by Denise Fenzi | Jul 12, 2018 | Brito, Generic training advice, Lyra, Raika
I am not a dog “behavior” trainer; I train dogs for competition dog sports, and I limit my behavior training to within that realm. For example, dogs that stress up, stress down, uncomfortable with the stand for exam, etc; that’s my territory. House...
by Denise Fenzi | Aug 4, 2014 | Lyra
In a recent blog, I talked about the value of three second behaviors in distracting environments. I suggested setting the dog up for success by using simple behaviors so that your dog can develop the habit of accuracy and love of work, regardless of location. There is...
by Denise Fenzi | Mar 6, 2014 | Lyra
Those of you who follow me on FB or who take classes with me at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy know that I have a lot of opinions about how our training decisions affect our ability to move into competition. One of my favorite rants refers to the use of silence in...
by Denise Fenzi | Mar 3, 2014 | Lyra
The most notable contributor to poor work on the figure eight is the tendency of the handler to do it in exactly the same fashion every time, so that they are completely predictable to the dog. It makes sense that our dogs would learn the pattern and would begin to...
by Denise Fenzi | Feb 10, 2014 | Lyra
Here are the sessions of Lyra that I taped a few days ago – I strung them all together in one long 11 minute video. I push her pretty hard here, which is unusual. You’ll hear No Reward Markers (NRM’s) as we work on some heeling details. I do this...
by Denise Fenzi | Dec 22, 2013 | Brito, Lyra
This blog isn’t about teaching scent discrimination. There are plenty of ways to teach scent work that are kind and effective; pick one or blend a few and find a plan that works for you. Here is how I taught Lyra if you want some...
by Denise Fenzi | Nov 9, 2013 | Lyra
Today I took Lyra for her first run through in many months. It is rare that I do a “run-through”. To me, that means I have pre-decided which exercises I will do, and mostly I ignore errors. I’m checking to see what needs work. I use no classic...
by Denise Fenzi | Oct 14, 2013 | Lyra
It’s been a while since I posted a generic training video. So you here you have it, unedited, full of mistakes (hers and mine) for your viewing pleasure. Note that Lyra is working for food. I’m doing this for two reasons. One, I want her to learn to...
by Denise Fenzi | Sep 4, 2013 | Lyra, Musings
Oh, things are going well around here. Very well. Here’s a video – Lyra has had three or four training sessions since my last post. Things Lyra has learned in that last three sessions: 1) Work from the training yard can be rewarded with a trip to the...
by Denise Fenzi | Aug 29, 2013 | Lyra, Musings
Some days there is so much information to be shared about a topic that when I start to write, I end up with a great big mess. A jumble of ideas lead to other ideas, and to other ideas and next thing you know, I want to write a book. And having just finished a book...
by Denise Fenzi | Aug 20, 2013 | Lyra, Raika
Unlike my prior dogs, Lyra has had almost no impulse control training. That’s because she rarely wants anything badly enough to experience the conflict between cooperating with me or taking what she wants directly. The things that Lyra wants badly enough to...
by Denise Fenzi | Aug 12, 2013 | Lyra
Today I was good! I took Ms. Lyra to a fun match so she could practice her “Ring Confidence” and “Environmental Comfort” skills. In case someone might find it educational to see the value of matches with a young dog, I’m posting a link...
by Denise Fenzi | Aug 6, 2013 | Lyra
Lyra turned two years old yesterday, so it seemed fitting to post a video of our training. I took this video for a class I’ll be teaching in October, but it can serve two purposes. Here’s a five minute clip, start to finish, of our morning training....
by Denise Fenzi | Jun 24, 2013 | Lyra
My least favorite precision aspect of obedience is the finish. No surprise, it is also where I lose the most points. Funny how that works. I do pretty well with the “around” finish but I struggle with the flip to heel. That bugs me. I want my dogs to...
by Denise Fenzi | May 23, 2013 | Lyra
Heeling games are simply fun ways to practice your heeling. Basic heeling games involve some kind of movement – either vertical, horizontal or some type of trick behavior. More advanced heeling games are a compilation of movement, patterns, surprises, opposition...
by Denise Fenzi | Apr 30, 2013 | Lyra
Two weeks ago I talked about criteria – decide what is important to you and hold the line. Now I’m going to tell you one more thing, since it might appear that I have a lot of criteria for one young dog. In reality, I only have one criteria for Lyra. I...
by Denise Fenzi | Apr 23, 2013 | Lyra
Last week I talked about my criteria for trialing. Many of you will be surprised to learn that I was only holding her to one criteria – the fact that she did excellent work was a bonus. I’ll get back to that topic in another week or so. This week...
by Denise Fenzi | Mar 26, 2013 | Lyra
“Fly” is what I call it when a dog is sent out of one behavior, out around an object, and then called back into another behavior. In this blog example, we’ll use heeling for both behaviors with a fly in the middle. There are many reasons I teach a...
by Denise Fenzi | Jan 22, 2013 | Lyra
Here’s a simple video showing how I’m working on Lyra’s retrieve over high jump. She knows how to fetch. She knows how to jump. She knows how to stay. She has a reasonable clue about fetching over a jump in the outbound direction, but definitely...
by Denise Fenzi | Dec 29, 2012 | Lyra
Obility is what I call obedience where you keep the action moving as fast as possible by blending exercises together and removing as many fronts and finishes as possible. Sort of an obedience/agility blend. All of my dogs learn obility, and we play obility games...
by Denise Fenzi | Dec 11, 2012 | Lyra, Musings
If you want beautiful heeling, there’s something you need to know. It’s more important than your reward structure. It’s more important than verbal markers or clickers. It’s more important than throwing corrections into your training....
by Denise Fenzi | Nov 26, 2012 | Lyra
Lyra has a pretty good retrieve – she’s fast and enthusiastic. A few weeks ago I began adding the behavior of “sit in front and wait” If you think about it for a second, the “hold in front” is not an integral part of the retrieve...
by Denise Fenzi | Nov 3, 2012 | Lyra
And I thought everyone would get up in arms over my blog post on my use of pressure. Nope. Now it’s time to admit that I don’t use much pressure with my own dogs, especially when they are young. I did the video with Lyra to show a technique, not...
by Denise Fenzi | Oct 29, 2012 | Lyra
Not long ago I wrote a post about tolerating distractions; how to introduce distractions in small doses to help your dog function and succeed – a little bit at a time. Let’s say you went home and thought about this. You believed that you had done good...
by Denise Fenzi | Oct 11, 2012 | Lyra
The first step towards getting your dog to ignore distractions is to include them in training from the beginning. When you introduce controlled distractions, you can help your dog to “win”, therefore building confidence and love for work. This video...
