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Funtional Agility Booklets

Not all issues that we have with our dogs can be fixed with "training".  Many of them take a lot of management until the "training" bites.  Most of them need concentrated behavior change which includes desensitization, learning incompatible behaviors, and changing emotional response.

Our booklets are designed to help you with common issues.  Each book is $10 and has a complete 6 week curriculum  for you to implement to assist your dog in being the best he can be in your world. Paperback books are $15 each, shipping is extra.  Paperback books are purchased straight from the printer - Lulu.

If you want a complete set of books, just press the button below.  Price for the complete set is 10% off.  

books and booklets

Fitness Fundamentals - Core Concepts

Functional training takes us back to the roots of our association with canines and getting back to the basics of movement, body awareness, the flow that should be inherent in moving from space to space and when navigating obstacles, balance, coordination, flexibility and agility. 

Function Training starts with Fitness.  Fitness helps provide your dog with the strength, stability, power, mobility, endurance and flexibility that s/he needs to thrive as s/he moves through life and sports. Using basic functional movement patterns like pushing, pulling, lunging, squatting, rotating, carrying and gait patterns, Functional Training utilizes exercises that improve movement proficiency, enhance performance and decrease injury.

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Fitness Fundamentals Advanced

Snake avoidance is purely about teaching a dog that the sight, smell or sound of a rattlesnake is to be avoided. This is no different than teaching a dog not to cross the street without our approval, rush the open front door, beg at the table or poop in the house. It’s also a lot easier then teaching a dog to alert someone to an impending seizure or a dangerous drop in blood sugar levels.


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Fitness Fundamentals Expert

Running. Jumping. Playing. Problem solving. Dogs live for this stuff!
Exercise—for both mind AND body—should be fun for you and your dog.

Over 100 exercises are available for those who cannot for whatever reason, walk or run their dog every single day for long enough to satisfy the dog's needs.

J

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Flowgility  Puppy

For a while in the training world, it was said that if you put a behavior under stimulus control that it would disappear from the dog's repertoire except when you cued it. Sometimes this worked, sometimes it was a disaster as the dog would start doing the behavior compulsively to get rewarded. The problem with this method is that it doesn't go far enough.

Most of the behaviors that a dog does where this method has been used are behaviors that are natural to a dog, usually when stressed or confused. Barking, digging, jumping, humping, and a few others. They are explosive actions (believe me, digging is explosive around my house) designed to immediately relieve the tension from stress. Eventually they become habits whenever a confusing or stressful situation happens.

Sometimes this includes situations that cause a dog to get thoroughly excited. 

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Flowgility   Basics

Separation Anxiety is a big issue, especially with rescued dogs.  Something in their life caused them to fear being left alone and that needs to be addressed because your entire house is destroyed.

Introducing the 3 day, game changing protocol.The intention with these games is to put so much value into playing WITH you, that anything you have is also valuable. The toy you are squeaking becomes valuable to the dog and he wants it Then you can start with tug, drop, run (wait til your dog bites the toy, drop it and run – he should run after you with the toy in his mouth).

Make this whole routine fun for both you and the dog. You can enthusiastically charge out of closets and rooms to start the play sessions or throwing a handful of treats (or his dinner). Really get into the card shuffle game and realize how silly humans are with their routines and habits and laugh at yourself. Your emotions and energy level will affect how well your dog does with this.

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Flowgility   Mazes

Imagine if our dogs can help us around the house. With our dogs doing the chores, life would be so much easier, right? Some trainers say we should give our dogs jobs in order to solve their behavior issues, and in reality, that is pretty much exactly what you should do. However, putting on a backpack and adding a jar of pickles for weight is not a "job"; it does not challenge the dog in anyway except physically.

Many dogs are trained to help the disabled. These assistance/service dogs are trained to help out around the house, doing things like opening the fridge, fetch objects, turning the lights on and off, alerting to sound and movement and so much more.

Dogs’ roles in society, which in the last 100 years became more of a companion then a partner, are again expanding. But you can easily train your dog to help you around the house just like assistance dogs are trained.

