Creative Canine, LLC

23/06/2025

Hey all! I'm doing a session on the upcoming FDSA 1-day conference on Focus and Engagement! The title of my presentation is "Your Dog's Brain on Games" and I'll be talking about the dog's desire and ability to focus and engage and how games impact that desire by the chemical reactions in their brain! It's less about the way you entice the dog to connect and more about the way they feel when they do! I did a quick synopsis about what I'll be talking about and of course! You'll learn some games that foster focus and engagement! I'll pop the info in the comments!

There are several amazing instructors presenting throughout the day and you get to see them all for only $89 for the entire conference. If you can't be there it is recorded and you can watch later! I Hope to see you there!

Building Attention, Focus, and Engagement Through Games

Understanding the distinction between attention, focus, and engagement is the key to unlocking effective training. Attention is the ability to notice and respond, focus is the ability to sustain concentration, and engagement is the willingness to actively participate. While all three work together, each plays a unique role in creating a dog that is eager, reliable, and responsive in training.

Why Games?

Games transform learning into an experience that is both enjoyable and lasting. Unlike rigid training drills, games tap into natural movement, excitement, and problem-solving—reinforcing behaviors in ways that feel effortless rather than forced. They build muscle memory, emotional associations, and intrinsic motivation, ensuring that skills are retained and reliably performed in various environments.

Why Name Your Games? The Value of the Start Cue

Every game begins with a cue—a signal that sets the tone for what’s coming next. Naming your games provides a clear starting point, shaping expectations and enthusiasm. When a dog hears a familiar game name, they instantly recognize the structure, rules, and reward potential, allowing them to dive in with focus and confidence. A well-timed start cue builds anticipation, increases precision, and strengthens the emotional connection to training.

The Value of Games in Building Focus and Attention—It’s More Than the Obvious!

Games do more than just improve responsiveness; they shape the way a dog thinks, reacts, and problem-solves. By incorporating movement, timing, and choice, games train a dog to filter distractions, sustain concentration, and develop self-control. Beyond the immediate benefits, game-based learning encourages creativity, adaptability, and engagement, making dogs more eager to learn and less prone to frustration.

The Value of “Go Away” Games for Engagement

It might seem counterintuitive, but games that encourage moving away—such as chasing a tossed treat or running toward a target—can significantly increase engagement. By reinforcing controlled separation and strategic movement, these games build confidence, trust, and motivation. When a dog learns that moving away leads to an exciting opportunity to return, the desire to engage increases, as they remain tuned in to the handler’s cues even at a distance.

Through well-structured play, training becomes a partnership—one that fosters confidence, motivation, and lasting skills. Whether strengthening focus, refining attention, or deepening engagement, games create an environment where learning is not only effective but exhilarating

20/06/2025

Ooooh! Shiney new thing!

29/05/2025

A few months ago my friend and colleague, Claudine Illg said two simple words that got me back on track with my training, after a few frustrating weeks.

Show up.

That's it. Show up. Claudine had recently earned yet another high achievement and I was congratulating her, telling her how impressed I was at how far she and her young dog had come, while at the same time accomplishing so much with her other dog. I asked her how she did it all. She said "I show up".

I had been slacking... not progressing how I wanted. And was busy! So much going on! So I had started training less over recent weeks. And what she said smacked me in the forehead like a ton of bricks.

If you aren't showing up nothing will get accomplished. Showing up physically - setting aside the time to train. Showing up mentally, being in the moment and focusing on the session. It was the kick in the pants I needed. Thank you Claudine for those 2 words of infinite wisdom and getting me over a bump in the road.

28/05/2025

Long time no see! I be busy! But I think of posting often! Does that count? Didn't think so 🫣 If you follow me at all then you know our freestyle club just celebrated their 25th anniversary as a club with many of the same members over the years! I was on the organizing committee for both the show and the celebratory party afterwards so that has taken up a bunch of my time and energy. Now that that's over, I'm gearing up for my June FDSA classes, a few upcoming workshops (online and in person) and the FDSA camp in MD in September! Soooo excited for that! I'm working to cut back on my schedule... we'll see how that goes! 😉

I've been having a lot of fun with Will since I got him. Lot's of shiney new things to try and play, while still working everyday life skills and manners, foundation stuff for freestyle, trying out some new sports, and keeping up on a fitness regimen with him. It sometimes seems like there is never enough time in the day to do all the training that you want to do! So I wrote a blog about it! Maybe this will make up for my absence. 😉

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If you're juggling multiple training goals and battling "STS" (Shiny Thing Syndrome) or "ATTS" (All the Things! Syndrome), finding an effective system to stay organized is key. But let's focus on one of the most impactful elements: training sessions that prioritize efficiency. These moments aren't about cramming as much as possible into your time—they're about making every minute count. Here's how you can turn your training sessions into purposeful
progress boosters.

