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:
2007
- January, 2006
- Oakland Dog Training Club - Oakland, California
- Obedience Foundations: Follow-up
- Contact Marianne
- January 27-28, 2007: 9am-4pm
- Kalamazoo, Michigan
- Building Drive and Motivation in Performance Dogs
- Contact Kathy
- February 10, 2006: 9am-1pm
- Salinas-Monterey Agility Racing Team (SMART) - Salinas, California
- Building Drive and Motivation in Performance Dogs
- Contact Derede
- February 24-25, 2007: 9am-4pm
- Houston, Texas
- Building Drive and Motivation in Performance Dogs
- Contact Penny
- May 12-13, 2007: four half-day seminars
- Kalamazoo, Michigan
- Four half day seminars:
- Puppy Foundations
- Building Drive in a Performance Dog
- Obedience Foundations
- Ring Readiness for Obedience
- Contact Kathy
- June 2-3, 2007: 9am-4pm
- Star City Dog Training Club of Roanoke, VA - Roanoke, Virginia
- Building Drive and Motivation
- Contact Mitzi
- July 14, 2007: 9am-4pm
- San Francisco, California
- Building Drive and Motivation
Seminar profits will be donated to PetPAC to help defeat AB 1634, the mandatory spay and neuter law. - Contact Marianne or download flier
- July 21-22, 2007: 9am-4pm
- Salem, Oregon
- Building Drive and Motivation
- Contact Tamara
- August 11, 2007: 9am-4pm (1 day only)
- Salinas-Monterey Agility Racing Team (SMART) - Salinas, California
- Building Drive and Motivation in Performance Dogs
- Contact Derede
- October 20, 2007: 8am-4pm (1 day only)
- Pawdemonium Flyball Club, San Jose, California
- Building Drive and Motivation in Performance Dogs
- Contact Debi or download flier
- November 17-18, 2007: 9am - 4pm
- Renegade Agility - Waterford, Wisconsin
- Obedience Foundations
- Contact Nancy
- December 15-16, 2007: 9am-4pm
- Vancouver, Washington
- Building Drive and Motivation in Performance Dogs
- Contact Joan
2008
- January 5-6, 2008: 9am-4pm
- Star City Dog Training Club of Roanoke, VA - Roanoke, Virginia
- Obedience Performance: Novice, Open, Utility, & Schutzhund
- Contact Mitzi
- February 2-3, 2008: 9am-4pm
- Palouse Hills Dog Fanciers - Moscow, Idaho
- Building Drive and Motivation in Performance Dogs
- Contact Sharyl
- March 8-10, 2008: 9am-4pm (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 9am-4pm (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 9am-4pm (2 days of seminar)
- Lexington, Kentucky
- Building Drive and Motivation in Performance Dogs
- Contact Brydon
- June 7-8, 2008 9am-4pm (2 days of seminar)
- Amherst Junction, Wisconsin
- Building Drive and Motivation in Performance Dogs
- Contact Laurie
Contact Denise for information on scheduling lessons or a seminar.
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