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Flowgility   Seniors

Socialization means learning to be part of society. When we talk about socializing pet puppies, it means helping them learn to be comfortable as a pet within human society-a society that includes many different types of people, environments, buildings, sights, noises, smells, animals and other dogs.

True learning first starts in an environment that both members of the human/dog team can concentrate – at home! With Savvy online videos, you can train your dog or pup away from over-stimulating or terrifying environments, setting it up so both you and your dog can succeed. As success is gained, the Savvy online videos will show you how to start training your dog or pup in more distractive situations so you can gain a reliable response from your dog away from the comfort of your home environment.

By approaching training this way – initially training in the quiet of your home and then continue to build the foundation in other environments – you will not only gain a dog that has self control and focus’s on you, but also you will have a willing partner in your relationship with your dog.

You want your puppy to see the world as a friendly place, and the people and animals he shares it with as his friends.

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Shadow Games Puppy Program

How often are you distracted during the day? It's a question that's almost laughable, right? Most of us are distracted several, if not dozens, of times every day.  The amount of "extra" things we deal with in daily life are never ending.

Now imagine living in a world that wasn't designed for a human. How many distractions would there be? Everything is strange and noisy and smelly. This is what our dogs contend with while living with us. There are cars and trucks, bicycles and skateboards, noises from the toaster and microwave, the a/c or heater clanking into gear – a million sounds, smells, sights and even emotions that nature never intended canines to endure.

Rather than minimize the distractions, train in a distraction free zone, and gradually build up tolerance to what is basically a foreign environment, this class is going to teach you how to immunize your dog before you even start thinking about proofing behaviors or getting fluency. Imagine that upon entering a new space, your dog has the skills to investigate and familiarize himself with all that is there and with minimal stress. Imagine that your dog, after having done this investigation, turns to you and says "Let's work!!!"

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Shadow Games Obstacles

We all know the benefits of allowing a dog to scent and gather information about their environment. This is an exercise you can do at the beginning of each class to allow high energy dogs as well as shy and insecure dogs to focus and decompress. Place a number of household items scattered about in one area of your training space. You can use things such as folding chairs, large stuffed animals, children's toys, umbrellas, suitcases, rollerblades and various kitchen gadgets. As dogs and students arrive, have each team walk their dog through the enrichment area one at a time, letting them sniff any object they wish to. There is no food or play involved with this exercise. Students can praise shy and insecure dogs for showing courage in sniffing any item.

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Shadow Games Scent & Retrieve

Four legged animals move in natural rhythm, without it they would trip over their own feet more often than not. Some dogs are designed to have very efficient movement that serves the long distance purpose with minimum loss of energy, and others can go for shorter distances with a more stylised action. Some dogs have one at the front end and the other at the back! But hey, each is still in balance.

Walking your dog on a daily basis is very important to your efforts at training. There are two huge benefits to the daily walk, the exercise of body and the exercise of mind. Exercising the body helps to prevent numerous behavior problems at home.

Exercising the mind through a daily walk will assist a dog owner in his training efforts. Learning to walk on a loose leash takes time and effort, but the exercise is one in listening to, engaging with, and paying attention to the owner. This helps to reinforce the willingness to listen to and pay attention in other aspects of life.

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Shadow Games Puzzle Solving, Mazes and Trouble Shooting

When you bring a new dog into your home there will be excitement, planning, and ideas of what you may envision doing with your new family member, things may start moving forward, sometimes very quickly in this vision of your happy dog home.

This usually starts with classes, training commands and behaviors.
Now imagine this new family member is an adult dog that you may know little or nothing about: training or lack there of, behavior issues, or what they have already experienced in their life.

We think as humans and process by setting goals and the steps that this new family member will take to get there. Sometimes we forget to think about how this must look through the eyes of the dog. What is your new dog thinking or experiencing in this strange new environment with this human they know nothing about?

These first impressions can be lasting for your dog and you so it's important to have them be positive and fun.
This booklet will help you to learn more about your new dog. 

