by Denise Fenzi | Jul 22, 2019 | Uncategorized
If you are doing behavior work with your dog you need to consider why you give your dog treats – you may want to stop handing over food for no particular reason as a lifestyle choice. How much will your dog value special treats in the presence of some trigger...
by Denise Fenzi | Jul 17, 2019 | Uncategorized
Last week I did a free “Ask Me Anything” webinar for anyone who wanted to show up! The questions covered include barking or noise during work, focus in heeling, pivots and pocket hand, teaching handler scent discrimination/articles, loose leash walking via...
by Denise Fenzi | Jul 7, 2019 | Uncategorized
In honor of our first day of instruction at the new FDSA-PPP Program (Fenzi Dog Sports Academy Pet Professionals Program) I will offer an informal “Ask me anything” webinar tonight (Sunday) at 6pm PT. If you have a video that you’d like me to look...
by Denise Fenzi | Jul 2, 2019 | Uncategorized
If you have followed this blog over time you may have noticed themes that might feel contradictory. On one end of the scale I talk about emotions and relationships. Developing warm and playful interactions with your dog. Creating a relationship so that your learner...
by Denise Fenzi | Jun 24, 2019 | Uncategorized
I’m on a roll with this crispness topic! I have talked about the importance of being crisp in training. Crispness provides clarity to our dogs which in turn reduces frustration and allows our dogs to feel confident in their situation. I want my dogs to know...
by Denise Fenzi | Jun 22, 2019 | Uncategorized
It is common for individuals to struggle in the space between basic manners for a dog and understanding the underlying science and more sophisticated training concepts required of both professional trainers and sport dog enthusiasts. FDSA-PPP is trying to help with...
by Denise Fenzi | Jun 19, 2019 | Uncategorized
I give food to my dogs for all sorts of reasons. I use food to teach or maintain behaviors. I use food to address emotional issues. I give food because I have some, we are interacting in a pleasant way, and I like to share! I use a lot of food in training. So what...
by Denise Fenzi | Jun 12, 2019 | Uncategorized
Building on my last post, which nuisance behaviors do I treat with management, or training, or the inevitability of stopping the behavior? It’s actually impossible to fully tease these apart, because there’s no way to determine exactly where management...
by Denise Fenzi | Jun 11, 2019 | Uncategorized
The best way I know of to prevent common nuisance behaviors around the house is to not let them happen. How do you do that? You stop them every time they happen. It is inevitable. And when your dog knows that it is inevitable, it doesn’t take very long before...
by Denise Fenzi | Jun 7, 2019 | Uncategorized
In my last blog, I asked you to think about what your dog does when you are not actively working with them. I suggested that if your dog was offering random behaviors when you were not working, or if your dog does not come back to work with enthusiasm, or if your dog...
by Denise Fenzi | Jun 5, 2019 | Uncategorized
Good training is much more than teaching specific skills or developing your dog’s emotional comfort. You also need a plan for what you will do after you finish one exercise and before you start another, a plan for unsuccessful repetitions, and a plan for...
by Denise Fenzi | May 27, 2019 | Uncategorized
A Predictable sequence of reactivity looks like this… Dog sees a trigger – let’s say another dog. He moves forward, hits the end of the leash, and now he escalates rapidly; up on his toes barking and lunging. That causes the other dog to look and...
by Denise Fenzi | May 9, 2019 | Uncategorized
You’re working on your dog’s polite greetings and your neighbor encourages your dog to jump enthusiastically on her chest. You want your dog to wait politely at the door but your spouse allows them to rush out willy-nilly. Your reactive dog is struggling...
by Denise Fenzi | May 6, 2019 | Uncategorized
Imagine this. You’ve got a young woman preparing for a party. It’s her first one. She’s incredibly nervous, so rather than doing productive things to prepare, she’s moving around the house, a little wild eyed, picking things up to start one...
by Denise Fenzi | May 3, 2019 | Uncategorized
In a nutshell, the Dunning-Kruger effect says that experts tend to overestimate the ability of others to do what they can do, and novices tend to overestimate their ability to do what they really can do. For dog trainers, this is bad news because it means that the...
by Denise Fenzi | Apr 30, 2019 | Uncategorized
Some time ago I started experimenting with incorporating circles into loose leash walking training. I asked everyone I could get my hands on to try it, tell me what happened, and to show me videos whenever possible. When I felt confident about what I was seeing then...
by Denise Fenzi | Apr 23, 2019 | Uncategorized
Do your dogs play fetch? Do you walk them off leash? Do they play together unsupervised? What do they eat or get for toys? Are they crated when you’re not home? You know there is a one in a thousand chance that your dog will get a given disease or get...
by Denise Fenzi | Apr 18, 2019 | Uncategorized
Have you ever heard the dog trainer analogy, “Would you work without a paycheck? Why do you expect your dog to work without a paycheck?” There’s a problem with that analogy because dogs and humans are not the same. Humans are motivated by a wide...
by Denise Fenzi | Apr 15, 2019 | Uncategorized
A few years ago I developed a simple protocol for dogs who are “hyper greeters.” Hyper greeters are not just friendly and enthusiastic dogs. They are dogs who show an extreme lack of impulse control in the presence of people, and as a result they get in a...
by Denise Fenzi | Apr 9, 2019 | Uncategorized
On the way to school this morning, my younger son commented that he knows a lot about driving. He’s got the strategy down. Presumably, this is because my husband normally drives him places and my husband is all about strategic driving. Making the...
by Denise Fenzi | Apr 6, 2019 | Uncategorized
Humans have opinions about behavior. We have clear ideas about which behaviors are good and which are bad. In a nutshell, if we benefit from the behavior of another, then it’s good behavior. And if it inconveniences us in any way? Then it’s bad...
by Denise Fenzi | Mar 27, 2019 | Uncategorized
You’d think I would’ve said all I want to say on this topic. And the truth is, I have. Here is my primary post on how I approach socialization. I have looked it over and I am still comfortable with what I wrote there. And yet I am informed that I have...
by Denise Fenzi | Mar 24, 2019 | Uncategorized
Not sure what foundation skills to teach your new puppy or dog that is destined for dog sports? Here is a recent Facebook live on the topic. I explain what I teach and why I teach it. It applies to all dog sports, so take a look if you need some inspiration about...
by Denise Fenzi | Mar 20, 2019 | Uncategorized
I recently saw a meme that talked about separation anxiety. The owner dressed up a “lookalike” human dummy and left it with her dog. It kept the dog company. The dog’s behavior improved. He began to relax when the owner was not home. It’s...
by Denise Fenzi | Mar 15, 2019 | Uncategorized
This is a rather poorly named post because there were no reactive dogs in Mexico. Not one. Not one snark. Not one growl. Not one lunge. Moreover, the dogs at the conference where I taught looked perfectly happy and relaxed. So many new friends to play with! All...
