February schedule

Do you have a dog that chases the ball, yet won’t bring it back? Plays keep away with toys? Tugs but won’t let go? Bites you instead of the tug? Obsesses over toys, yet won’t listen to a single thing you say? Is your dog so high in drive for toys that they can’t think? Or do you just want to channel that prey drive right from the beginning and add the attitude your dog has for tugging or chasing toys to the obedience or agility ring?

This course is a handlers choice to work on improving your dog's detection alert. Does your dog need to have a specific alert behavior in order to compete in your nosework venue? Is your dog not committed to staying at odor source? Is your dog too aggressive or destructive towards the hide when working nosework odors? Does your dog need to develop stronger more readable behavior at the source of the odor? Then this class is for you!

This class continues on with the foundations begun in TEAM 1! This class is designed to cover all the exercises in the TEAM Level 2. The TEAM program systematically lays out the building blocks for developing solid skills/behaviours your dog can perform in a variety of ways, in a variety of circumstances or sports.

You've trained the behaviors down to the tiniest of detail and are now ready to show them off to the world. This class will help you prepare for the distractions that await you in any environment you can imagine. We will discuss how to know if a behavior is ready to undergo the pressures of distraction, how to evaluate your environment as well as your dog's mental state, how to create patterns to set your dog up for success as well as work through a never ending list of games to play on the quest for distraction domination.

This course is different than most agility foundation classes. Rather than introducing obstacle and flatwork skills needed to run an agility course, this class lays out the critical skills (the glue) your dog needs to be productive in agility classes and seminars. The glue will give your future dog sports star the resources and strengths to help create focus in high-energy environments, as in the sport of agility. Without this glue, dogs can become frustrated, anxious, fearful, over-aroused, or display undesirable behaviors that compromise learning.

Have you been dabbling in obedience but hesitant to actually take it to the next level? Or maybe you even trialed and realized your dog doesn't know how to heel unless you have a treat in your hand or can talk to them constantly?

Ever feel envy when you watch a obedience/rally/Schutzhund/etc… trial performance and the dog executes perfect skills for the WHOLE routine? No treats in the handler’s pocket, no toy in their hand, but the dog is certainly acting like there is!

Most dogs are not innately confident. Especially when it comes to obedience. A sport that is not inherently self-reinforcing. A sport where dogs must learn to perform complex behaviors under a lot of pressure. In this course we will explore what we can do to improve our dog’s overall confidence and confidence in the ring. This starts with clear, consistent communication. We must learn how to read our dog’s most subtle cues in real time and adjust our response. We must understand our dog’s learning style and structure our teaching accordingly. We will look at how to create a training session where the dog has a high success rate while using a small ratio of errors to create resilience. We will play fun games with our dogs that empower them and teach them that they can overcome challenges. We will be working on YOUR confidence as well! We’ve all watched our dogs make mistakes and had no idea how to help them. Once you can read and understand your dog and their learning style, you will develop the skills to support them.