This 6-week online class came about because some of us really enjoy training and/or competing, but we are not working with “work-oriented” dogs; our dogs have been chosen for different reasons……. maybe we need a dog that is “easy to live with” or doesn’t require a lot of work/exercise; or maybe our dog is a rescue or came to us from a family member or friend who could no longer care for them; or maybe our dog genetically “should have the whole package for dog sports” but doesn’t display the innate drive that we expected; or maybe we just have a passion for a breed / type that hasn’t been genetically selected for innate traits conducive to training in handler-directed dog sports.
For those of us living with these less “work-oriented” dogs, it can be difficult to know how to proceed when our dog doesn’t respond to training in the same way as our previous dog/s, or doesn’t improve when we implement common training strategies; we may even become frustrated at times when our dog doesn’t show the same enthusiasm for work that we see in other dogs in social media videos, or at our in-person classes.
Our goal in this class is to improve engagement, motivation, enthusiasm, perseverance, resilience, and focus, utilizing strategies that are specifically tailored to be effective with dogs that are not the typical “work-oriented” sport dog.
As we progress through the class, we will learn how to implement strategies that will directly lead to more successful and more enjoyable training sessions (and competition performances) for both us and our dog. These approaches will not only lead to increased enthusiasm and reliability but will also result in improving our dog's ability to undertake longer periods of engaged work in the absence of treats / toys.
This class is suited to anyone interested in building a stronger working / training relationship with their dog, regardless of whether the team is training for fun, or aiming to compete in dog
Join me for my next Fenzi Dog Sports Academy webinar..... Why is my dog "ignoring" my cue?
Webinar plus live Q&A 11th July 2024 3pm PT (USD $19.95). [8am Friday on the east coast of Australia]. Recording (including Q&A) remains available in your library for a minimum of 12 months but must be purchased by 13th July (after this it will no longer be available for purchase).
Description:
We’ve all experienced that moment where we deliver a cue, and our dog just doesn’t respond. It could be in a training session at home, it could be when we are asking our dog to demonstrate their new trick to a friend, it could be in a class setting, or it could be in the middle of a competition run.
It is common to hear people say that if a dog doesn’t respond to a cue, then they “didn’t understand”, but sometimes we are sure that our dog does know what the cue means. At other times we hear people say that their dog is “blowing them off” (i.e. that their dog does know what the cue means, but their dog is actively choosing to ignore the person / cue), but is this really a common reason for a dog to “ignore” a handler’s cue?
In this webinar we discuss the myriad of reasons why our dog may not respond to our first cue when cued to perform a behavior, including; lack of understanding, enjoying an alternative behavior, lack of adequate motivation, arousal in excess of optimal levels, physical discomfort (present or anticipated), mental / emotional discomfort (present or anticipated), fatigue (physical / mental), and situations when the behavior is perceived as too “high effort”.
Obviously understanding why our dog is not rapidly and accurately responding to our first cue to perform a behavior is crucial to resolving the issue, hence in this webinar we discuss all the potential reasons in detail. We also discuss strategies for ensuring that our dog does respond to our first cue on each occasion.
Link to purchase: https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/
Join me for my next Fenzi Dog Sports Academy webinar…. - The Complexities of “Reducing Reinforcement”.
Webinar plus live Q&A 13th June 2024 3pm PT (USD$19.95). [8am Friday on east coast of Australia]. Recording (including Q&A) remains available in your library for a min of 12 months but must be purchased by 15th June (after this it will no longer be available for purchase).
Description:
Why is it that some dogs / trainers find “reducing reinforcement” so easy, whilst others really struggle to maintain the same quality of work without the treats / toys?
To answer this question, we need to have a full understanding of what reinforcement really means and how it generates and maintains our handler-cued behaviors. We also need to appreciate how each dog’s specific innate traits influence which strategies will be most effective, together with recognizing how our individual dog’s innate traits will impact the ease with which we can successfully “reduce reinforcement” in our chosen sport / work / activity.
In this webinar we discuss:
* How reinforcement really works.
* The difference between rewards and reinforcement.
* How to determine when to switch from a continuous reinforcement schedule (e.g. a treat / reward after every repeat of the behavior) to an intermittent reinforcement schedule (e.g. only delivering treats / rewards after occasional repeats of the behavior).
