This class will focus on preparing the dog for TEAM’s advanced levels 4-6. The exercises in these levels are designed to prepare a dog to compete in any obedience organization through the highest levels. Exercises are designed to specifically create a thinking dog who can process cues in a variety of orders with distractions!
Lectures in this class will look at the overall challenges presented at the higher levels of TEAM and group them into themes such as how to have your dog work closely by distractions, perform positions in motion, and discriminate cues at a distance. The goal is that you will be able to break down any TEAM (or any high level obedience) exercise and successfully teach it to your dog! It will essentially be a guided handler’s choice class.
Examples of skills we will be working on include positions in motion (from heeling, recalls, and send aways), lots of work on thinking regardless of where the reward/distraction is, advanced variations with retrieves, and combining skills in novel ways to create a thinking dog.
Students do not need to be interested in the TEAM program in order to take this class. If your goal is competing in obedience trials of any organization, this class will be a big step towards rounding out your dog's foundation! Take a look at the prerequisites to see if it is a good fit!
Gold students will be able to work through any TEAM exercise at any level or any obedience exercise from any organization that relates to the lectures (all of the open and utility level exercises fit in this category except for general heeling skills).
Teaching Approach
Lectures are released at the start of each week with all lectures released within the first 4 weeks. The lectures are broken down by each skill, often in multiple parts. I have written objectives and then written instructions for each step followed by multiple video examples for each step. The videos are usually between 30sec to 2min long and are taken from training sessions of a variety of dogs. I do not talk to the camera in the videos and do not have subtitles. At the end of each lecture is a homework summary with the steps quickly summarized in order.
Laura Waudby (she/they) trains and competes in obedience, rally, and agility. She was halfway to her OTCH with her UDX corgi, Lance, before his uexpected early retirement. She also has championship titles in USDAA and UKI. By day...(Click here for full bio and to view Laura's upcoming courses)
This class will have lectures released all at once This may feel overwhelming. But the goal is not to keep up and master all the things! While this class does break down some specific skills, it is primarily an overall guide to the big picture topics you will want to have for high levels of obedience. Some topics might be review, other topics might be brand new to you!
It will be impossible to go over every single exercise in levels 4 through 6. I have chosen to take a more in depth look at what I think will be some of the bigger challenges across the levels. Handlers at gold or silver can still work on exercises that don't have lectures!
Lecture Topics
Distraction Foundations Pt1: Marker Cues and Movement
Distraction Foundations Pt 2: Reward vs Distraction
Working Around the Reward Pt 1: Heeling
Working Aound the Rewar pt 2: Recall and Locations
Sending Near the Reward
Retrieve Skills Overview: Levels 4 through 6
Retrieve: Working with the Zen Bowl and Preventing Anticipation
Gold students do not need to have any TEAM titles, however should be familiar with the TEAM program foundations (take a look at the suggested skills below).
This class is essentially a handler's choice class for people working on "advanced" obedience skills.
It is recommended that students have most of the foundations for TEAM 1 and 2. However it is not expected that they are at that level with every exercise. For example, it is ok if the student is still working on precise fronts for level 2 while they are progressing their position changes for level 3 with handler distractions. In fact, it is strongly encouraged that students look at least one level higher than what they are “perfecting” to continue to advance the skills that are ready to move on!
Having the lectures from TEAM 3 is recommended and exercises from that level can be worked on for Gold students. The TEAM3 class is also available this session in the Prerequisite section. It is not required, but recommended!
It is recommended for gold students to have the following skills (keeping in mind that you won't be able to do EVERYTHING in class so it's ok to not have all of the skills below). Email me if you're unsure!!:
Pivoting in heel without a perch in both directions (doesn't need to be perfect!)
Heeling forward 10ft+
Position changes at a distance for sit, down, and stand (with a prop is ok!)
Understanding of a "zen bowl" for rewards off our body (a covered container is ok)
Send away to a cone at a distance of at least 10 feet
Retrieve to hand (no formal front and hold is needed, but the dog should have an idea of picking it up and bringing to you)
"Marking" (or staring at on cue) a food bowl or target
Scent articles (an alert to lids/targets is ok, no retrieve alert needed)
Space needed:
While access to a large space for training is not required as a lot of the foundations can be done in the space the size of a medium living room, a space at least 10x20 will make it easier to do most exercises.
To do the full exercises you will want to have access to a space the size of at least a novice ring. If space is a concern, we will be able to make do with what you have!
Equipment
Because it will be impossible to work on every single lecture, teams will not need ALL of the following items:
Platforms, front foot target, and/or rear foot target to help position changes and backing up at a distance
Pivot perch
A formal retrieve item like a db
Scent articles (ideally ones the dog can retrieve)
3 Cones (or jump wings, or poles in the ground.... anything the dog can be sent around)
This lecture and the next one look at various skills you want the dog to be confidently doing with their reward on the ground/zen bowl:
Pivoting away from the reward
Heeling towards the reward, including a thrown reward
Reward behind the dog when working
Recall away from the reward
Recall done with dog's back to you (and reward in front)
I work on these skills for 3 reasons:
To strengthen the dog’s ability to work with rewards off my body
To strengthen the dog’s ability to work with distractions and pressure
To build a solid foundation of processing their cues when they are thinking about something else
All 3 of the above reasons are tested in TEAM. There are a few exercises where the reward is directly placed near the dog while working both when close to the handler and when working at a distance.
And this last goal also will become important for the lectures related to thinking around the retrieve item. I want all the exercises done with thinking around the retrieve item (pivoting away, recalling away, heeling away, etc done with their reward before introducing the db to the chain.
Part 1 looks the goals of pivoting and heeling with the reward out. Part 2 will look at the remaining items on the list!
