FF270 Training in Harmony: Developing Clarity, Connection, and Confidence

This class is NEW for 2025-26. Expect this syllabus to evolve throughout the term based on the progress, interests, and goals of enrolled students. The Six C’s framework creates structure, but how we explore each concept will be shaped by the teams in class.

Concept Topics:

Week 1 Compassion — Recognizing the emotional needs of both ends of the leash

• Understanding frustration… in dogs and humans
• Decompression and recognizing your dog’s natural recovery patterns.
• Seeing your dog as they are, not as you hoped they’d be
• Grace in the messy middle

Week 2 Connection — Attunement, engagement, and shared focus

• Noticing micro-signals
• Building simple connection rituals
• Responding to your dog’s choices
• Engagement that begins with tiny moments of attention and grows with practice

Week 3 Clarity — Clean communication that reduces noise and increases understanding

• Markers, reinforcement delivery, and cue clean up
• Simplifying criteria
• Establishing predictable patterns
• Helping your dog succeed through clear expectations

Week 4 Confidence — Stepping into capability and supporting bravery

• Small wins that build momentum
• Layering difficulty with intention
• Safe challenges that stretch without overwhelming
• Helping dogs and handlers trust their choices

Week 5 Curiosity — Observing without judgment and exploring what’s possible

• Shaping as a way to observe your dog’s thinking
• Experimenting with setups, props, and environments
• Staying open when things go differently than planned
• Turning “mistakes” into learning information

Week 6 Creativity — Flexible, joyful training that adapts to the team in front of you

• Remixing familiar skills
• Creating new games from old patterns
• Letting your dog’s preferences inspire your session
• Training as play, exploration, and expression

Course Flow

Each week follows a simple rhythm:

• Motivation Monday to set the tone…
• Try It Tuesday for a small skill or experiment…
• Workout Wednesday for practice…
• Thoughtful Thursday for reflection…
• Flex Friday for adapting the ideas to your lifestyle and dog.

Content will grow with student participation. Gold students may work through the weekly themes or bring their own goals and apply the Six C’s to their current training.

Weekends for continued growth:

• Compassion Vibe: The Art of Noticing.
• Connection Vibe: Shared Moments
• Clarity Vibe: Slow Observation
• Confidence Vibe: Celebrate a Win
• Curiosity Vibe: Exploration
• Creativity Vibe: Follow Joy

Week 1, Intro Lecture: Welcome to the Six C’s

Hi everyone, and welcome. I’m really glad you’re here.

NOTE: Want to watch a video of this lecture instead of reading it? Click on the video above!

Before we jump into training or themes or techniques, I want to take a moment to settle in together. This class is about understanding your dog with more clarity and understanding yourself with more compassion. It’s about creating a training space where both of you can breathe, think, try, and recover. And it’s about letting go of the idea that training has to be perfect to be meaningful.

I’m Crystal Wing. I’m a dog trainer, a retired high school art teacher, and someone who learns best by exploring, experimenting, and following curiosity. I’ve spent years teaching teenagers how to find their creative voice and years teaching handlers how to understand their dogs. Those worlds overlap more than you might think. We learn better when we feel safe. We think better when we aren’t afraid of mistakes. We connect better when we slow down enough to see what is really happening in front of us.

That is what the Six C’s are all about.

Let me introduce them.

Compassion
Compassion is where everything begins. Training gets messy. We get frustrated. Our dogs get confused. Compassion helps us pause instead of push. It helps us see our dog as they are today, not as the future version we hope they’ll be. It gives us space to recover and try again.

Connection
Connection is the moment when you and your dog are tuned in to each other. It can be a glance, a tail wag, a breath, or a feeling of “yes, we’re here together.” Connection makes training feel like a partnership instead of a performance. It can be quiet or playful or simple. And it is powerful.

Clarity
Clarity is communication that makes sense to your dog. It is clean markers, predictable reinforcement, simple criteria, and fewer mixed messages. When clarity grows, frustration decreases and confidence rises. Your dog starts saying “oh, I know what you mean.” You start saying “oh, I see what you’re telling me.”

Confidence
Confidence looks like bravery in small doses. It is the courage to try again. It is the willingness to stretch just a little beyond comfort. For handlers, confidence is trusting your timing and your plan. For dogs, it is knowing they will not be punished for experimenting, offering, or learning at their own pace.

Curiosity
Curiosity is the mindset that asks “what is happening here” instead of “why isn’t this working.” It invites you to explore before you correct. It encourages you to observe before you judge. Curiosity softens training and opens the door for creativity.

Creativity
Creativity is where training becomes expressive instead of rigid. It is finding joy in small moments. It is trying a new version of a familiar exercise or creating a game that fits your dog perfectly. Creativity reminds us that training can be playful, not pressured.

These Six C’s work together. They overlap, swirl, influence each other, and build on each other. You do not have to master one before moving on to the next. You will move through them again and again in different ways. That is exactly how this class is designed.

Throughout the course, we use a simple weekly rhythm.
Motivation Monday helps us start the week with intention.
Try It Tuesday gives you a small action.
Workout Wednesday is for practice.
Thoughtful Thursday is for reflection.
Flex Friday lets you adapt the ideas to your life and your dog.

You are welcome to follow the weekly themes or bring your own training goals and filter them through the C’s. Gold students can work entirely on their own behaviors if they prefer. The Six C’s framework will support whatever you are working on.

There is no pressure here to get everything right. There is no expectation that your dog will perform perfectly. There is no judgment if something goes sideways. This is a class about learning, recovering, and growing… not about perfection.

My hope is that by the end of these six weeks, you will feel closer to your dog, clearer in your communication, braver in your choices, and more curious in your training. And maybe even a little more creative in how you see what is possible for the two of you.

Welcome. Let’s get started with compassion.