Julie Flanery (she/her), CPDT-KA has been working professionally with dogs and their handlers since 1993. She focuses on the needs of the dog and helping people form a strong relationship, through clear communication, and positive reinforcement.
She has placed Obedience, Freestyle, Rally, Rally-FrEe, Agility, Trick Dog and Parkour titles on her dogs and has earned a Championship in Heelwork-to-Music and a Grand Championship in Freestyle and Elite Grand Championship MCL in Rally-FrEe. She has achieved both High Technical Merit and High Artistic Merit in both Freestyle and Heelwork to Music several times over, including three prestigious Attila Challenge awards, as well as several “Top H.A.T.” awards for High Scoring Heelwork, Attention and Teamwork. In 2001 she was named "Trainer of the Year" by the World Canine Freestyle Organization and has been a competition freestyle judge since 2003.
In 2012, Julie developed the sport of Rally-FrEe, combining trick and freestyle skills on a Rally style course, to help freestylers increase the quality and precision of their performances. It has since become a stand-alone sport enjoyed by dog sport enthusiasts worldwide. Julie is the author of "Joy of Heeling: Building Confidence, Enthusiasm and Precision through Games! based on her popular FDSA course Joy of Heeling: Rock it Like a Freestyler!
Pronouns: Julie goes by she/her.
You’ve found the Joy! Now how are you going to keep it and use it in the ring! In Joy of Heeling Part Deux we will add some new games, start to add duration in heelwork and start to change the ratio of heeling to games. We will integrate the games into your obedience exercises and freestyle routines, and we’ll explore how you can use your Joy games to build value in your chains and sequences through back chaining! If you and your dog loved bringing more Joy to your Heeling in Rock it Like a Freestyler! You’ll love Part Deux. There’s no such thing as too much Joy of Heeling!
What is your ideal picture of beautiful heelwork? It likely includes words like precision and accuracy. Does it go beyond that to include enthusiasm, energy, lift, spark and joy? These are the attributes that make heelwork beautiful to behold, exciting to train and yes! Fun for both dog and handler! By building animation, energy and enthusiasm as a separate piece from precision we can increase the rate of reward for each, creating value and joy in our heelwork training and performance.
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