* The impact of intrinsic motivation / reinforcement.
* The use of reinforcers other than treats / toys.
* How to tailor the strategies for “reducing reinforcement” to our individual dog and their unique traits.
* Strategies for increasing our dog’s ability to work for prolonged periods without requiring treats / toys (which is separate to the concept of placing a behavior on an intermittent schedule of reinforcement).
This webinar will be of interest to anyone who has had difficulty “reducing reinforcement” with their current dog, despite trying many strategies. It will a
Whether we are at a trial, at an in-person class, or just practicing at the local park, in order for our dog to be able to rapidly and accurately respond to our cues, they need be mentally focused on us / the task / activity / exercise / sport.
To achieve the overall goal of working with a dog that is composed, engaged, and responsive, we need to:
• Undertake an effective acclimation protocol.
• Consider whether our dog has truly “opted in” to work, and also accurately identify what “opting out” really looks like.
• Be able to identify whether our dog is at a point where they are mentally able to focus / engage (i.e. we need to accurately identify the state in which our dog is capable of rapidly and reliably performing precise / ”correct” behaviors).
• Know the types of changes we can make to influence our dog’s ability to accurately respond to our cues and to shift our dog’s focus back to us when needed.
In this webinar, we discuss the acclimation process (– the purpose of acclimation and how to determine when acclimation is “complete”), we discuss indicators of "readiness to work", and we take a detailed look at my step-by-step guide for assessing and influencing our dog's readiness to work. This guide can be used both to prepare our dog to start “work”, and to help re-focus our dog again after they have become distracted by an aspect of the environment or have disconnected from “work” due to confusion / frustration / concern.
Join me for this FDSA webinar Thursday 8th Feb 3pm Pacific Time (that’s 10am Friday 9th Feb here on the East Coast of Australia). USD$19.95. Read a detailed description about the webinar here https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/self-study/webinars Register here: https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/buy-webinar
There is also a live Q&A after the session.
The whole session (including the Q&A) will be recorded and will remain in your library for a minimum of 12 months, so if you can't
The content in this 6-week online class is focused on helping dogs that struggle to respond to handler cues and/or struggle to manage their own emotions and behaviours in the presence of "triggers" / "distractions". The Offered Durational Engagement (ODE) protocol helps our dog to build the skills they need to happily dismiss stimuli in the surrounding area; this results in a shift in our dog’s focus away from the environment and towards us and the tasks/activities we are working on.
The protocol works regardless of whether our dog:
* Is performing leash reactivity towards dogs and/or people.
* Is leaving us to chase other dogs / prey / bicycles / cars / people / etc.
* Is so distracted by stimuli in a class or competition setting that they are unable to focus on us or follow our cues.
In this class we also look at the broader issues often faced when working with a dog that experiences intense emotions and/or readily shifts to excessively high arousal. This includes the associated cascade of undesirable behaviours such as frenetic barking; zoomies; nipping / grabbing / mouthing; running away in training sessions; lacking the ability to maintain focus on tasks for prolonged periods; etc.
There is A LOT of written content in this class!! We discuss arousal, as well as the various drivers of behaviour including emotions, instinct, habit, and much more. We take a fairly detailed look at strategies we can use to avoid our dog experiencing non-beneficial stress / confusion / concern / frustration when training. We also develop our own personal observation skills and learn how to become a more effective partner for our dog.
The class starts on 1st February and is self-paced. All the written content remains in your library for a minimum of 12 months.
Bronze level registration is USD$65 and includes all the written course content plus access to view the working students' videos as well as their individual feedback from Sharon Carroll. Access to personalized feedbac
Training to avoid dogs dropping the article when it is reached for or touched.
A common question I get asked by students is “How do I stop my dog from releasing the dumbbell or scent discrimination article as soon I reach for it or touch it”.
It’s also common to see people reach and grab REALLY FAST when “taking” a dumbbell or article because they know that their dog will start to release the item as soon as their hand moves toward the object (and if the item hits the ground they lose points!)
This “early release” happens if we have inadvertently taught our dog that our hands reaching toward the item is the CUE for release.
