Obedience Course Descriptions

To download a PDF with a flowchart of recommended obedience and agility training classes, see Class Flowchart.

Course Name	Duration (min/wk)	No of Weeks	Prerequisites	Description
Fundamentals	75	6	Some previous basic obedience work and a desire to improve your training skills beyond the basic level.	Learn how to: properly use conditioned reinforcers; teach an exercise; use fair corrections. The dogs learn attention, heeling with distractions, quick position changes (sit, down, stand), backing up, and recall games. NOTE: Do not bring your dog the first week.
Maneuvers	55	6	Fundamentals or prior approval via screening.	Continued work on attention, find heel, quick position changes. Teach steering commands (forward, backward, side-step right and left), scoot sits, play running, spins, rhythm heeling and marking. Begin proofing of sit stays.
Come and Stay	55	6	Maneuvers	Teach and proof the formal obedience stays: sit stay, down stay, and stand stay. Teach fronts and finishes for formal recalls. Various recall (come command) work. Build on heel position maneuvers and Rhythm heeling
Novice Ring Prep	55	6	Heeling or equivalent or prior approval via screening.	Work on building the pieces of heeling into full ring patterns, in preparation for the Novice obedience class. We also work on Stays and Recalls.
Introduction to Open	55	6	Come and Stay	We introduce retrieving, jumping, drop on recall, and out-of-sight stays. You will need a dumbbell and jumps to practice with at home. Check with Adele for help with dumbbell sizing.
Introduction to Utility	55	6	Maneuvers and Intro to Open. Dog should be able to retrieve a placed article, both leather and metal.	Teach Janice DeMello's Around the Clock method of scent work. Introduce all Utility exercises. Students need scent articles and a can of Easy Cheese (or the like) for the first night of class. Also need a set of 3 white cotton gloves.
Introduction to Rally Obedience	55	6	Heeling	Rally Obedience combines many elements of competition obedience with the variability and more relaxed atmosphere of agility. We will discuss the structure of a Rally course and all of the Novice exercises, as well as many of the Advanced exercises. We will practice a small course each week, progressing to longer ones as the course goes along.
Rally 2	55	6	Intro to Rally	Build on skills learned in Intro, with weekly course work. We will cover the rest of the signs not covered in the Intro class, including all of the Excellent signs. Class includes practice match the final week.
Intro to Retrieving	30	6	Fundamentals or prior approval via screening.	Start or continue teaching your dog to retrieve a dumbbell. You need to provide your own dumbbell. If you need help with sizing for your dog, please see Adele before the class starts.
Utility 2	55	4	Intro to Utility	Build on exercises that were started in Intro to Utility.
Tuesday AM Exercises	60	6	Class meets each week except when Adele is away.	This is an on-going class. It is changing to a Novice Ring Prep class, with some Rally & Open exercises added.
Tuesday AM Open and Utility Proofing	90	8	$20/week drop-in fee. You may buy a 4-week card for $60. You may buy an 8-week card for $100. You don't have to use the weeks consecutively.	We proof several of the advanced (Open/Utility) obedience exercises each week. Utility beginners can get some guidance each week.
Evening Open & Utility Proofing	90	8	$20/week drop-in fee. You may buy a 4-week card for $60. You may buy an 8-week card for $100. You don't have to use the weeks consecutively.	We proof several of the advanced (Open/Utility) obedience exercises each week. Utility beginners can get some guidance each week.
Heeling	55	6	Come and Stay	Learn the remaining components of heeling, including figure 8, pace changes, halts, and turns. Handler footwork is also an important component.
Utility Signals and Directed Jumping	55	6	Maneuvers. Helpful if dog responds to verbal down, has a good off-leash sit stay, and understands a target touch.	Get started on the two most difficult Utility exercises, Directed Jumping and Signals.
Rally 3	55	6	Rally 2	Practice courses each week, with all levels of exercises.
APDT Rally	55	6	Intro to Rally. APDT = Association of Pet Dog Trainers. While similar to AKC Rally, there are differences!	Learn how this flavor of Rally differs from AKC, and prepare for the upcoming trials at NDT.
Intro to Retrieving and Drop on Recall	25	3	Maneuvers. Dog should be able to down on voice or hand signal.	Start teaching your dog to retrieve a dumbbell or build on retrieving skills you've already taught your dog, and start to teach the Open Drop on Recall. You need to provide your own dumbbell. If you need help with sizing for your dog, please see Adele before the class starts.
Utility Signals	25	6	Come and Stay	Introduction to Utility Signals.
Retrieving and Directed Retrieve	25	6	Come and Stay	Build on your dog's retrieve skills and start the Utility Directed Retrieve (glove exercise). You need to provide your own dumbbell. If you need help with sizing for your dog, please see Adele before the class starts.
Intro to Scent Discrimination	25	6	Come & Stay. Your dog should be picking up and holding a dumbbell. It will be very helpful if your dog will also retrieve a metal and leather scent article.	Teach Janice DeMello's Around the Clock method of scent work. Students need scent articles and a can of Easy Cheese (or the like) for the first night of class.
Directed Jumping	55	3	Fundamentals	Introduce all of the components of the Utility directed jumping exercise.
Open/Utility Practice	55	6	You should have started most of the Open and Utility exercises.	We'll practice Open and Utility exercises each week. Class content will be determined by what current class needs to work on.
Retrieving and Directed Jumping	25	6	Come and Stay	Introduce/build on dumbbell retrieve for Open. Introduce/build on go-outs and directed jumping for Utility.
Force Fetch	55	6	Intro to Retriever Training.	This class focuses on building a reliable retrieve using the Ear Pinch. Your dog should have a basic understanding of taking and holding before starting the force fetch.
Broad Jump & Directed Retrieve	25	6	Come and Stay	Introduce the Open Broad Jump and Utility Directed Retrieve (Glove exercise).
Non-AKC Rally	55	6	Intro to Rally.	We'll explore the other rally venues - APDT, C-WAGS & UKC to help you prepare for the early winter trials.
Novice Practice	55	6	You should have trained at least through Heeling to take this class.	We will work on all of the elements of the Novice obedience class, including heeling patterns, Figure 8s, stays and recalls.