Taking you and your dog to new heights!

Published May 14, 2021 by Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

Stacy recently designed a new working model to visually represent the various capabilities successful nosework dogs need — and on today’s podcast we chat about the pieces, and how they help you get trial ready.

Published December 4, 2020 by Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

On Dec. 8th, 2020 FDSA will launch a brand new Nosework titling program as part of the TEAM titling options! Today we have Melissa, Julie, and Stacy on to talk about the program and what you can expect!

What is sourcing?

• Dogs driving to the highest concentration of odor
• It isn’t ONLY the moment of the dog finding target, it’s the entire components of the dog’s drive as they search for the scent

Overview of the components of a search

• A large component is your dog not being in odor all of the time
• The dog has to seek out the odor, driving to the source, getting to the source, and alerting to the source

What does sourcing LOOK like in our dogs?

• Look for the “aha” moment
• Look for an emotional shift
• If they understand the game, they will get excited 

How to handle our dogs to help them (without creating MORE problems)

• Reinforce the “aha” moment and put emphasis on driving to the source. After that, you can start adding the final response/the alert 
• It’s more important to focus on the sourcing, rather than the final response, because once you learn to read your dog’s sourcing body language, you won’t necessarily need a final response
• Allow your dog to work independently, don’t help too much 
• Try to teach your dog to not pay attention to your behavior and focus on sourcing
• Consider what you’re doing with your body pressure
• Be mindful of human precision vs dog precision
• Don’t underestimate your dog

 Exercises for building a dog’s ability to source/drive to odor

• Set your exercises up for success
• Thermal puzzles
• 3-dimensional searches 

Find K9 Conservationists at: https://k9conservationists.org/

Confidence is a challenging concept…  it’s a matter of balance…  knowing your dog and setting your dog up for success. This Podcast explores how we assess confidence and how we determine how to build it.

Fenzi Dog Sports Academy Podcast Published February 21, 2020

https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/blog/e154-stacy-barnett-the-evolution-of-a-dog-trainer

Fenzi Dog Sports Academy Podcast published May 31, 2019

https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/blog/e116-stacy-barnett-the-building-blocks-of-nosework