To eliminate any concern that our dog may release the item as we reach for it, we need to go back and ensure that we separate out the two pieces:
1. Us reaching for or touching the item.
2. The verbal cue to release.
To do this we firstly ensure our dog knows how to take and hold an item.
Then we can cue a release for a treat using our marker word that means food will be delivered to you. (Or we could use a marker word that cues a switch to another toy, or a treat toss, etc.)
Separately we can start moving our hand/s towards the object, but ensuring the timing of our hands reaching towards the article rarely coincides with our release cue (marker).
If our dog drops the article as we reach towards it or touch it then we asked for too much, so repeat the exercise but with an even shorter reach. For some dogs we might need to start with only moving our hand an inch or two and build from there.
You will notice in the video that occasionally my hand is on the article when I give the release cue, and that sometimes it is my marker word “yes” but sometimes it is my actual release cue for in the ring “ta”.
The key is separating out the two pieces so that although sometimes our hands are holding the item when we cue a release, our hands are not the cue to release.
In the video you will see Vincent and Kane work with different articles including ANKC scent discrimination articles, seek back artic
Registration open now!
In this FDSA webinar we discuss:
• Factors that influence our dog’s behaviour when faced with stress and challenge.
• Avoidance behaviours, and how our attempts to build resilience may inadvertently cause the performance of avoidance and displacement behaviours.
• How to identify if we are over-exposing our dog to frustration / stress / challenge.
• Strategies we can use to improve our dog’s confidence, motivation, perseverance, resilience.
Thursday 8 December 3pm (PT) - [That's Friday morning here in Australia!]. Only USD$19.95. Registration is open now and closes 48 hours after airing. If you watch live, then you are welcome to participate in the live Q&A. If you can't attend live that is no problem, the recording remains available to you for 12 months.
Register here:
https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/buy-webinar
Webinar Description:
Why do some dogs instantly “bounce back” from a potentially stress-inducing incident, whilst others display ongoing issues from a similar event? Why do some dogs “push through” training challenges, whilst others lose interest, shut down, or leave? What factors determine an “appropriate level of challenge” for an individual dog? How do we know if our dog is being challenged enough, and how do we know if we are asking too much?
In this webinar we will discuss areas such as confidence, coping strategies, motivation, perseverance, and resilience.
Optimism is a common trait in dogs, hence most of the dogs we work with are optimistic; they see training and novel situations as potential opportunities for reward and enjoyment. These dogs not only anticipate good outcomes, but they also push through most challenges, and are typically able to recover quite quickly from any less-than-ideal situation.
Some dogs however are pessimistic, they approach unknown objects and unfamiliar situations / environments with scepticism, and/or they attempt to avoid unfamiliar circumstances / ob
Join me for my 6-week online Fenzi Dog Sports Academy (FDSA) class, "Strategies for Training and Competing the Sensitive Dog". Full class description, syllabus, sample lecture, and testimonials from previous students are available at: https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/courses/33389
All the gold level working spots are SOLD, but there are a limited number of silver level working spots available as well as plenty of auditing spots (only USD$65 for 6-weeks of written course content, as well as full access to all the working student videos and feedback.)
There is also a very active private online discussion group, where you can post your progress videos, discuss training issues with fellow training enthusiasts, and support others on their training journey.
If you have a dog who becomes disengaged as soon as they experience even brief periods of frustration, concern, or confusion, or gives great performances at home, and then struggles, wanders off sniffing, or becomes unresponsive in a competition setting, then this course may be for you.
Comments from previous students who took this class:
"This is the most amazing class I have taken through FDSA. It should be a prerequisite to train any dog for competition whether they are perceived to be sensitive or not! If I had only encountered Sharon ten years ago! Although I had a good amount of success, I now realize that many of my issues were those of training and trialing a sensitive dog. I am trying to mine Sharon's expertise to benefit the training and trialing of my current partner."
"This six-week course was phenomenal.......For the first time, I feel like I know how to help my sensitive dog. Many other programs and instructions have failed, thus far. I highly recommend this class."