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Beauty in Movement Puppy

Have you ever called your young dog and he goes the other way? Recall, or "Come when called" training is vital to keeping your dog safe at the beach, in your yard, at the dog park or even around home. Come and enjoy some time with your dog while increasing the probability that your dog will come to you each and every time you call.

COME!!! The single toughest, most critical, most asked about, most theorized about and most paid for command in the dog training world. Learn the techniques to teach your dog to come when you call it - EVERY TIME! 

Training your dog to walk and act responsibly off-leash is one of the best things you can do for your relationship with your dog. 

This is a great way of training your dog to keep him under control when in public, but also to respond to commands, which can help you avoid trouble if your dog suddenly darts towards an unfriendly dog or out into traffic. Like it's name indicates, off leash dog training keeps you in control of your dog without the use of a leash.

One of the true tests of a well trained dog is when they obey commands with temptation all around. In the real world there will be cats who dash by, other dogs, garbage to eat, you name it. That's when all the time spent training can really pay off and make your life a lot easier taking your dog out. Off leash training is necessary to achieve a well mannered dog when not on a leash.

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Beauty in Movement Basics

Would you like to train your dog to stay in your yard, not bolt out doors and wait in the car until you release him?

Wouldn't it be nice to be 100% confident that your dog will stay in your yard even without a fence or leash (ok, 95%)? Is there a room in your house your dog must remain out of, such as baby's room, your formal dining room, or your business office? Are you frustrated with your dog trampling your flowers in the garden you worked so hard on?

Prey distractions (cats, squirrels, snakes) are one that many people struggle with because they are generally outside of the handler's control - you can neither manipulate their appearance or at what distance they appear. That said, remote control cars, other dogs, or other fast-moving objects can often stimulate the same chase response that prey animals do and can function as good distractions which you can manipulate for distance and movement. 

Any particular dog has many instinctive motivations to do what they do - finding food, finding mates, feeling safe during rest, not wasting energy on unproductive activities and interaction with others. He consciously or unconsciously controls his environment in order to provide for himself the necessities of survival. Living with humans is an artificial environment and most of the necessities of survival are provided by the humans - usually in abundance.

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Beauty in Movement Advanced

Running. Jumping. Playing. Problem solving. Dogs live for this stuff!
Exercise—for both mind AND body—should be fun for you and your dog.

Over 100 exercises are available for those who cannot for whatever reason, walk or run their dog every single day for long enough to satisfy the dog's needs.

Just as with our Service Dog program, we will teach each student how to creatively exercise dogs so that it is fun, fullfilling, and useful. There is no boredom with these exercises, they can be done from your easy chair or with your running shoes on.

In addition, most of these exercises are also structured games that we use in our programs, so not only are you exercising your dog, you are also teaching!

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Beauty in Movement Expert

It's all the rage with school children these days to ensure their ability to pay attention (ADD ADHD come to mind). There are drugs and therapies and discussions and tricks to get and keep a child's attention long enough to teach him something. There is a key ingredient that most educators and those of the psychiatric persuasion are missing however. It's not the child's attention that needs to be ensured, it's the child's interest.

That interest should be an integral piece of what we consider "attention".

Many times in the behavior classes that I teach, this lack of attention and interest is very apparent. The dog in question is much more interested in the other dogs, in the smells, in the toys or in treats everyone else has.

The human follows along behind the dog, letting the dog create the game, letting the dog set the rules and it's all for the dog. The dog however is on a leash, the human gets tired of being pulled around and pulls back, and this frustrates the dog and the human. Those frustrations can spiral out of control and end in the dog lunging, barking, snapping and creating a commotion. All of this occurs because of a lack of attention and interest between the canine and the human ends of that leash.

Getting and keeping your dog's attention is necessary when teaching your dog to do anything. It is also necessary when trying to resolve behavior issues. If your dog is focused on something else, if his attention is distracted from the task at hand, there can be no learning and no change. You having an interest in your dog and paying attention to her communication is just as, if not more, important.

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