Events & Seminars
Fusion Pet Retreat’s training center offers various events and seminars on a regular basis. We are happy to partner with different community organizations to offer various events. We also offer Seminars taught by our qualified instructors in different topics including agility, behavior, and more.
All events & seminars are hosted in the comfort of a climate-controlled 11,000 sq. ft. indoor facility.
Upcoming Seminar and Events
Mini Seminars with Casey Keller
Dates: Friday, Feb. 14th
Cost: $120 – working spot, $25 – auditing spot
About Casey:
students bring out the best in themselves and in their canine partners.
Novice Handling
Dates: Friday, Feb. 14th from 8am-Noon
About the Seminars:
Build handling and teamwork skills for teams who have started trialing or are almost ready to trial. Jumps and tunnels will be used (no contacts or weaves). Dogs should be a minimum of 15 months old. They do not need to be jumping full-height, but should be familiar with sequencing.
Masters Handling
Dates: Friday, Feb. 14th from 1-5pm
About the Seminars:
Take your handling skills to the next level and learn how to train the challenges you will see in Premier,
ISC, and upper level UKI & USDAA course. Weaves and contacts may be used.
Mini Seminars with Karen Childs
Dates: Thursday, Feb. 20-Sunday, Feb. 23
Cost: $150 – working spot, $25 – auditing spot
About Karen:
Karen Childs was born and raised on a sheep farm in rural Ontario, Canada. Since a young age, she has been passionate about working with animals of all species and in many disciplines – but the world of dogs and agility is where her heart lies.
Her agility journey began in 2010 when adopting a little red and white border collie. Since then she has represented Team Canada on numerous occasions with multiple dogs across two heights. Her list of teams include:
- European Open 2015, 2016, and 2017 with Cash
- European Open 2019 and WAO Wildcard 2019 with Keys
- European Open and Agility World Championships in 2022, and WAO 2023 with Glow
- Agility World Championships, Large Team and Individual, 2023 and 2024 with J.R.
One of Karen’s accomplishments she holds closest to her heart is winning the UKI US Open 20” National Final in 2018 with her dog Cash.
Karen owned and operated her own dog training business in Ontario from 2015-2019, relocating with her husband to Edmonton, Alberta in 2019 allowed her to focus entirely on dog training. She has a great deal of experience working with a wide variety of teams, always concentrating on bringing out the best in each partnership and ensuring everyone enjoys the journey – dog and humans alike!
She lives with her partner, 9 border collies, 1 borderpap, 1 sheltie, and 1 papillon!
International Handling
Dates: Thursday, Feb. 20th from 4-7:30pm
About the Seminars:
- This seminar will address handling challenges trending in international-style course designs such as verbal skills, how to set and commit dogs to big lines, layering obstacles, discriminations, and working to get ahead and stay ahead.
- Contact obstacles and/or weave poles may be used in this session.
- Dogs should be competing at or have the skills to compete at the UKI Champ/AKC ISC level and handlers should have an interest in training and running FCI/European course trends and skills.
Perfecting the Basics – Side Changes (Front, Blind, Rear Crosses)
Dates: Friday, Feb. 21st from 9-12:30
About the Seminars:
- Short sequence setups will be presented to focus on perfecting your execution of the foundational side changes – front, blind, and rear crosses. When, where, why to choose one over the other and how to handle them well!
- Only jumps and tunnels will be used in this seminar.
- Great for adolescents or dogs new to agility! Open to all teams who need work on these skills, but minimum dogs should be 10 months of age or older with solid agility foundation skills, or have approval from the host.
Under Pressure – Can You Handle It? (Masters Level Coursework with a Twist!)
Dates: Friday, Feb. 21st from 1:30-5pm
About the Seminars:
- One of the favorites from 2024 is BACK!! Are you heading to AKC Nationals or the UKI Invitational this spring? Does performing under pressure impact your teamwork and execution with your dog? This seminar is for you!
- Provided a reasonably difficult masters level course, teams will practice coursework execution under the mental pressure of trying to run clean from the start. Teams will have a timed walk through, and Karen will act as the judge during each team’s turn. Whether successful or not, teams will then get to work with Karen on gaps in skills or optimizing execution on the course to get the fastest time possible for you and your dog. 2-3 courses will be presented during this session.
- Contact obstacles and/or weave poles may be used in this session.
- Dogs should be competing at or have the skills for the USDAA Masters/AKC Excellent-Masters/UKI Senior-Champ levels.
Put on the Brakes! – Extension to Collection
Dates: Saturday, Feb. 22nd from 9:00-12:30
About the Seminars:
- Do you have a dog that likes to go FAST and does not like to collect for turns? This one’s for you! This session will present you with coursework that contains challenges that push dogs to fast speeds in extension, then work into a piece requiring collection.
