Fenzi Dog Sports Academy - CC300: Getting Geeky About Fitness

Course Details

This class is an intensive dive into the geeky side of Canine Fitness and Conditioning training. We’ll look at relevant biology and biomechanics, anatomy and physiology terms, relevant training theory and application, dog structural and fitness analysis, analyzing and improving form, how and when to progress exercises, and how to select appropriate exercises for a dog and its life.

This class would be appropriate for anyone who wants to vastly improve their understanding of the theory and application of fitness concepts. It assumes that you have started some fitness training already, but if you are keen to learn you can still jump in! In particular this would suit those handlers looking at moving towards being a fitness trainer, wanting to integrate fitness exercises in their lessons or classes, or just wanting to significantly improve their own dog’s fitness.

Some dog’s working at gold or silver may need clearance (i.e. from their main veterinary professional) to be working on fitness training. This includes young dogs (12 months or younger), older dogs (8 years or older), or dogs with a significant health or orthopedic issue. Please contact Kelly if you need clarification on this.

Teaching Approach

Kelly will provide multiple lectures at the start of each week, with extensive written explanations and multiple videos illustrating concepts or training practices. Some lectures will have an activity described at the end of the lecture for students to complete to submit in their homework threads, or in the optional Facebook Study group.

All the lectures are released in one go each week, giving students a chance to look through everything and prioritize what is important for them. Week 6 is lighter on practical activities, to give students time to catch up or work through the practical components from previous weeks.

This class in particular will push the students to expand their understanding and will have some ‘creative’ homework options.

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.

Instructor: Kelly Daniel

Kelly Daniel (She/her) is a learning and dog training addict. She has been training and competing with her dogs (of various shapes and forms) for around 15 years ...

Syllabus

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Week 1

Why? Looking at the benefits and research related to fitness training
Resources that might be useful to advance your knowledge
Canine anatomy (musculoskeletal focus)
Reinforcement strategies and mechanics
First look at fitness exercises

Week 2

Core fitness concepts
Structural analysis
Introduction to the concept of form
Working on fitness exercises
Stillness strategies

Week 3

Muscle contraction types (relating to movement)
Fitness exercises: Considering the type of exercise, the parts of the body being used, and the type of movement.
Working on fitness exercises
Evaluating fitness

Week 4

Concept of specificity for working and sports dogs
Working on fitness exercises
Problem solving: Using equipment and reinforcement strategies to improve form in exercises
Special fitness categories: young dogs, older dogs, dogs post surgery / illness

Week 5

What’s in a workout? (Interactive workout planner)
Workout practice
Looking over a year
Overload principle
Identifying and responding to fatigue
How and when to progress exercises

Week 6

Case study: analyzing an individual dog’s needs, current level of fitness, and selecting appropriate exercises for them
Critically identifying form and issues in individual exercises and solving them
Creative creation: Making new exercises

Prerequisites & Supplies

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Equipment

The following would be useful, though Kelly will be able to provide guidance to equipment substitutions or alternatives.

Small stable platforms that can fit both front, or both back feet
A longer stable platform that the dog can comfortably stand, and lie down on in good form
2-4 cones
Cavaletti poles (8-12)
Textured target mats
A range of unstable fitness items like wobble cushions, foot pods, Flexiness Twin Discs etc.

Sample Lecture

Week 3

When we look at a fitness exercise we can use a number of things to categorize it, and consider its use. This can include:

The main aspect of fitness it falls into
The plane of movement it is occurring in
The type of muscle contraction
The specific position and/or movements involved
The general part of the body being worked (front, core, rear)
The specific muscle(s) being worked

It’s important to note that it’s not just ONE of each of these categories. Every exercise is a complex combination of movements, muscles, and aspects of fitness. An exercise will almost never be ‘just cardio’. Areas of the body are intertwined and interrelated. Even in a hind end specific exercise the front legs must support the body, and the core must remain engaged even if these areas are not ‘moving’.

For the purpose of selecting exercises for workouts, and appropriateness for a dog, it is easiest to broadly categorize using the main aspect of fitness being worked, and the broad area of the body.

Being confident in categorizing exercises, and understanding the purpose of them, will become important when we begin to select exercises to make specific workouts for individual dogs. It’s also important to ensure that a workout has a mixture of different types of exercises.

Here’s what this could look like, using the workout planner that we are going to use later in this class:

Analysis of an exercise

In the gym squat exercise (sit to stand with rear feet still) this exercise is primarily a strength exercise. The rear end (gluteals in particular) are being worked in the medium plane.

What about this exercise? What is the primary aspect of fitness? Which area of the body is being used the most?

Here’s a workout. Consider if there is a mix of types of exercises, working different parts of the dog, in different planes of motion. These exercises are some of those we are going to start working through checking you and your dog’s set up, understanding, and mechanics in the next lecture.

Video cavaletti:

Video lateral hops:

Video ipsilateral:

Video tuck sit / kickback stand:

Video tip toe stretch

Have a go at the workout. Do you see how we are hitting different aspects of fitness, and planes of movement? Have a look at your list of fitness exercises. What is the best thing for you to use to categorize them? Do you want to start organizing this document?

Testimonials & Reviews

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

Excellent material that offers a deep dive into the theory of fitness while still staying relevant regarding how and when to actually work on things in the gym! Kelly is very responsive with thoughtful feedback and insightful suggestions. Highly recommend!

Kelly really puts her ALL into this class. She works with each dog individually and her feedback is detailed and laser-focused. She makes it very easy for the student to get it right. Her depth and breadth of knowledge with dogs of all shapes and sizes creates a learning environment that makes it super comfortable to show our difficulties and her feedback was like a series of lightbulb moments. I'm not new to canine fitness, and I would highly recommend this course to beginners and more experienced folks alike. Thank you Kelly, you are an exceptional instructor.

Awesome course. The amount of good, usable information in an easy to understand format combined with the demonstrations made carrying her techniques over to my own dog’s so much easier. Highly recommend this course!

Kelly did a great job of evaluating videos, answering questions, and offering many different resources to help students learn how to train various fitness exercises for their individual dog. She was always willing to deep dive into the geeky parts of structure and fitness as well. I would happily take more classes with her!

Kelly is very knowledgeable and a fantastic teacher. Any class, workshop or webinar by her I’ll definitely register. Can I give her 10 stars? She is amazing!

There was a LOT of information in this class. However, this was beautifully balanced by Kelly providing specific exercises each week AND working with the gold and silver students to pick the exercises most suitable for their dog. The feedback in this class was next level. Kelly really took so much time to help students do what was right for their dog. She gave video examples of a huge range of dogs doing the exercises, making it very easy for us to follow the instructions. The way the content was organized meant that if we "wanted" to get overwhelmed with the goodness, we could, but it was actually NOT overwhelming at all. It was a deep dive into all aspects of fitness, with laser focus on our own dog.

Kelly is amazing! So supportive and kind. She is creative in helping you troubleshoot and problem solve. She really likes to take a deep dive into things and that makes my geeky heart so happy!!! Can't wait to take more classes with her!

I thought this class was really fun! I wish i would have taken Gold. The material was explained well and the instructor was responsive to questions/posts. Plus she is just fun to listen too:) Even though the materail does build on its self, the weekly exercises were not required to be mastered before moving on. I really liked this made is less stressful if I got behind.

Registration

Next session starts: February 1, 2025
Registration starts: January 22, 2025
Registration ends: February 15, 2025

Registration opens at 10:00am Pacific Time.

CC300 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	✖

Find more details, refund policies and answers to common questions in the Help center.