Discover the scenic charm of the FDSA Ranch, nestled in the heart of Petaluma, California. The perfect backdrop for an immersive canine experience, this tranquil setting is guaranteed to add an extra layer of inspiration to your training journey. We will have extracurricular activities planned throughout the ranch, and in your downtime you’ll be able to explore the ranch and interact with the farm animals! Plentiful pet-friendly lodging and good eats close-by!
Immerse yourself in a community of like-minded dog lovers, forging new connections and friendships that extend beyond the camp. You will go back home with a renewed passion and love for working with your furry friends!
Julie Flanery CPDT-KA has been working professionally with dogs and their handlers since 1993. She focuses on the needs of the dog and helping dogs and handlers form a strong relationship, through clear communication, and positive reinforcement. Julie is an instructor at the Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, and is the author of the acclaimed book, “ Joy of Heeling – Building Confidence, Enthusiasm and Precision through Games”. She has titled dogs in many venues including Obedience, Freestyle, Rally, Rally-FrEe, and earned multiple Championship titles in Heelwork-to-Music, Freestyle, and Rally-FrEe. Julie has been a competition freestyle judge since 2003, and developed the sport of Rally-FrEe to help freestylers increase the quality and precision of their performances. It has since become a stand-alone sport enjoyed by dog sport enthusiasts all over the world.
Take advantage of this unique opportunity to glean insights and expertise from one of the best trainers in our field!
Schedule of Topics
Click on the topic name to view the description
We will have Yappy Hour! on Friday and Saturday
Friday
Hocus Pocus! Attention and Focus!
A large part of being successful in performance sports is our dogs’ ability to work in the presence of external stimuli – what we often call “distractions.” Performance skills can quickly degrade when our dogs aren’t practiced at maintaining attention and focus in difficult environments or under difficult circumstances. Not having these skills can decrease confidence in both the dog and the handler. They are the cement that holds our performances together and can mean the difference between a rock-solid performance and just getting by. In this session, we will isolate and practice games and exercises that increase your dog’s desire to maintain attention and focus, turn attractions in the environment into cues to look to you, and teach our dogs that it’s all part of a fun game.
Station Games!
A dog that understands how to station, is a dog that can go anywhere! A station is a tangible place, a physical location, such as a mat, cot, bed, rug, KLIMB, Cato, jacket, rock, log…. You get the idea… that your dog not only wants to get to but also wants to stay on! Playing station games that strengthen your dog’s station behavior, can also increase focus, impulse control, and a desire to work!
Joy of Heeling! Construct Games
Let the Games Begin! In this session, you will learn simple construct games and how to use them to bring animation, energy and enthusiasm to your heelwork. When played in combination, and added to your position work we can create an HER (Happy Emotional Response!) to our heelwork training. These games are sure to make heelwork your and your dog’s favorite skill to train! Because games lead to heeling and heeling leads to games!
Tricks for Fun and Function: Can you Dig it! And I Wuv Dat Snout!
So many tricks! So little time! These are a couple of my favs that provide multiple functions.
We’ll explore all the tricks that training a “dig” or scratch behavior lead to! Such as nail trims, wiping paws, cute tricks like playing a drum or toy piano, strengthening your dog’s core muscles and shoulders, and even a fun one-of-a-kind art project! We’ll also take a look at all the places our dogs can stick their snout! This is a great way to build your dog’s confidence, use as part of muzzle training, teach chin rests, and even say “I Woof You!”
Saturday
Meet your Match! Music that is!
In Freestyle and Heelwork-to-Music you choose your own music! While loving whatever piece you choose, and being able to listen to it over and over again, are important factors, you and your dog looking and feeling good moving to it can add that little extra visual impact that showcases your partnership and ability to work seamlessly together. Bring a few pieces of music you would like to try on for size! Don’t have any music? We’ve got you covered!
Stop! In the Name of Love! And Go the Distance!
Stop in the Name Love is a super fun game that helps your dog learn to use their whole body to freeze out of motion. It can be used for an emergency stop, the start of the drop on recall, or a cool freestyle move that punctuates a point in your music.
We tend to add distance to an already trained behavior, as part of the training and generalization process. But what if our dogs could perform at a distance, without training it over and over again for each new behavior? What if we could train distance as a concept and then add any known behavior? In this session, you’ll learn how to convey to your dog that it’s distance that is being reinforced and not any individual or specific behavior. We’ll also look at how to keep our dogs on the “straight and narrow” when teaching them to back away from us at a distance.
Let’s Get Tricky with it! Part 1
In part 1 we’ll look at foundation behaviors that can be used to build tricks that are more complex and difficult. By focusing on the foundation behavior, you’ll be able to move much more quickly through the training process of more advanced tricks. Your dog will have a reward history to work from, and a better understanding of the pieces, resulting in less frustration and shortening training time. We’ll also be looking at some of the tools and mechanics that can speed or hinder the process. In the words of Ken Ramirez “Advanced training is just the basics done really well”.
Pivots to Passes!
Pivots are the foundation for many behaviors: heel position, turns , and side passes to name a few! They help our dogs stay physically fit and body-aware. Body awareness, rear-end strength, and flexibility are necessary not only for heelwork but a myriad of tricks and other behaviors. Yep! No denying it! Pivots are an important part of your dog’s education. In this session, we’ll review teaching pivots, turn your pivots into beautiful side passes, and strengthen your dog’s understanding of heel position!
Sunday
Heelwork-to-Music: Feel the Flow
Heelwork-to-Music combines all that you love about heeling with your enjoyment of music! In this session you’ll learn how to use transition behaviors, sequences and straight and curved lines of travel to increase flow and ease of movement for your dog, all while having fun and moving to music! Come learn about this fun sport!
Let’s Get Tricky with it! Part 2
In Part 2, we’ll continue to work on both basic and more complex and advanced tricks! What have you always wanted to train but weren’t sure how to get started, or how to progress or complete? Bring it on!
Stay the course! Rally-FrEe Coursework with a Twist
We’ll have a couple of different Rally-FrEe courses set up. One for those wanting to learn how to navigate an RF course (great for any Rally venue!), and how to perform the unique Rally-FrEe signs, and one for generalization, adding complexity to the task, and a bit of fun on a Rally-FrEe Parkourse! Try one or both!
Handler’s Choice:
Each dog and handler will have an opportunity to work with Julie on a behavior of their choice. How much time or how many sessions will be determined by how many would like to participate. Get your last-minute questions answered and learn from watching others work through their challenges!
Questions? Email coordinator Christine Hsu
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