Fenzi Dog Sports Academy - OB355: Open Foundation Fun!

Course Details

Open Obedience Foundation Fun!

It’s time to move away from thinking of obedience as serious. An open run is really just a long chain of pet tricks! Breaking the exercises into small pieces and teaching each piece as a trick keeps it fun for both you and your dog. Dogs love it and you will too! Eventually the pieces themselves become inherently self-reinforcing. In this class we are going to lay the foundation for all the Open Exercises (EXCEPT for Heeling and the Figure 8). Each exercise will be broken down. Mastering all the pieces will give your dog confidence. I will also introduce dogs to the idea of backing into pressure and being comfortable waiting while we move away from them. Set a solid foundation and you will have an awesome Open dog!!

Teaching Approach

This class will have written and video 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 open exercises. 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. Later in the class students will need access to a space large enough so they can play games that involve the dog running and jumping over the broad and high jumps.

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

Breaking It Down
Importance of a Strong Foundation
Establish a Clear Picture Before You Start.
Say What?? Clear Marking
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel.
Positions as Tricks:
Developing Precues
DB: Teaching Hold
CD: End Picture
Creating Motor Patterns
Introducing Mat to Handle Pressure
DOR: End Picture
Motor Pattern for the Drop
High Jump: Cookie Toss Out and Back
Broad Jump: Run With Dog
Stay On Left

WEEK TWO

DOR: Back Down on Mat
- Or Behind Stick
DB: Hold Continued
- Add Duration
BJ: Toss or Target for Drive
Around cone
CD: Isolate the Combos
CD Chute
Back to mat: Down and sit on mat:
- Positions to mat
HJ: Angles With Cookie Toss
Flat Retrieve: Perfect Retrieve
Spinback With Cheese
Precue: Tricks or Offering in Heel for Engagement

WEEK THREE

HOLD: Different Orientations
Handling Errors
CD: Down to stand
- Down to sit
- Sit to stand
- Sit to down
DOR: Down in Motion
- Stick or Rug
HJ/FR: Discrimination Between High and Flat
Backing Into Pressure:
- Barrier
- Person
Fronts Deconstructed
- Using a Prop
Precue: Add Trick/Offering to Precue
Stand Stay Kickback Stand

WEEK FOUR

DB Lowering to Floor:
- Different Orientations
- ON Floor
BJ: Your side, My Side
Fronts Around Cone
Fronts With Stick
Fronts Up Close With DB
CD: First Position Sets the Tone
- Stand
- Down
Back Into Corner (2 barriers)
DOR: Cookie Toss to Drop
Use a Prop
Distance Attention Games
- Release to Cookie/toy
- Focus on Left Hand
- Platform

WEEEK FIVE

Hold: Add Motion
Hold: Becomes Retrieve
Distance Attention Errors
Angle Fronts With DB Close
Fronts Off DOR
Precue: Dog Offers Behavior Without an Extra Cue
BJ: Maintain Drive!
Stand Stay Leaving

WEEK SIX

Precue: Balance Precue With Calm Cue
CD: Back Into Pressure Human & Barrier
DOR/CD: Back Into Human Pressure
DB Tosses: Flat - High
DOR: Balancing “Recall” with “Drop”
Stand Stay backchain return

Prerequisites & Supplies

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Equipment needed: Access to a broad jump and high jump (jump height will be low for this class), a platform or mat/rug; a dumbbell that fits your dog; for command discrimination some people may choose to use a board as a target for front feet.

Sample Lecture

Breaking It Down: Trainers are always in a rush to put the pieces together. Not realizing that it’s far more difficult for dogs to learn this way. Putting the pieces together (i.e. chaining) degrades the quality of the pieces and the dogs lose motivation. Training AND maintaining the pieces will yield superior results. The dogs will learn more quickly, and they will maintain enthusiasm. I teach all the pieces until they are fluent. I continue to work on the individual pieces throughout my dog’s career. In this class you will see that every piece of every exercise is broke down into small behaviors. Think of each piece as a fun trick!! I teach the pieces as tricks AND the dogs think of the as tricks. As well know, tricks are fun! Obedience training should be fun too!!

Importance of a Strong Foundation. A strong foundation sets the tone for your dog’s career. We must create a strong foundation, and nurture it forever!! Professional athletes do this. Just because they are superstars doesn’t mean they don’t work on fundamentals. They actually do…. ALL THE TIME!! The same is true in dog sports. People are generally in a huge rush to get their dogs in the ring. They don’t put enough time into the foundation. And once they consider the dog “trained” they don’t return to them. That never works out well…I promise you!! Patience, patience, patience. If you want your dog to have a long career, then put time into the foundation. Learn to love working on the foundation. Learn to love the process.

Positions as Tricks: Many of our dogs know many tricks. They love tricks! Why? They are heavily reinforced. We think they are cute and funny which gives them great feedback. We are totally relaxed about the tricks. If they aren’t perfect, we don’t get upset. We often use tricks as a warmup. So let’s make Down, Sit, Stand a trick as well!! When we put them in the “exercise” the dogs will be happy. I know this! It’s a fun trick! And hopefully we will be happy too Remember, to maintain the same attitude. Your dog’s will feed off that.

Testimonials & Reviews

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

I found this class very helpful. My dog and I had some of the basics from work at our in-person dog school, but now we have more ways to keep working on our skills. I like have so many fun drills to help keep our spirits up. And, I found that we had some "holes" in areas that I thought we already had down. I look forward to continuing with the "putting it all together" class for Open Obedience. Thank you, Petra! Your keen observation and encouraging feedback is helping us to become the best team we can be in the obedience ring.

The information and feedback for this course was priceless. This was just what we needed for both my puppy and my older dog. It helped me so much with becoming a better trainer. I think this would be a valuable tool for everyone.

Informative, detailed lectures backed up with excellent video examples that show how to do each piece of each exercise. I highly recommend this class to anyone wanting to compete in obedience.

Wonderful foundation course for Open level! Petra pulled the exercises apart and made them fun for the dog. Her feedback was detailed and helpful even for me as a Bronze student following the Golds. She added additional material when questions came up and her teaching style as always is kind and motivational. Loved the class!

There have been a couple of instructors (teaching in my areas of interest) over the many years I’ve been taking classes that have me compelled to sign up for anything offered. Petra is definitely in that category!

I really liked having all of the lectures available early on in the session so that I was able to pick and choose what I wanted to work on. I also liked that each exercise was presented with a series of progressively more difficult "pre" exercises. Step 1, step 2 etc. It was great! Thank you Petra!

I really enjoyed this course….so much good stuff! I loved Petra’s humor throughout the course as well as her “no big deal” if your dog makes a mistake. I took this course with my 10 month old golden. It was the perfect start for my young girl😊. Many thanks to Petra and the Gold Students💕.

Registration

Next session starts: June 1, 2025
Registration starts: May 22, 2025
Registration ends: June 15, 2025

Available until August 15th as a prerequisite purchase with lectures only.

OB355 Subscriptions

	Bronze
Tuition	$ 65.00
Enrollment Limits	Unlimited
Access all course lectures and materials	✔	✔

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