This course utilizes games to help teach your dog focus and self control with a focus on sport behaviors. Start line stays, working around distractions and choosing to focus on the handler are some of the goals we will work towards within this class. Relying heavily on conceptual training and then introducing behaviors when the games are established is the main methodology.
Teaching Approach
Sara uses both written lectures as well as short demo videos as her teaching approach for this class. Lectures are released at the beginning of the week.
This class has a TA (Sarah Rida) for it's Study Group.
Sara Brueske (she/her) has been training dogs for over 15 years, and has experienced a large variety of breeds and sports during that time. Having graduated as a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner ... (click here for full bio including Sara's upcoming courses)
No prerequisites required. Food bowl and platform large enough for your dog to sit required. Working spot students will be required to pick a target behavior to work on in weeks five and six that may require additional props.
The food bowl game is not only a great way to teach our dogs location specific markers, but it teaches the concept of working around distractions. The food bowl can act as a low-level distraction to help teach the pattern games that we will then use in our work around our decoy. For example, before I ask my dog to heel around a decoy, I will make sure that my dog can heel around a bowl of food first.
As our dog progresses in their ability to work with their handler around the food bowl distraction, we can then start to increase the level of distraction by placing a toy on the ground instead of the food bowl. Gradaully increasing the value of that toy all the while keeping the pattern and the game the same.
To teach this, we’ll be using the Food Bowl Game. With your dog on leash and your hand in their collar, put a couple of treats in the bowl. Wait for your dog to offer focus (does not necessarily need to be eye contact, just look towards you instead of the bowl). Mark, move away from the bowl and reward. Let go of the collar and only use the leash to prevent access to the bowl. Continue to mark and reward from your hand for offered focus. Then, using a different marker or a release word, allow your dog access to the bowl. It's very important to pause after giving the verbal before offering any additional cues. In the video below, I say "take", pause and then gesture towards the bowl if Brilliant doesn't go to it herself. Ideally, she doesn't need that additional help as then she would understand "take" means to eat from the bowl. The reaction to "take" and the impulse control of offering focus away from the bowl are the important parts of this exercise.
Once your dog has understanding of the perch stay and the food bowl game, combine them into one game. With your dog on the perch, place a food bowl on the ground in front of them. Mark and reward delivering the food to your dog (“good”), and then releasing to the food bowl (“take”). If your dog moves for the food bowl early, simply pick up the bowl and allow the dog to offer to go back to the perch.
A sampling of what prior students have said about this course ...
I am a pet person, who dabbles in sports, with drivey dogs. Myu dogs are missing some self regulation or impulse control. I get stuck, thinking of "work" and being smoother with that BUT, in the meantime, my dog stops having fun as we practice. This class gave me some fun practice drills while helping keep me focused on building skill/relationship while having fun. This class helped me pick and choose between setting up boundaries with my pet without getting obsessed or nit picky. This also helped me split tasks into achievable pieces. We went into class hoping to improve our elusive herding "stop." I have some new tools thanks to Sara and this class. Heather and Fenix
I loved this class! So much fun and Sara’s ability to troubleshoot my challenges has been just amazing!
Really great, simple instruction that was easy to follow. Really appreciated Sarah the TA for the bronze students - she has been so helpful and encouraging with wonderful tailored feedback to each of our dogs. Thanks both!
Sara's teaching is amazing! I would totally take this class again at the Gold level next time it is offered. Thank you to Sara and the Fenzi staff!! :)
Sara always has a wonderful approach with her classes that make it simple to understand and execute, and this class was no exception!!
This class was just right for adding layers of difficulty - great range of games each week and I'm glad to have some left to work on moving forward!
Registration
Next session starts: February 1, 2025Registration starts: January 22, 2025Registration ends: February 15, 2025
Instructor: Sara Brueske
