Course Details
This class is all about foundations! Start a new dog on the right foot or discover missing pieces in your training. This class is designed to cover all the exercises in TEAM levels 1 & 2. The TEAM program lays out the building blocks for developing very solid behaviors that the dog can perform in a variety of unique presentations!
The 10 skill areas assessed in TEAM include: Engagement and Focus, Heeling, Recalls, Fronts & Finishes, Distance work, Targeting, Jumping, Retrieving, Scent Work, and Impulse Control. The individual pieces of exercises are broken down for you in manageable steps! Introducing all the core areas from the start makes sure that obedience remains fun for both the dog and the handler!
This is an introductory course and makes no assumptions about your dog's prior knowledge. If you already have a solid start on most of the TEAM behaviors and you want to focus on fluency, cue discrimination and other advanced concepts, then consider taking Deb Jones's "Like Clockwork - Advanced Obility" class.
This class can help you prepare to title by video in TEAM or simply give you an excellent set of foundation skills for any dog sport or competition venue such as AKC or FCI obedience, freestyle, etc.
For more information on the TEAM titling program, please visit www.fenziteamtitles.com
Registration
There are no scheduled sessions for this class at this time. We update our schedule frequently, so please
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Registration will begin at 11:00AM PDT.
Enrollment limits: 12 gold, 25 silver, unlimited bronze. If you are interested in a bronze-level spot you can register any time during the registration period.
Syllabus
Because of the wide range of skills, students are not expected to master all 10 areas of of focus in roughly 15 skills. About 3-4 skills will be introduced per week and gold students will have the option of working on any of the skills discussed from the current week or previous weeks.
Syllabus is expected to change many times between now and August 1st! Roughly the skills taught will be:
Week 1: Engagement, Paw targets, Auto leave it, Fly
Week 2: Retrieve, Mark, Pivot for Heelwork, Stay
Week 3: Front, Jump, Scent articles, Back up
Week 4: Vertical target, Position changes, Finishes
Prerequisites and Equipment
This is a FOUNDATION level class designed to introduce the beginning steps for each of the areas up to the point that the TEAM level 2 test includes. No experience is neccessary to start!
Equipment needed is dependant on which skills each team wants to focus on. Ideally teams will have access to:
- Platform for fronts and finishes (approximate size just barely longer than the dog is wide and long enough for the dog to stand on)
- Perch for pivoting (round bowl, phone book, brick...)
- Dumbbell or retrieve object
- Large cone or other object for dog to circle around
- Foot target for position changes (PVC box, larger platform, front foot target...)
- Altoid tins, flat metal electrical plates, canning rings, or any other type of article for teaching scent discrimination. Ideally a flat surface for dogs to learn a nose target indication but retrievable items can also work for many dogs.
- Jump (formal obedience/agility jump OR creative jumps such as a broomstick, log....)
Course Testimonials
"Oh my goodness, so much bang for one's buck in this class! We received a huge amount of fantastic information both in the class materials and in the pearls of wisdom Laura handed out to the Gold students."
"While I've loved pretty much every FDSA class I've taken so far, this one is one of my absolute favourites! Thanks Laura and well done! You did a brilliant job considering the huge amount of information you had to impart and the range of different skills you were teaching. I liked how when you gave feedback to the Golds you put subheadings in bold font for each skill they were doing in their video - that made following along much easier. The clear breaking down of each skill into smaller steps in the lecture notes (and each step with its own demonstration video) was perfect. I'll be referring back to your lecture notes for a long long time to come! Your style of training also really resonates with me. I really hope you teach TEAM 3 some time in the future (but not yet, wait til we've completed TEAM 2 first... lol!)"
" I truly appreciate having an instructor who loves dogs, training and teaching newbies like me. I also appreciate the insightful advice and feedback you gave me. I improved and refined my training due to the comments you gave me. As it turns out, you were able to glean an awful lot from my videos! This was my first on-line class and I wasn't sure about it at first. Because of my positive experience with you, I'm signing up to take another (a repeat of this class, actually). You definitely helped Forest and I. The on-line experience was great!"
"Taking my first class at Fenzi Academy was an incredible experience start to finish! My instructor was incredibly knowledgeable and was helpful to my individual needs. When I ran into road blocks with my dog's progress and nothing was working, she came up with a solutions for my guy that were positive! This is one place that you can find just about any sport you could possibly want to learn with your dog and I'm excited to continue this adventure with my whole canine family! Lori R."
"I am so glad I took the TEAM 1-2 class this term. The course material was extensive and well organized. I feel we have made good progress towards our level 1 certification. Laura provided very awesome videos and comments which were detailed and easy to follow. You'll definitely want this course in your library!"
