Running Contacts à la Trkman: My thoughts

Since I spoke about running contacts in my 2012 wrap-up post,  I thought I would take some time to share what we did in more detail. I had been toying with teaching a modified four on the floor before our training was interrupted in 2009. What I had been trying to work towards was aContinue reading “Running Contacts à la Trkman: My thoughts”

Looking ahead at dog related goals for 2013

Now that things are slowing down (relatively) for the winter I’m taking some time to consider what I would like to work on this year. I had  look at my 2011/2012 goals and, while we worked  little bit on all of them, the only ones we achieved was fixing the back up 3 steps forContinue reading “Looking ahead at dog related goals for 2013”

2012 in Review: 12 dog related accomplishments

Now that we are officially into the year 2013, I have been thinking about what a huge adventure the year 2012 was for Bear and I. We tried some new things, we succeeded at some things, we failed at others. I smiled a lot, I laughed a lot, I cried a little. Below are someContinue reading “2012 in Review: 12 dog related accomplishments”

Sniff It – Week Four

By now we have a regular Sniff It routine here – we do our homework every morning – Bear thinks this is a wonderful way to earn breakfast. This week in our class, our first assignment was to make things more challenging happening for our dogs by adding more containers, more boxes and more containersContinue reading “Sniff It – Week Four”

Sniff It – Week Three

This week our assignments involve making things more difficult for dogs and encouraging them to use their nose. We used two exercises to do this. The first exercise involved hiding containers in boxes. One container was filled with food, the other was empty. The dog’s job is to find the food container, my job isContinue reading “Sniff It – Week Three”

Sniff It – Week One

I have really been looking forward to our online Sniff It class with Sumac Grant-Johnston of Wag It Training in Maine, USA. Online training is the perfect opportunity to train at home and on my own time – attending class here means I need to find a class on a night that I am notContinue reading “Sniff It – Week One”

Thoughts on Tracking for 2012

Spring sprung many weeks ago here in Manitoba and it’s high time to start thinking about preparing for the fall tracking tests. I pulled out of the last tracking test we entered because I wasn’t certain we would pass. Actually I wasn’t certain of anything – I followed “the plan” but things did not seemContinue reading “Thoughts on Tracking for 2012”

A Surprise and an Opportunity to put MicroTraining to the test

I love how life occasionally presents unexpected opportunities. I had pretty much resigned myself to a rally trial free winter when I got an email from one of the folks with Regina Kennel & Obedience Club. One of the judges they had lined up is ill and not able to judge this weekend – wouldContinue reading “A Surprise and an Opportunity to put MicroTraining to the test”

Carting with a Clicker: Ready to Hitch

The Rules There are very few harnessing and hitching guidelines in the CKC Draft Test Rules and Regulations (2011). The rules are as follows: Hitching and harnessing are the only times when the handler may touch the dog. The dog must stand during harnessing/hitching/loading/unhitching. During the harnessing and hitching, the handler’s skill and the dog’sContinue reading “Carting with a Clicker: Ready to Hitch”

Winter 2011-2012 Indoor Training Projects

Winter is officially here and I feel like Hibernating. Bear, on the other hand, has ideas of his own. Lately he has been bringing me his toys, trying to entice me into playing with him. If I don’t respond he brings them to Sean who exclaimed earlier this week “will you DO something with thisContinue reading “Winter 2011-2012 Indoor Training Projects”