Have you wondered?
What foundations does a dog need to thrive?
playful self-control games
Great for puppies, adult dogs, and reactive dogs alike. These games teach your dog how to dial their arousal up and down and settle themselves after getting excited. We weave quick, simple activities into your daily routine using food, toys, and real-life things your dog wants.
Confidence-building play Â
Play activates the brain differently. It deepens your bond, sharpens communication, and lets your dog rehearse handling challenges without the adrenaline and cortisol of real conflict. Play is one of the best ways to build confidence!Â
Resilience-building Games
Bouncing back from stress comes naturally to easy-going dogs, but others need help learning that skill. Through games, we build your dog’s resilience so they can recover more easily when something in the real world scares, frustrates, or overwhelms them.
Cold and damp?
Winter Blues got you down?
Training can be so hard in the winter — classes wrap up, training barns are cold and damp, and … driving at night with the rain, snow, and ice can just plain suck. So this year, instead of taking a December–January break for classes, I’m offering something new!
Foundations to Thrive is a 6-week online class (spread over 8 weeks) focused on the skills so many dogs are missing — playful engagement, confidence, resilience, and emotional regulation.
And you can do it all from home, without braving the weather (or the world, for those reactive dogs).
We’ll cover:
- Incorporating PLAY into your training sessions
- Games for building Resiliency
- How to build Confidence using loopy training
- Teaching Emotional regulation skills that transfer to the real world
There’s a short mid-class break at the end of Dec, and you’ll still have full access to the lessons and community if you’d like to keep playing through the holidays.
This class will be a lot of fun!
What’s in the class?
The nitty gritty…
On-line or In-person?
This class is 100% online for anyone who isn’t local or who doesn’t want to drive in the dark and potential weather. Â If you are local and want to join in person, shoot me a message.Â
What you get:
- Each Friday, I will release the lessons for the week.
- Each Saturday 9am PST (Sunday on week 1), we will meet via Zoom for 1 hour where you can ask questions
- Submit 1 video per week of class for feedback, up to 5 minutes long.
- Post as many videos as you’d like to share with your peers classmates – Â We will be using Circle rather than Facebook. It’s a fun, intuitive platform where we can cheer each other on.
- You retain access to the course materials, posts, etc. until Feb 1st.
Dates
- Dec 5th – Lessons posted, SUNDAY Dec 7th (Not Saturday) – first Zoom call
- Dec 12th – Lessons posted, Dec 13th – Zoom call
- Dec 19th – Lessons posted, Dec 20th – Zoom call
- Holiday Break
- Jan 9th – Lessons posted, Jan 10th – Zoom call
- Jan 16th – Lessons posted, Jan 17th – Zoom call
- Jan 23rd – Lessons posted, Jan 24th – Final Zoom call
Does it matter if I'm new to dog training?
Nope! The lessons are beginner friendly with lots of options for intermediate and advanced teams.
I have a puppy - Is this for me?
Absolutely! This program is the foundation for my puppy raising to build our dream dog – our dream relationship, right from the start.
I have a reactive dog - Is this for me?
YES! This program actually grew out of my reactive-dog training. So many dogs are missing these core skills, and they’re essential for making real progress in behavior work.
I'm not great with technology - is this going to be a barrier?
We will use a platform called Circle – it’s nice and intuitive. We will have tutorials and help along the way if you get stuck, and you can always ask for help.
Do I have to attend the weekly sessions live?
Nope! They are recorded so you can watch when you have time. If you know you won’t make it, you can also submit a question ahead of time, or post questions for feedback in our community.