Welcome to the Whiff of Courage working spot forum!

This will be a space for us to discuss our progress, ask questions, support each other, submit homework assignments and receive feedback. Unique threads will be posted for each individual homework assignment as they are assigned. In order to submit videos for feedback, you will need to create a youtube or vimeo account. You can then upload your assignment videos and mark them as “unlisted” in privacy settings. That means only those who have the link will have access to your video. You’ll then post the link as a comment in the homework assignment thread and I will respond with your feedback.

We will only have one homework assignment per week with this course. It’s important we don’t overwork our dogs when we are trying to boost their confidence.

Our first class will be Monday, January 1st at 7PM CST.

In the meantime, let’s get to know each other! Since this class will be following my dog’s journey through this training program, I’ll go first:

My dog’s name is Pretzel. He is a 2 year old English Shepherd.

Pretzel is a confident, playful, smart and energetic dog, but only when he’s at home or one of the handful of places he spends a lot of time in. Take him out of his comfort zone and he’s a totally different dog. He tends to “stress down” and turn into a sad little slinky dog. He’s also easily spooked by things that seem out of place and has a hard time recovering from anything that startles him.

My goal during this course is to get him to a point where he warms up to new spaces quickly and is able to stay focused on what he’s doing when unexpected distractions pop up. My ultimate goal is for him to be able to trial in agility, so he’ll need to be comfortable around lots of other dogs, people and loud noises, and be able to maintain his focus off leash and at a distance and without any toys or treats! That’s a tall order for a dog who couldn’t even eat food at our local park a year ago, but I believe in him.

Your turn! Leave a comment introducing yourself to the class. Let us know a little bit about you, your dog and your goals for this course.