Why Efficiency Matters

Efficient sessions ensure that even if you’re short on time or hopping between tricks and sports, the work you do brings lasting results. Quality over quantity is key. A short, focused session can yield more improvement than hours of distracted or half-hearted training. Plus, it keeps your dog engaged and excited to learn without exhausting them—or you!

Tips for Efficient Training Sessions

1. Set Clear Objectives: Before each session, decide exactly what you want to focus on. Whether it's introducing a new trick, refining verbal cues, playing a new game, or polishing a specific skill, having a clear goal prevents aimless training.

2. Keep Sessions Short: Dogs learn best in bursts of 5–10 minutes. Break longer training blocks into smaller intervals with breaks for play or rest.

3. Eliminate Distractions: Pick a quiet, clutter-free area for training. This helps both you and your dog stay present and focused. When generalizing or adding difficulty or distractions do so in a methodical and planned way.

4. Start with Warm-Up Skills: Begin with something your dog knows well and enjoys to build confidence and ease them into the learning mindset.

5. End on a High Note: Always finish your session with a win—be it a successfully executed trick or a fun game. This keeps your dog motivated for future sessions.

6. Reflect and Adjust: After each session, take a moment to think about what worked and what didn’t. Did your dog struggle with something specific? Could you tweak your approach next time? Efficient training grows from continual refinement.

Efficiency doesn't mean rushing through tasks—it means giving undivided attention to the moment. If you're teaching a new trick, break it into small, manageable steps. Celebrate every milestone and move forward incrementally. When working on multiple sports or skills, ensure each session brings focus to a specific area. You can rotate priorities daily or weekly, but when you're training, zero in.
By embracing efficiency, your training becomes less about the length of time spent and more about the quality of your work. Your dog will retain more, you’ll feel accomplished, and progress will naturally follow. making every moment count is the secret to staying ahead—despite "ATTS" lurking in the background!

24/04/2025

02/04/2025

I was looking through some old blogs I had written and came across this one so thought I would share here.

All For One

The other day, I had a student ask me what my cues were for pivots. When I told them I didn’t have any, they were surprised. And when I went on to say that I didn’t have cues for side passes or backing in heel either, they were really confused!

Well, it's not exactly accurate that I don't have any cues....

In my experience, many handlers tend to overcomplicate their cueing for what is essentially heelwork. If you’re nodding in recognition, you’re going to love post because I’m going to simplify all of this for both your dog and you. It’s easier than you think!

All For One ….And one for all
In Freestyle or other performance sports, handlers sometimes use a variety of cues for directional changes, which can sometimes lead to moments of uncertainty for the dog. The result is often a handler relying on additional signals like hand gestures or body movements, which can affect flow and precision. Sound familiar? Let’s simplify it!

The Magic Word
I use one word for moving with me in heel position on the left and one word for moving with me in heel on the right. This includes not only forward heeling, but backing, sidepasses and pivoting, as well. If my dog is on my left, my cue is “heel.” If she’s on my right, it’s “right.”

This makes it clear to my dog that the only thing they have to do is stay with my leg, no matter if it goes forward, back, to the side or in a pivot. It’s also a lot less for me to remember and to say during a performance!

This one-word approach not only reduces the complexity of cueing but also lays the foundation for defining clear criteria that ensure precision in heeling movements.

The Defining Moment
Thinking about heeling this way simplifies training, too. Instead of having to teach my dog the meaning of four words for each direction, I just need to teach them one. If I’m asking my pup to maintain heel position, I need to have a very clear picture of what heel position looks like.

Setting clear criteria is critical. If you continue to reward your dog for lagging when moving forward or for crabbing away from you when moving backwards, these problems or other variants will carry over into your pivots and sidepasses, as well. If the game is to stay in heel and you’ve taught your dog that heel means their shoulder touching your thigh while they look up at you, this is what you should reward. If your dog is a little crooked or just a bit farther forward than you’d like, you can move slightly to place yourself in perfect position before feeding. Always reward in perfect position! This builds value into your heel positions.

Success Pivots on Understanding
I use pivots to teach my dog that my heel cue means to move with me. Pivoting is a multi-functional skill that not only teaches rear end awareness, right turns, and how to find heel position, but also teaches the dog the cue for moving in heel position. So unless you’re going to use “pivot” as your cue for staying with you and moving in any direction, it’s not a cue I would use for pivots on a prop such as a bowl or perch, or on the flat or floor.

