Taking you and your dog to new heights!
Train with Stacy Online!Stacy teaches several classes each session through Fenzi Dog Sports Academy (FDSA). Classes at FDSA start the 1st of every other month, with registration available approximately a week in advance.
The next session starts April 1st, 2023. Registration will open March 22nd.
Classes this Session
See descriptions below for more information.
N120S: NW120 – Introduction to NW Search Elements
NW465: Making the Inaccessible Hide Easy
NW485: Air Flow! Your Training Superpower (NEW!!)
Registration Opens MAR 22nd
Class Runs APR. 1 – MAY. 12
N120S: NW120 – Introduction to NW Search Elements
NOTE: NW120S has been restructured in order to allow students from NW101 to catch up as needed with the help of either the Instructor (for Gold Spots) or the Teaching Assistant (for Silver & Bronze Spots). Dogs generally pick up and understand Nosework on different learning curves due to a variety of reasons. This restructured approach accommodates these differences with a goal of getting all teams to the same general level of competency by the end of this course.
In this class we will develop and expand on our dog’s hunting skills, first starting in Interiors and then moving into Exteriors. We will heavily utilize ROUTINE and contextual cues in order to help the dog to generalize on their skills. Once we have established basic fluency in searching, we will utilize pattern training through hide placement in order to simultaneously introduce vehicles and teach the skill of wrapping around the vehicle. In the final week, we will shift focus to work on Containers and introduce Buried Hides. The understanding of odor and history of passive indications will help the dog to be immediately successful on Containers while minimizing the potential for destructive Container behavior. AKC Buried hides will be introduced although fluency is not expected in Week 6.
In addition to leveling the learning curves of different dogs, this approach is meant to capitalize on the dog’s motivation for hunting. This approach maximizes good feelings that come from triggering the Seeking System with “Hunting” and delaying “Selection” type elements such as Containers and Buried.
This class is suitable for all students coming out of NW101 provided that at least a little progress was made as well as being suitable for students from prior NW101 classes who may not have started NW120 or who need a refresher in introducing the elements.
Students coming from NW101 who need a little bit of catch-up can expect new lectures to help them with basic fundamentals which have been developed by assessing the general needs as observed in the Student Study Group and Gold Forums from NW101. Those who are farther along on the learning curve will be able to hit the ground running with a generalization approach that has been developed to make searching new places seamless.
Coming out of this class, students will have the foundations necessary to begin to prepare for Odor Recognition Tests (ORT’s) and low level competitive classes.
Long-term success in this sport hinges on a solid foundation and good searching and hide setting habits. This course will get you going in the RIGHT DIRECTION. Teams using Nosework for therapeutic reasons or without competitive goals will appreciate the structures approach that is based on emotional support for the dog and FUN!
NOTE: This class will offer a Teaching Assistant (TA) who will be available to Silver and Bronze students in the Study Group. FDSA TA’s will answer questions and review videos in the Student Study Group.
Registration Opens MAR 22nd
Class Runs APR. 1 – MAY. 12
NW465: Making the Inaccessible Hide Easy
Inaccessible hides require the handler and dog to demonstrate increased trust and communication in order to call alert confidently. Being sure enough to call Alert gets more and more challenging the deeper or the higher the hide is. Imagine being confident enough to KNOW where the hide is located! This class will build on the dog’s sourcing and communication skills and will give the handler the confidence in reading the dog and calling Alert for all types of Inaccessible hide.
This class is built on a foundation of sourcing and driving to source. The first few weeks reinforce the dog’s belief that all hides can be sourced if they work hard enough. At the same time, we will work on the handler timing of the marker (which coincides with the timing of the Alert call) so that the dog is encouraged to continue to drive in rather than pull away from the hide.
The last few weeks of class will be focused on working the 3 types of inaccessible hides (reach, elevation, and containment). We will discuss air flow considerations specific to each type of inaccessible hide and will set up varying challenges that leverage both thermal and air pressure changes that can makes these sorts of hide particularly challenging.
The premise of this class is a strong foundation in driving into source and the subsequent application to inaccessible hides that makes inaccessible hides easy to read and call.
NOTE: This class will offer a Teaching Assistant (TA) who will be available to Silver and Bronze students in the Study Group. FDSA TA’s will answer questions and review videos in the Student Study Group.
Registration Opens MAR 22nd
Class Runs APR. 1 – MAY. 12
NW485: Air Flow! Your Training Superpower (NEW!!)
What do you get when you combine air movement, target odor, strategic hide placement, and setup strategy? You get a dog who understands how to search effectively!
Dogs naturally understand what odor is. However, not all odors behave the same. If you are searching for essential oil, the odor will be lofty and will form large scent cones that rapidly change with air movement. This means that your dog actually has to start to problem solve SOONER because they initially get information farther away from the hide. We can use our understanding of air flow to put the dog into searching situations that give them the primer to solving the riddles of big, buoyant odor. That is what this class is about!
It doesn’t stop there. In our human minds we like to picture scent cones as continuous things that point to source and we can negated the circular nature of air flow and how changeable conditions can be. When we forget these things our dogs get stuck in trapping odor and as handlers, we may not see our dogs trying to work through and get out of diffuse odor pools. This class deals with that too!
You will learn the science behind air flow and will take steps to learn to understand how to make it work for you. We will let our dogs work in a way that helps them to problem solve and then will understand what we need to do as handlers to keep them from spinning their wheels. This class will deal with both wind/HVAC and thermal influences.
Setup examples will be given, however this class is meant to be exploratory in nature.
NOTE: This class will offer a Teaching Assistant (TA) who will be available to Silver and Bronze students in the Study Group. FDSA TA’s will answer questions and review videos in the Student Study Group.
Self Study Classes
Learn at your own pace with Self Study Classes! You get all the lectures and example videos from the original course all for only $50
Learn WHY your dog might be smashing boxes and learn HOW to fix it.
This class will lead you through diagnosis of your box smashing problem and then will give you the necessary steps to address the CORE ISSUE.
This class is designed with written assignments and thought provoking questions that students will use to discuss how to PLAN AND RUN a successful in person Nosework class.
PLEASE NOTE: This class will NOT teach how to teach Nosework… we have other classes for that! In fact, this class will be methodology agnostic… please feel free to participate regardless of your methods for introducing odor.
This self-study option is a series of three recorded webinars that work together. There are no written lectures. Webinars include:
- The Single Hide
- Multiple Hides
- Blank Areas