Seminars & Private Lessons: Sprite Working Belgian Tervuren

Seminars & Private Lessons

Denise and Soja turning in a full point heeling routine at the ABTC specialty.

About Denise...

Denise's positive training methods are widely recognized for producing dogs with exceptional attention, accuracy and enthusiasm for their work.

A twenty-five year veteran of training, competing, and titling in schutzhund, obedience, tracking, agility, conformation, and herding who has earned multiple HITs in obedience and schutzhund along the way, Denise regularly teaches obedience for both the AKC ring and schutzhund field. She breeds working Belgian Tervuren under the kennel name "Sprite."

In competition, Denise's and her students' dogs routinely score in the high 190s in AKC obedience and high 90s in schutzhund obedience. In 2004, Denise earned a perfect score of 100 points in schutzhund obedience with her 18 month old Tervuren "Cisu." In early 2005, Cisu and Denise scored 199.5 and HIT out of the Novice B class at the ABTC National, narrowly edging out her own "Soja."

Seminars & Private Lessons

Denise is available on a limited basis for private lessons and seminars.

In a seminar or private lesson format, Denise quickly identifies problem areas and offers solutions which are both easy to understand and easy to apply. Without gimmicks or tools, she can often make a significant difference in a dog's performance in one or two lessons.

Denise does more than teach you to train your dog in specific exercises. She teaches you to understand the work from your dog's point of view, so you become a problem solver for your dog.

She places special emphasis on handler body mechanics in teaching, to assist the handler in communicating expectations while teaching the dog to self-correct without verbal or leash help. This "body reining" approach results in increased attention and awareness in the dog as they adjust and respond to subtle handling.

Denise has an affinity for working with puppies, dogs that have had harsh training in the past, and dogs needing retraining on poorly-taught exercises.

Possible seminar topics include:

Building your relationship with your dog
Nurturing/harnessing play drive; games to play with your dog
Maintaining consistent cues and criteria
Building drive to work
Developing control in drive; using obedience in drive
Active vs. passive stays
Start line and table issue problem solving
Reading and reacting to your dog's stress level
Choosing a competition puppy and laying a good foundation for performance
Clicker training
Preparing for trial/testing your trial readiness
Problem solving AKC obedience exercises
Problem solving Schutzhund obedience exercises

Seminar Schedule:

2010

January 9 - 10, 2010 (2 days of seminar, privates on Friday the 8th): Los Angeles, California; Drives and Motivation for All Sports; Contact Stephanie
February 13 - 14, 2010 (2 days of seminar, privates Monday the 15th): Marin Humane Society, Marin, CA; Drives and Motivation for All sports; Contact Dawn
March 20 - 21, 2010 (2 days of seminar, privates on Monday the 22nd): Los Angeles, California; Valley Hills Obedience Club; Drives and Motivation for Obedience; Contact Nancy
April 3 - 4, 2010 (2 days of seminar): Yorba Linda, California (Jumpstart); Drives and Motivation for All Sports; Contact Addy
April 17 - 19, 2010 (2 days of seminar followed by one day of privates): Las Vegas, Nevada; Drives and Motivation for All Sports; Contact Debbie
May 2, 2010 (1 day of seminar, privates on April 30th and May 1st): Riverside, California; Advanced agility Seminar on "Focus, agility obedience, and advanced play techniques." Specifically for individuals who have attended one of the basic seminars for all sports or obedience; Contact Stephanie
May 29 - 30, 2010 (2 days of seminar followed by privates on the 31st): Brattleboro, Vermont; Drive and Motivation for All Sports; Contact Lucy
July 31 - August 16, 2010: Portland, Oregon; Drive and Motivation for All Sports; Contact Joan
August 24 - 26, 2010 (Stacy Peridot agility camp): Colorado; Drive and Motivation for Agility; Contact Stacy
September 25 - 26, 2010: Norco, California; Drive and Motivation for Schutzhund; Contact Susan
October 23 - 24, 2010 (2 days of seminar followed by privates on the 25th): Connecticut; Competition Obedience Seminar; Contact Joyce
November 6 - 7, 2010 (2 days of seminar followed by privates on the 8th): Lexington, Kentucky; Drive and Motivation for All Sports; Contact Brydon
November 13 - 14, 2010: Los Angeles, California; Obedience for Agility Seminar; Contact Maureen
December 4 - 5, 2010: Santa Rosa, California; Foundation Obedience Seminar (Dec 4th)
Problem Solving Seminar (Dec 5th); Contact Lisa
April, 2011 (weekend not set yet): Netherlands; Obedience for IPO Dogs; Contact Jose

Contact Denise for information on scheduling lessons or a seminar.