NW320 Motivating Drills for Maintaining Skills

Like with many sports, it's nice to have some drills to set up and run! Drills can help us maintain skills. They can also surface gaps! We may also find we aren't pushing ourselves for more challenges when the dog is ready!

Course Details

Like with many sports, it's nice to have some drills to set up and run! Drills can help us maintain skills. They can also surface gaps! We may also find we aren't pushing ourselves for more challenges when the dog is ready!

Heck, having some ready made drills can simply get us out to train which is great stimulation, enrichment and even some decompression when we might be feeling overwhelmed and stressed with the world!

Specific drill details will be provided - the where, what, how! Each search will be reviewed for skill competency for next steps: is there is a gap that needs nurturing or are ready for more! Setups will be generally straight forward to minimize fuss, including some pre-planning to be ready to go on a moments notice!

Teaching Approach

This class offers written lectures, no verbal lectures, and videos of varying lengths. It is rare that relevant speaking takes place within a video; they are designed to be watched and follow the ideas presented in the lecture. Lecture videos may run from 30s to 3 minutes long, with the average between 1-2 minutes. The lectures are designed to help a student understand the purpose of the drill and how it might vary by dog. Care is taken to keep lectures short. Each week 4 drills are rolled out at the start of the week. This class will work best for students who learn by reading text lectures, watching videos and who like having structured lesson plans.

This class will have a Teacher's Assistant (TA) available in the Facebook study group to help the Bronze and Silver students! Directions for joining will be in the classroom after you register.

Syllabus

Four drills will be rolled out each week covering the following setups along with handling goals:

  1. Unique search locations
  2. Hide Placement challenges
  3. Working with distractions
  4. Search space considerations (tight/open)

Week 1:

  • Unique Search Location - Containers in the woods or along a trail
  • Hide Placement Challenge - Blocking Hide
  • Working with Distractions - Proofing Novel Distractors
  • Search Space - Wide Open Spaces

Week 2:

  • Unique search locations - Courtyard/Area between buildings
  • Hide Placement Challenge - Fight to get to hide
  • Working with Distractions - Intentional Distractors in Interiors/Exteriors
  • Search Space - Elevated Flooring

Week 3:

  • Unique Search Location - Woodsy area or uneven footing
  • Hide Placement Challenge - Lows and Highs
  • Working with Distractions - Unintentional distractors
  • Search Space - Scent Hurdles

Week 4:

  • Unique Search Location - Unkept area
  • Hide Placement Challenge - People next to hide
  • Working with Distractions - Novel Distractors in Containers
  • Search Space - Maze Search

Week 5:

  • Unique Search Location - Aisles and Rows
  • Hide Placement Challenge - Hide Behind You
  • Working with Distractions - Handler Distraction
  • Search Space - Area with no boundaries!

Week 6:

  • Unique Search Location - Raised level
  • Hide Placement Challenge - Hides in bathrooms
  • Working with Distraction - Pooling Odors
  • Search Space - BLANK areas
  • Bonus Drill

Prerequisites & Supplies

For teams trialing or training post-Novice level.

Equipment:

travel kits squarejpg

Sample Lecture

Week 1-1: Unique Search Location - Containers in the woods or along a trail

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We'll kick off the class with a search that matches the thumbnail of this class!

This setup also overlaps with distractions - the environment. Critters, smells, possible people around!

Simply take up to 8 containers or a few more and head to a walking trail or woody/leafy/sandy area. Pick what makes sense for your climate/landscape/location.

  • Decide on how many to make hot.
  • Grab a few containers headed out to the recycle bin - cereal boxes, take out containers. Something you won't keep and hoard but will go right to recyle bin when back home!
  • Plan to say finish after your dog has cleared the containers .
  • You can give your dog 2 passes and then call finish.
  • Have a plan if you return to found hides when you go back down the line. Feed again, or say something like "good boy, find another". I'm moving away from saying "you found that one" as it's not very clear ... cuing them to find more is clearer!

Here's Ellen and CIder who were able to set this up at home.

For a more advanced setup - you can scatter the boxes in the woods, some partly hidden.


Instructors

Julie Symons (she/her) has been involved in dog sports for over 30 years. Starting with her mix, Dreyfus, in flyball, she went on to train and compete in conformation, agility, obedience, herding and tracking with her first Belgian tervuren, Rival. Rival was the first CH OTCH MACH Belgian...

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Registration

Choose the plan that fits your goals and start learning at your own pace.

Gold

$260

Enrollment limit: 12

  • Access to all lectures and homework forums discussion
  • Read all posted questions and answers
  • Watch all posted videos
  • Post general questions to discussion forum
  • Submit written assignments
  • Post dog specific questions
  • Post videos (unlimited)
  • Receive instructor feedback

Registration dates:

January 22, 2026 - February 15, 2026

Silver

$130

Enrollment limit: 25

  • Access to all lectures and homework forums discussion
  • Read all posted questions and answers
  • Watch all posted videos
  • Post general questions to discussion forum
  • Post dog specific questions (video only)
  • Post videos (up to 2)
  • Receive instructor feedback

Registration dates:

January 22, 2026 - February 15, 2026

Bronze

$65

Enrollment limit: Unlimited

  • Access to all lectures and homework forums discussion
  • Read all posted questions and answers
  • Watch all posted videos

Registration dates:

January 22, 2026 - February 15, 2026

Scholarship available! Apply here

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I have struggled to find a trainer in my area that would consistently work with my reactive dog. We often got dumped in the summer, classes cancelled, or was told that we weren't part of the trainers focus. I thought that I would never be able to improve my training beyond reading and watching DVDs. I thought that I would never get personal feedback. I felt discouraged and excluded from the dog training community. I thought that I would always have mediocre training and a mediocre relationship with my dog. A friend recommended FDSA and I enrolled in "It's All Tricks" with Deborah Jones at Gold level. In 6 weeks my dog has become more confident than I've ever seen her. She is more motivated and eager to learn. Furthermore, my confidence as a trainer has improved. I finally feel like I have a resource that I can rely on. At FDSA it doesn't matter that my dog is reactive, we can finally work on exercises that would have been completely inaccessible before. Deb has been absolutely wonderful to work with. She provides kind, encouraging and constructive feedback with meaningful critique. This experience has been the epitome of what I have always dreamt that training my dog would be. I cannot be thankful enough to have discovered FDSA. It has given my dog and I a second chance at having a successful, meaningful relationship. I cannot wait to enroll in more classes. I wasn't so certain that online classes would be REALLY useful - I am blown away by how much one can learn and implement through the online system - certainly makes it possible to participate in novel learning experiences that would not otherwise be available!

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I was at first hesitant about taking online training courses, in general. This course has convinced me that it can be almost an even better training and learning opportunity, reviewing your training sessions with the instructors input, analyzing what you did yourself. Precise, fast and clear instructions, help and very positive feedback made this course a blast - 6 weeks went by too fast! I live on a farm way out in the country and while my dog loves to learn between his severe travel anxiety and the price of gas we don't have a lot of opportunities to try new classes. The Fenzi Academy is perfect for us and gives us the opportunity to try things and have access to trainers that we would never have in person. Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity! This is my first time taking a Fenzi Academy class, but not my first time taking an online class. I have to say it is the best experience I have had so far. What was better than previous experiences is the greater detail in breaking down training plans with good videos and lectures, and making it less of a "figure it out yourself" kind of experience. The other component is technology they use allows for more organized discussion and content delivery - it may seem secondary to the quality of teaching, but the delivery tools are really important. Lastly, the timeliness and quality of the coaching was excellent. will be taking additional classes in the future and would recommend her course and Fenzi Academy to others.

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