- Weave poles may be used in this session.
- Open to dogs who are competing at any level, or have the skills to compete, and are looking to work on improving collection cues.
Novice Handling
Dates: Saturday, Feb. 22nd from 1:30-5pm
About the Seminars:
- Novice level sequences building up to 15-20 obstacles to piece together your skills! Courses will test extension to collection, turning cues, timing, and building teamwork with your dog.
- Only jumps and tunnels will be used in this seminar.
- Dogs should be 12 months of age or older with solid agility foundation skills, or have approval from the host.
- This session will be fluid given it will accommodate dogs at various stages of learning. Dogs do not need to be jumping full height, but should be able to focus and work through sequences from 4-10 obstacles. Difficulty and sequence length can be adapted for each team based on age or skill level.
International Handling
Dates: Sunday, Feb. 23rd from 9:00-12:30
About the Seminars:
- This seminar will address handling challenges trending in international-style course designs such as verbal skills, how to set and commit dogs to big lines, layering obstacles, discriminations, and working to get ahead and stay ahead.
- Contact obstacles and/or weave poles may be used in this session.
- Dogs should be competing at or have the skills to compete at the UKI Champ/AKC ISC level and handlers should have an interest in training and running FCI/European course trends and skills.
Mini Seminars with Susan Koldenhof
Dates: Friday, March 14-16th
Cost: $130 – working spot, $25 – auditing spot
About Susan:
I’m Susan Koldenhof, and I am from the Netherlands. I started with agility around 9 years ago with my first own dog Ace, a brown border collie. And never stopped loving the agility sport ever since. 2 years later I got my crazy monkey Time, my home bred girl from our kennel infinity light. And thanks to her I traveled a lot around the world and discovered a whole new level of agility with winning international cups, qualifying for the Dutch team for EO and AWC years in a row, running EO finals every year, and ending up in top 10 of AWC Large. I love my dogs over everything in this world.
Right now I still run Time – my experienced girl of almost 9 years old, and also my younger girl Sign – who is really something else. In her short career, she took high rankings and prices at competitions like EO, WAO and Slovenian Open – also setting fastest times. I also own a pup imported out of the UK- Intense, who will hopefully be another future star. But for now we’re still working on foundations.
I love to travel, to share my knowledge and vision on agility and dog training with fun and enthusiastic teams all over the world. Being super picky and critical in a motivating way, as I believe that’s needed to become the best team you can be with your dog. My training is built on successes so the dog gets (or keeps his) self-confident and faster.
Jump Skills for Challenging Courses
Dates: Friday, March 14th from 8am-Noon
About the Seminars:
Ever wondered how to teach those beautiful independent backsides or threadles you see? Maybe you’ve started the training, but it is just not independent enough. This seminar will focus on breaking down jump skills often seen on UKI or International courses and teach you how to train them from the ground up. Skills would include: backsides, threadles, bypass cues, and more based on participant desire.
Collection Needed!
Dates: Friday, Feb. 14th from 1-5pm
About the Seminars:
Does your dog love to go fast, but turning is a different story? This seminar will focus on how you can create collection on course. The seminar will focus on using turning cues effectively for your dog, and also what skills should be taught to your dog to help them understand when collection will be expected on course.
Masters Handling
Dates: Saturday, Feb. 15th from 8am-Noon
About the Seminars:
This mini-seminar will feature common handling and course challenges seen in international, UKI, or Premier-style courses. Dogs should be proficient on all equipment and compete at the Masters/Senior/Champion level.
Which Way is Best?
Dates: Saturday, March 15th from 1-5pm
About the Seminars:
Susan enjoys breaking sequences down and trying them in multiple ways to ensure you and your dog have all the skills, but also to see which are fastest and best for your team. This seminar will focus on breaking sequences down and finding which options are the best for your dog.
Masters Handling
Dates: Sunday, March 16th from 8am-Noon
About the Seminars:
This mini-seminar will feature common handling and course challenges seen in international, UKI, or Premier-style courses. Dogs should be proficient on all equipment and compete at the Masters/Senior/Champion level.
Nutrition for the Canine Athlete
Dates: Sunday, March 16th from 1-4pm
About the Seminars:
In addition to being a world-reknown agility competitor, Susan is also studying in canine nutrition. Susan believes that every performance dog should be fueled with proper nutrition to ensure they have the energy and muscle to tackle any course. This will be a lecture-only format (no dogs) that will teach humans how they can provide the best nutrition to their canine athletes.
Take a Tour
Want to learn more about us?
Our staff would love a chance to show you around and answer all of your questions.
If you would like to tour our facility after watching the virtual tour, feel free to come in Monday thru Friday during normal business hours.