"This class is just amazing!!! The lectures are easy to read and understand, well structured, and provide a HUGE amount of information! Sharon talks about everything that can be helpful to live with, train and compete with
Join me for this 6-week online Fenzi class, "Working with Reactive and Hyper-aroused Dogs", starting August 1st. Full class description, syllabus, sample lecture, and testimonials from previous students available at: https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/courses/32100
Auditing spots are still available - only USD$65 for 6-weeks of course content, as well as full access to all the working student videos and feedback throughout the class. The written course content and exercises are released twice weekly, and remain in your library for a minimum of 12 months. No set lesson times each week ensures this class is completely accessible regardless of your time zone.
This class is suitable for both pet dogs and sport dogs.
If you have a reactive dog, or a dog that is almost constantly primed to rapidly escalate to high levels of arousal (even just due to excitement), this class may be for you!
NOTE: The 10-step Offered Durational Engagement (ODE) protocol presented in this class is the same training protocol used for sport dogs that struggle to focus in challenging environments. In this capacity, the protocol works to reduce distractibility, and improve focus on the handler and the task (regardless of the sport). Hence this class may interest you, even if your dog does not exhibit reactive or hyper-aroused behaviours.
Join me for my 6-week online Fenzi class, "Strategies for Training and Competing the Sensitive Dog". Full class description, syllabus, sample lecture, and testimonials from previous students are available at: https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/courses/33389
All the gold level working spots are SOLD, but auditing spots are still available - only USD$65 for 6-weeks of course content, as well as full access to all the working student videos and feedback.
There is also a very active private discussion group, where you can post your progress videos, discuss training issues with fellow training enthusiasts, and support others on their training journey.
If you have a dog who becomes disengaged as soon as they experience even brief periods of frustration, concern, or confusion, or gives great performances at home, and then struggles, wanders off sniffing, or becomes unresponsive in a competition setting, then this course may be for you.
Comments from previous students who took this class:
"This six-week course was phenomenal.......For the first time, I feel like I know how to help my sensitive dog. Many other programs and instructions have failed, thus far. I highly recommend this class."
"This is the most amazing class I have taken through FDSA. It should be a prerequisite to train any dog for competition whether they are perceived to be sensitive or not! If I had only encountered Sharon ten years ago! Although I had a good amount of success, I now realize that many of my issues were those of training and trialing a sensitive dog. I am trying to mine Sharon's expertise to benefit the training and trialing of my current partner."
"This class is just amazing!!! The lectures are easy to read and understand, well structured, and provide a HUGE amount of information! Sharon talks about everything that can be helpful to live with, train and compete with a sensitive dog. The exercises that Sharon suggests are fun, easy and very effective!"
"This was a great cou
In this FDSA webinar we discuss the common reasons why a dog’s competition performances may deteriorate with each outing, instead of getting better and more consistent. We also look at ways to prevent this issue, as well as how to move forward once we see inconsistent performances or a downward trend.
This webinar also discusses reducing reinforcement in detail, so as to prepare our dog to compete happily and confidently without treats/toys.
Thursday 12 May 6pm (PT) - [That's Friday morning here in Australia!]. Only USD$19.95. Registration is open now and closes 24 hours after airing. If you watch live then you are welcome to participate in the live Q&A. If you can't attend live that is no problem, the recording remains available to you for 12 months.
Register here:
https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/buy-webinar
For more information - here is a link to a free podcast where we discuss this topic and also this upcoming webinar - https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/.../e268-sharon...
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Webinar Description:
Typically, we anticipate performances improving over time. We should see our dog’s confidence increasing, and their performances should become more reliable, and consistent, as we progress through the levels of our sport.
However, it is quite common to see dogs start their competition career with lots of ribbons and early titles, but then over time the performances become less consistent, and/or the scores reduce. We may even see a complete deterioration in performance, with lots of NQs, and significant problems developing.
The types of issues we may see include:
* Dogs who lose focus, are inaccurate, and make errors in well-known behaviors.
* Dogs who become behaviorally inhibited when in the ring (e.g. slowing, stalling, freezing, vacant staring, shutting down, not responding to cues, wandering off sniffing, etc.)
* Dogs who display excess behaviors within their performances (e.g. barking,
In this FDSA webinar we discuss the common reasons why a dog’s competition performances may deteriorate with each outing, instead of getting better and more consistent. We also look at ways to prevent this issue, as well as how to move forward once we see inconsistent performances or a downward trend.