Pivoting is heeling. My cue for heeling is “heel.” My cue for pivots on a bowl or perch is “heel.” My cue for coming into heel on the standing platform is “heel,” and my cue for sidepasses and backing in heel position is “heel.” My dog is doing the exact same thing for each of those – staying in heel position while standing. “Heel” has a single definition that both my dog and I agree on. This simplifies heeling for both of us!

Want to practice? Here is a fun heeling game using pivots.

Pivot If You Cone!
This game is excerpted from my book, “The Joy of Heeling.” It's also one of the exercises in my "Positions, Laterals and Backing" class at FDSA. It can be played either with your pivot platform or while pivoting on the flat. If you and your pup enjoy this, you can find many, many more fun games to build enthusiasm and precision in my book or several of my FDSA classes!

How to Play the Game:
Step 1: Start with your cone in front of you and about 6-10 feet away, and your dog on the pivot platform, next to you in heel position. Send your dog to go Out and Around the cone. As they round the cone, give your heel cue. Mark and reward when your dog comes into heel position.

Step 2: From here you can either send your dog to the cone again, or do a pivot until you are back again facing the cone, before sending for another rep.

Step 3: Add some challenge! Pivot to a point where the cone is not directly in front of you but off to the side. Send your dog and give your heel cue. Can they still come back to you and find the position even if you move again?

Be sure to provide fast food when they do! Finding that position again is all about the value you’ve put into it.

31/03/2025

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! Class starts tomorrow! It's only a day away! I've got 2 classes on the schedule this session and wonder of wonders, as of this morning there were still a couple of gold spots left! 😮 For more info or to register go to www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com

19/03/2025

Whether I"m traveling to give a workshop, or teaching an in person class or teaching online, there seems to be the same need of clean handling skills. I wanted to share something I posted Previously.

Maybe it will help someone here get past a hump, or improve a skill they thought they couldn't or just become better at communicating with their dog.

Handler mechanics: This is by far the single most important thing you can change to make an impact in your dog's learning. Training is about communication. And communication is about clarity and comprehension on the dog's part. That is on us. How we convey information matters.

Think of your handler mechanics as tools for communication. Your communication should be on a continuum, a linear path, horizontal rather than vertical. In a line, rather than stacked on top of each other.

Have you ever tried to listen to 2 people talking at once? It’s difficult to understand one of them, let alone both of them.
The only 2 things that should happen at the same time in terms of handler communication is the behavior and your marker. They are one. Everything else, food, your lure or hand signal, reaching for your reward, feeding, should come one after the other, never overlapping.

This matters more than you know. Working in a linear fashion allows the dog to take information from each piece and not miss any of the ways we are communicating to him. Providing the information is our responsibility. Once we do that it becomes very clear for the dog and you will see the speed of learning increase.

If you mark at the same time you reach for your treat or toy, then you block your marker and your dog isn't thinking about why he is getting the reward, only that it's coming.
If you give your verbal cue at the same time as your physical cue, your verbal cue loses both meaning and value. All of the information is in the signal, so there is no reason for the dog to even consider your verbal cue.
If you hold food in your hand or your hand in your bait bag, it can distract the dog from how to get that food.
If you feed from across your body your dog will lose position. These are all things you have control over. These are all things that can either help or hinder the learning process. All the props in the world won't fix ambiguity from the handler.

Know this won't come easy. Habits are hard to break. Our bodies act without consciousness. Whether it's a habit you want to break or a habit you want to create, we have to work at it, concentrate on it, be aware of it. This is the key to becoming a great handler.
We tend to look outward at what our dogs can do to indicate our skill as a handler. If our dogs are doing well there is no need for change. We never consider how much better our dogs could do if we became really good at communicating through clean handler mechanics.

The most important thing you can do if you want to see changes in your dog's understanding and skill is to concentrate on your handler mechanics in communicating as clearly as you can.

You will find this to be a common thread in all of the classes I teach. It is something I'm pretty passionate about. That's because I have found it has the biggest impact in training and I want you all to succeed at the highest level. I'll try not to nag I will however help you move toward a higher degree of skill in both you and your dog if you are willing!

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10/03/2025

Check out the cool sticker I ordered from Dancing Cavy Productions! I can't decide where to put this one so I may need to order more!

09/03/2025

Spring has sprung, and we’re feeling the energy! We headed over to the beach with friends to recharge and relax. Cold and windy but sunny and oh so fun! So windy that Phee's tongue blew out of her mouth! 😂💨 She had a great time though and surprised me with some offered heelwork! 😮 Will was his usual reckless abandon self but had fun with a new girlfriend. What’s on your list for recharging you and your pups this season?

06/03/2025

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