Pivot Away From Reward:
This may be review if you’ve worked through some of the zen bowl movement skills!
You can use a perch if needed, but your goal is to let the dog watch you set the reward down- return to heel position- then cue a pivot away from the reward. Practice pivoting both left and right (remember only use a perch for pivoting left, never to the right), and send the dog to the reward after you have nice focus on you. You may need to also have treats in your pocket/hand to reward from if the dog needs extra help.
Here Ginny is working on this skill. She struggles a bit early on (maybe due to feelings about the naughty cat?!) and I start to reward from my hand to help her focus back on me. I then make some headway on pivoting away on the perch and at 1.20 I get rid of the perch. I keep up the rewards from my hand as her pivot skills aren’t quite as confident in moving with me. But I do build up to occasionally pivoting right!
Heeling Around the Reward
If you haven’t yet worked on this skill, make sure you first have the foundation of movement around a “distraction” the dog will not be sent to. Rewards from your hand as often as you need to with your goal of focused heeling regardless of where the distraction is.
If your dog is successful when they know it’s a “distraction” then it’s time to start working on this skill with their zen bowl!
A big circle around the bowl or zig zag approach is easier than a straight line as the dog isn't directly approaching the reward for more than a step as you turn to pivot in a new direction. You can release the dog to their dish when they are still a distance away from it and only gradually work up to being closer!
This is Aero working on the zig zag. I still give her some treats from my hand to help! Because I did some hand touch straight to the reward too much, you see she starts to see that as a marker cue. Around 1.19 I need to start working on "touch - pause - dish cue" to uncouple that.
And here Ginny started out doing well with lots of treats from my hand then her brain exploded. I go back to doing some cookie tosses around the dish and then end the session to let her brain recover! This session was really just too long especially considering I had done the pivot exercise with the zen bowl before this (although not back to back). There’s only so much “thinking brain” in our novice dogs that it’s easy to use it all up in a session!
Ultimately in TEAM 4 you need to heel around in a large figure 8 pattern with 2 rewards as the posts, then do a tight pivot in the middle.
Here Zumi is working on that skill. I don't do just the figure pattern as I don't want her to pattern train and assume where I am going.
Heeling Towards a Thrown Reward
This section has the same goal of being able to keep focus while heeling while moving towards a reward. Now we can add difficulty by throwing the reward first.
While a thrown reward and then heeling towards it is not specifically tested at any level of TEAM, there is an exercise that tests throwing a formal retrieve item and then heeling away and towards it! Plus I just really want this foundation to be solid to help me know the dog has a solid understanding of ignoring the reward until cued.
Unfortunately, this is hard to do with food as I ALWAYS put a reward in a container or on a lid if they are going to get it. This makes it different from a distraction. If your dog doesn’t like toys, you can try to do this exercise by putting the treats in a small sealed tupperware container and then tossing it. It might not trigger the same “prey” response as with a toy, but it’s still good practice!
Here Loot works on this skill with a thrown toy. I make sure to always start out with either a left pivot away from the reward or going perpendicular ot the reward to make it easier for him to think about me before we start moving towards the ball. At 35sec we have more difficulty because I actually had to throw the ball twice (the first throw is edited out as it rolled in a bad spot). Having to watch it thrown twice was too much for him without getting a reward in between. (Although as he gets better with this I may want to purposefully do that for shorter throws to mimic the occasional need to re-throw the db in a trial! Some dogs spiral up when that happens!)
Overview
Work on your dog processing their cues with their reward off your body! I work primarily with a “zen bowl” or toy on the ground so that in both cases the dog is sent to their reward. However you may choose to use a a container with a lid if you choose.
In all these variations, start out with also having treats in your pocket that you give from frequently to help your dog focus on you. You will still release to the reward at a distance frequently, but adjust your ratios of food from your hand vs the dish to whatever your dog needs.
Pivot away from the reward- both left and right pivots.
Heeling towards and around the reward
Heeling towards and around a THROWN reward (try a sealed container for food if your dog doesn't like toys!)
A sampling of what prior students have said about this course ...
Laura is a so creative in her approach to training and modifies her comments to address the needs of each dog/handler team. I have learned so much. Not afraid anymore to try some different solutions to any problem. Thank you, Laura!
Excellent class! So many fun things to work on. Love Laura and her teaching style. She is very supportive and encouraging. She meets each student where they are at and works hard for each team to be successful. The six weeks went by too quickly!
This was a fabulous course that allowed me and my dog to work on the upper level TEAM exercises, while also backing up and work on foundations when we needed to. It was almost like a "Handler's Choice" approach to TEAM, and I LOVED it. I will definitely take it again when offered, and I hope it's offered every year. Laura always provides clear instructions, multiple videos with all different sizes and breeds of dogs, and supportive, insightful feedback. So many times she's given me a suggestion that immediately clears up a difficulty with an exercise for me and my dog. Great instructor and great course!
Laura is a terrific instructor. She is extremely supportive and kind. She is also really good at giving guidance---i.e. what should I do next? And really good at seeing what's wrong and offering advice as to how to make it better without making you feellike an idiot:).
Great class, not only for handlers preparing for TEAM4+ titles but any type of higher obedience or Rally class. Laura provided lots of materials tow work on and adjusted to special needs at the same time. I would consider taking this class again when preparing for the next level of TEAM.
I especially liked that there was material to work on for the different TEAM levels as well as the option to show what you were working on in the higher levels, be it Obedience or Rally or whatever sport related.
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 11:30am Pacific Time.
The instructor will be participating in the FDSA in-person training camp in Oregon from October 6-8 and will not be available to answer class forums. Class will be extended to compensate and will end on November 13, 2023.
Instructor: Laura Waudby