This webinar also discusses reducing reinforcement in detail, so as to prepare our dog to compete happily and confidently without treats/toys.
Thursday 12 May 6pm (PT) - [That's Friday morning here in Australia!]. Only USD$19.95. Registration is open now and closes 24 hours after airing. If you watch live then you are welcome to participate in the live Q&A. If you can't attend live that is no problem, the recording remains available to you for 12 months.
Register here:
https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/buy-webinar
For more information - here is a link to a free podcast where we discuss this topic and also this upcoming webinar - https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/blog/e268-sharon-carroll-when-competition-performance-falls-apart
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Webinar Description:
Typically, we anticipate performances improving over time. We should see our dog’s confidence increasing, and their performances should become more reliable, and consistent, as we progress through the levels of our sport.
However, it is quite common to see dogs start their competition career with lots of ribbons and early titles, but then over time the performances become less consistent, and/or the scores reduce. We may even see a complete deterioration in performance, with lots of NQs, and significant problems developing.
The types of issues we may see include:
* Dogs who lose focus, are inaccurate, and make errors in well-known behaviors.
* Dogs who become behaviorally inhibited when in the ring (e.g. slowing, stalling, freezing, vacant staring, shutting down, not responding to cues, wandering off sniffing, etc.)
* Dogs who display excess b
Join me for this 6-week online Fenzi class, "Working with Reactive and Hyper-aroused Dogs", starting February 1st. Full class description, syllabus, sample lecture, and testimonials from previous students available at: https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/courses/32100
All the working spots are SOLD, auditing spots are still available - only USD$65 for 6-weeks of course content, as well as full access to all the working student videos and feedback. The written course content and exercises are released twice weekly, and remain in your library for 12 months.
If you have a reactive dog, or a dog that is almost constantly primed to rapidly escalate to high levels of arousal (even just due to excitement), this class may be for you!
Join me for my 6-week online Fenzi class, "Strategies for Training and Competing the Sensitive Dog". Full class description, syllabus and sample lecture are available at: https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.../courses/33389
All the working spots are SOLD, but auditing spots are still available - only USD$65 for 6-weeks of course content, as well as full access to all the working student videos and feedback.
There is also a very active private FB group, where you can post your progress videos, discuss training issues with fellow training enthusiasts, and support others on their training journey.
If you have a dog who starts to struggle as soon as they experience even brief periods of frustration, concern, or confusion, or gives great performances at home and then shuts down or becomes unresponsive in a competition setting, then this course may be for you.
PART 2 of a two part webinar about "Strategies for Training the Atypical Dog" - Thursday 28 October 6pm (PT) [That's Friday morning here in Australia!]. Only USD$19.95. Registration is open now and closes 24 hours after airing. If you watch live then you are welcome to participate in the live Q&A. If you can't attend live that is no problem, the recording remains available to you for 12 months.
Register here:
https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/buy-webinar
This is Part Two of a two-part webinar on working with “atypical” dogs. Both webinars are stand-alone webinars covering a different aspect of this topic, but they combine to cover the topic more broadly.
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When we train our dogs, we are constantly asking them to solve puzzles. We are asking them to connect the dots between the cue (context cue or human initiated verbal / visual cue), their subsequent behavior (action), and the reinforcement. As our dog becomes more confident about the connection between these elements, they can respond more rapidly and with improved accuracy.
During the learning process there will be moments of frustration and confusion. Typical dogs deal with small amounts of frustration and confusion in a way that helps them find a solution to the puzzle. This leads to the dog attaining reinforcement, which results in them putting in the same or greater effort on future learning-oriented tasks.
Atypical dogs however do not respond in the same way. For a range of underlying reasons, the training puzzle itself may cause an excessive spike in arousal in these dogs. This is commonly referred to as the dog “stressing down” or “stressing up” depending on the observable behaviors. “Stressing down” behaviors may include shutting-down, stalling, looking away, appearing disinterested, freezing, moving slowly, or performing avoidance, escape, appeasement, or displacement behaviors. “Stressing up” behaviors may include
