward
Release BEFORE error
Creating a super strong mat behavior
Breaking it down – only one form of pressure at a time
Pressure On/Pressure off – heeling/moving towards pressure

Week Two

Touch It game
Teaching tricks in heel position
Teaching Tricks In Stand, Down, Sit
Teaching offering in heel position
Teaching offering in stand, down, sit
Run Towards Mat
- Establish criteria
- Release
- Feed on Mat
Back to Mat in Stand, Down, Sit

Week Three

Running Into pressure: quick release
Teaching tricks/offering in motion
Pressure on/off stationary position
- Stand, Down, Sit
Touch it Game Approaching pressure
Backing into pressure: quick release

Week 4

Backing into pressure: feed at pressure point
Running into Pressure: Feed at pressure point
Tricks or offering to overcome pressure
- Stationary
- In motion
Fronts with judge pressure game

Week 5

Incorporation Into Exercises:
Backing into judge
Backing under judge
Stand for Exam
Heeling
Recall
DOR

Week 6

Incorporating into exercises continued:
Signals
Directed Jumping
Command Discrimination
Broad Jump
Retrieves
Articles

Sample Lecture

Think like a dog!! (or a human for that matter….). When we are training, we tend to be goal oriented. We forget to read our dogs. We don’t think how we and the environment are affecting them, their state of mind, their comfort level, their ability to learn and perform. We forget to look at their face and body language. They are always talking to us, we just don’t always listen. If you put yourself in their paws, it actually starts to make sense. How would you feel if you were walking down the street with a friend, they told you to wait a minute while they walked away. Then a complete stranger walks up to you and goes to touch you. What?????!!!!!!! AWKWARD!! Personally, I’d be out of there!! Or you and a friend or significant other are walking down the street together. Your friend/partner says, “whatever you do, don’t look away from me”. Meanwhile, you can sense and hear that someone is following you. Sometimes they are right behind you, sometimes next to you, sometimes in front. You can feel the starting at you. WHAT THE HECK??? Why???? Go AWAY!!!! And yet, we ask our dogs to deal with these, and many more challenges all the time. And we want them to maintain perfect focus, ignore all distractions and execute complex chains. Think like a dog, and you will have more empathy and a better understanding of what the dog is experiencing. It’s our obligation to teach our dog how to deal with pressure in a way that creates positive feelings, instead of adding pressure to pressure.

Release of Pressure is Most Salient Reward. Many of us (me included) have been conditioned that the second we mark we must get the food in the dog’s mouth. That’s not true. The timing of the mark is critical. After that, you have time to get the reward to the dog. With pressure work, the MOST IMPORTANT piece of the reward is releasing the pressure!! Think about it…your dog perceives the pressure as aversive…if you leave them under pressure while rushing to feed them, you are adding pressure to pressure. Releasing the pressure is the most valuable reward for them! It takes some practice, but you can do it. Mark, release pressure, THEN reward.

Prerequisites & Supplies

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Testimonials & Reviews

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A sampling of what prior students have said about this course ...

Thank you so much for this class. I loved every minute, learned so much and have a whole new training routine and tool kit. I think anyone could benefit from this class.

This class was just what I needed. Pressure explains why I have been struggling in obedience training and trialing. This class taught me how to change my dog's attitude towards pressure. I could see a difference over the 6 weeks. It was invaluable. Petra is a great instructor, and is very knowledgeable and experienced in obedience. It was great to be able to have her as a teacher and coach.

This class has helped me deal with my dog who stresses in the ring more than any other class. Nothing I have tried in the past has really worked to alleviate his stress and stop him from shutting down in the ring. I have not shown him in several months and have no plans to show him the rest of this year. That being said, he has shown tremendous improvement in our dog school class and in matches. His attitude is by far better and when he does start to stress I now can handle it in a way that decreases his stress and gets him engaged again. Combined with the Chaining class and the Utility class has really helped me train small pieces of exercises and put them together slowly to build confidence. That way it is fun and prevents it from becoming stressful in the first place. I don’t know if he will ever get back in the ring but we are having fun now.

The class material was clear and was supported with several videos. Petra was extremely helpful and timely with the feedback. She was very generous with her time and the way she communicated "what to do next" was perfect. I would love for a Thriving Under Pressure "Progress" Class to be available. This way a month or so down the line, she would be able to see these dogs excel under her guidance. I would definitely recommend a Petra course.

I found this course to be a real eye opener, covering a topic that I find to be overlooked. I know that I will be going back to this course in my library MANY times in the future.

If you struggle with "ring stress" or "ring wise" issues with your dog, this class will change how you look at those issues. This is ideal for obedience competitors, but will help with all sports.

I like working on the principle that we are training our dogs to embrace pressure by pushing us to release anytime --soon? "The want to" . Much better than making your dog just deal with the pressure ."The have to". Thanks Petra

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 opens at 10:30am Pacific Time.

FE405 Subscriptions

	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Tuition	$ 260.00	$ 130.00	$ 65.00
Enrollment Limits	12	25	Unlimited
Access all course lectures and materials	✔	✔	✔
Access to discussion and homework forums	✔	✔	✔
Read all posted questions and answers	✔	✔	✔
Watch all posted videos	✔	✔	✔
Post general questions to Discussion forum	✔	✔	✖
Submit written assignments	✔	✖	✖
Post dog specific questions	✔	With video only	✖
Post videos	✔	Up to 2	✖
Receive instructor feedback on	Questions All videos	Questions All videos	✖

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FE405: Thriving Under Pressure

Course Details

Teaching Approach

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