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:
- Puppy Foundations
- Building Drive in a Performance Dog
- Obedience Foundations
- Ring Readiness for Obedience
Seminar profits will be donated to PetPAC to help defeat AB 1634, the mandatory spay and neuter law.
2008
- January 5-6, 2008 (2 days of seminar)
- Star City Dog Training Club of Roanoke, VA - Roanoke, Virginia
- Obedience Performance: Novice, Open, Utility, & Schutzhund
- Contact Mitzi
- February 2-3, 2008 (2 days of seminar)
- Palouse Hills Dog Fanciers - Moscow, Idaho
- Building Drive and Motivation in Performance Dogs
- Contact Sharyl
- March 8-10, 2008 (2 days of seminar, followed by 1 day of privates)
- Kenai, Alaska
- Building Drive and Motivation in Performance Dogs
- Contact Cathy
- April 12-14, 2008 (2 days of seminar, followed by 1 day of privates)
- Omaha, Nebraska
- Building Drive and Motivation in Performance Dogs
- Contact Deb
- May 3-4, 2008 (2 days of seminar)
- Lexington, Kentucky
- Building Drive and Motivation in Performance Dogs
- Contact Brydon
- June 7-8, 2008 (2 days of seminar)
- Amherst Junction, Wisconsin
- Building Drive and Motivation in Performance Dogs
- Contact Laurie
- July 26-27, 2008 (2 days of seminar)
- Portland, Oregon
- Day 1: Drives and Motivation for Performance Dogs (all sports)
- Day 2: Novice, Open and Utility; Train Positively
- Contact Joan
- September 27-29, 2008 (2 days of seminar followed by 1 day of privates)
- Kalamazoo, Michigan
- Day 1: Drives and Motivation for Performance Dogs (all sports)
- Day 2: Open and Utility; Train Positively
- Day 3: Privates
- Contact Brenda
- October 25 - 26, 2008 (2 days of seminar)
- Vernon, B.C.
- Motivation, Drives and Games for Performance Dogs (new seminar!)
- Contact Catherine
2009
- February 7-9, 2009 (2 days of seminar followed by 1 day of privates)
- Wasilla, Alaska
- Drives and Motivation for Performance Dogs Contact Krissy
- April 18 - 19, 2009 (2 days of seminar)
- Charlotte, North Carolina
- Drives and Motivation for Performance Dogs with obedience
- Contact Diane
- April 23, 2009 (evening seminar)
- Sacramento, California
- Drives and Motivation for the Performance Dog
- Contact Angela
- August 29 - 30, 2009 (2 days of seminar)
- San Francisco, California
- Drives and Motivation for Performance Dogs Contact Mollie
- September 12 - 13, 2009 (2 days of seminar followed by 1 day of privates)
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Drives and Motivation for Obedience Dogs
- Contact Lynn
- November 21 - 22, 2009 (2 days of seminar)
- Los Angeles, California
- Drives and Motivation for all sports
- Contact Lisa
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
Contact Denise for information on scheduling lessons or a seminar.
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