How to Get the Most out of Your Time in this Course!

In order to maximize what you and your dog get out of this course, we’ve tried to set it up in a way that covers all the bases, but doesn’t necessarily require a specific regiment to go through.

You may at some points be focusing on an entirely different part of the course than some of your fellow classmates. The main reason for this, is to make sure that you’re hitting your goals through training, but also because your relationship, and lifestyle with your dog is likely to be very different from another classmates, on top of the fact that you have very different dogs!

There will be some homework assignments throughout this course, but again, they may not directly adhere to the material for that particular module. The homework for Mod 1 is to describe your relationship with your dog, the areas you'd really like to improve on, and what you hope to gain from this course.

Keep in mind for 6 weeks, I’m all yours! So get ready to dig in, and make the most of our time together, and by the end of this course you should have a better understanding of what it takes to fully integrate your dog into your lifestyle, and walk away with a healthier more functional relationship with your dog!

A very, very warm welcome to all!

Following is a bit of information that should help make more sense of the features included in this course. Please post any questions on course navigation or module 1 in the 'Module 1 Discussion forum'. 

Let's Start with Introductions!

In the 'Discussions' tab you'll find an'Introductions' thread. Take a moment to create a thread telling us your name as you like to be called, who your canine training partner you will be working through the course is, where you are from, and what your training goals are. We will get to know each other well over the next 5 weeks, and even more into the next courses, but I think this is a great place to start!

 How exactly do I navigate this online course!?

Our LeerU development team has done an excellent job of making these online courses intuitive and easy to navigate. However, it is a good idea to run through some of the more important aspects of the online classroom environment to make sure we all understand some of the most important and heavily used features of it. 

'Week' Overview and 'Segment' Tabs

I am sure by now most of you have taken a little time to explore around the classroom. No doubt you have seen the red tabs on the side indicating the main topic covered in each of the five weeks of this course. If you dig a little deeper you will find that clicking on each week will open up to a drop down of the smaller segments we will work on within that week. Each week and its respective segments are the individual lessons we will tackle as we move through this course. This is the bulk of your learning material for class. 

Each segment is a piece of its week's general concept. Because the working teams in this class will vary in prior training experience and skill, I expect that some of you will move through the material rather quickly, mastering multiple segments per day, while others may need to take the content more slowly, learning one segment per day, or perhaps even taking a few days to really grasp a segment. If you and your dog are fast learners, by all means work ahead. If you are a team that needs a bit more time to absorb the material, by all means take it; this class is designed to give you ample time to easily master the pieces while keeping up with the overall pace of class. Plus, you've got the material for 10 weeks, so you can visit and revisit the areas you find you need most help in. The important thing is not to rush, but instead consider yourself, your dog, and your individual training relationship.

So there's your brief overview about how to navigate this course. If you have any questions about the way the course is laid out or how you the student can make the most of your time in it, go ahead and start a discussion thread - that way we can all benefit from further exploration.