Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

The School of Obedience is designed to prepare dog/handler teams for AKC and CKC obedience competitions through the Utility level.

Courses in the School of Obedience are divided into four categories: core, skill building, games, and finishing. To have a well-trained obedience dog, we recommend taking courses from all four categories.

This school also includes obedience classes specific to the sport of IPO.

Core Courses

Core courses cover the basic skills needed for a handler to engage her dog in training with energy, focus, and fun! These courses will help you understand how motivational training works from the first stages to when the toys and treats are gone. These courses will help you to understand what is the best for your dog given her unique temperament, interests, and strengths. If you complete the entire set of core courses, you should be able to train a dog to engage with you - even in the face of tempting distractions and alternative interests.

OB110: TEAM Sports Foundation: Level 1 and 2 taught by Laura Waudby
OB111: TEAM Sports Foundation: Level 1 and 2 taught by Heather Lawson
FE120: Performance Fundamentals taught by Deborah Jones, Judy Keller
OB160: Confidence Building for Obedience, Rally, and Agility taught by Laura Waudby
OB170: Bridging the Gap - Reducing Reinforcers, Proofing and Generalization taught by Denise Fenzi
FE210: Shaping taught by Sue Ailsby
OB260: Advanced Confidence Building for the Obedience and Rally Ring taught by Denise Fenzi

Skills and Games

Skill Building Courses

Skill building courses will help you teach the individual behaviors that make up the finished exercises. You'll notice that these skills are not aligned with the traditional Novice, Open, and Utility levels. This is intentional; we believe it makes more sense to think in terms of foundation skills, and introducing those skills early on. That's why you will find scent discrimination and beginning retrieving offered in the very first level. These courses are not necessarily sequential, so you may select a particular course even without taking the prior courses.

OB120: TEAM Sports Foundation - Level 3 taught by Laura Waudby
OB200: Precision Heeling taught by Denise Fenzi
OB210: Obedience Skillbuilding 1 taught by Hannah Branigan
OB220: Obedience Skillbuilding 2 taught by Hannah Branigan
OB245: Obedience Skillbuilding 3 and 4 taught by Hannah Branigan
OB460: Shaping a Flashy and Confident Heel - Foundations taught by Shade Whitesel
OB462: Shaping a Confident and Flashy Heel-Moving Foundations taught by Shade Whitesel
OB465: Shaping a Flashy and Confident Heel - Putting the Skills Together taught by Shade Whitesel
OB510: The Elusive Hand-Delivered Retrieve taught by Donna Hill
OB520: Sensational Stays taught by Hannah Branigan
OB530: FCI Style Heeling taught by Kamal Fernandez
OB535: Advanced FCI Heelwork taught by Kamal Fernandez
OB540: Shaping the Competition Retrieve taught by Deborah Jones, Judy Keller
OB550: Hannah's Heeling and Competition Extravaganza taught by Hannah Branigan
OB560: Send Away and Retrieve For Any Dog Sports taught by Kamal Fernandez
OB570: Fantastic Fronts and Finishes taught by Hannah Branigan
OB580: Articles from the Ground Up taught by Laura Waudby
OB590: Stand With Me taught by Laura Waudby
OB630: Shaping a Fast and Furious Retrieve Step 1 - Foundations with Toy Reinforcement taught by Shade Whitesel

Obedience Games

Obedience Games are designed to to work on obedience skills in a fast paced and exciting way – for both dog and handler! Borrowing heavily from the sport of agility, obedience games are a blend of obedience exercises and agility movement. You do not need any special equipment nor an agility background to have a blast in this program. A high percentage of Denise’s personal training time is spent on obedience games, both with her own dogs and with her student’s dogs. In her experience, dogs learn a good deal faster when trained this way as opposed to traditional obedience techniques, and handlers improve their timing, responsiveness, and attitude – all to the benefit of the team.

OB300: Heeling Games taught by Denise Fenzi
OB310: Ob-ility taught by Denise Fenzi
OB320: Obedience Starter Games taught by Julie Symons
OB330: Obedience Games taught by Julie Symons
OB350: Like Clockwork - Advanced Obility taught by Deborah Jones, Judy Keller

Proofing and Polishing

Finishing Courses

Finishing Courses are designed to get you into competition. Here, we cover any elements that have not been addressed earlier, with a heavy focus on preparing you and your dog for the stressors of competition. Nothing is left to chance; your dog will be exposed to a wide variety of possibilities to make you the strongest team possible.

OB400: Advanced Heeling and Problem Solving taught by Denise Fenzi
OB455: Handler's Choice for Obedience - Polishing taught by Nancy Gagliardi Little
OB538: FCI Heelwork – Polishing, refining and games taught by Kamal Fernandez
OB565: Handler's Choice taught by Kamal Fernandez
OB600: Healing Your Heeling Handling taught by Nancy Gagliardi Little
OB610: Getting the Most Out of Your Ring Performance taught by Nancy Gagliardi Little
OB620: Devil in the Details taught by Hannah Branigan
OB625: Unchain Your Performance taught by Hannah Branigan
OB640: Putting it together: Novice Ring Ready taught by Mariah Hinds
OB650: Problem Solving for Open and Utility taught by Nancy Gagliardi Little

Think obedience is boring? Check out a compilation of our students at work!