Enjoy!
The happiness is in his eyes
She is all work, and all play, with a dash of focus!
If i just hold out for a another few seconds mom will throw!
Wordless Wednesday
Monthly Archives: January 2013
Some work with Emeline- A video compliation
Trailing has increased Eme and put her into overdrive! We did a short bite pillow play session with her and the students the other day and found out she has a naturally beautiful bark and hold! Also included is a short video clip from my new GoPro of her in a short double blind trailing start. Enjoy!
Raina- working a HR problem
You can see the body language difference once she comes into the scent cone, and right near the end watch her huge head pop as she gets the scent right from the source versus the scent pool she had been working prior. The source was placed 4 days prior under 10 inches of snow and she was the only dog to have worked it. There was tons of contamination scent from people and dogs walking around there for the prior 4 days.
A long old trail……
Team training sunday brought about a wonderful and encouraging experience for Eme and I. We did our first sign off on our 12 plus hour old wilderness trail. It gave me the confidence in my trailing dog I had all along, it was just buried deep. This was the first time we had a long arduous trail, it was aged 16 hours and was 1.75 miles long. We ran it blind, the trail layer had supplied a GPS that my flanker had but even he didn’t know where it was.
Blue is our subject
Purple is Eme and I
We got a rough start on the road with the rock salt burning at her paw pads, so she took off quick barely casting and made a beeline across a very busy intersection of state route 97. She trailed along the pavement and gave me a brief head pop right alerting me to a turn that direction up ahead. This girl banged out the turn perfect and cut up and in behind the house, she worked the scent out that had collected there and in the field overnight and proceeded across and back to the road. We had 8 different changes in direction, multiple surface changes including asphalt to grass which is very difficult after that many hours and we had contamination to deal with at the start and in the middle sections. I think the point that astounded me the most is how true to the trail she was even after that long ageing. She dipped up and off the paths and milk road multiple times which is exactly what our subject did, and even checked out a few footsteps in the snow that were our subjects. Eme is a trailing dog, but she does not work off fringe scent, this girl is true to her trail and i noticed that we have very little problems to work out even during old trails. If she gets pulled into collecting scent she pops a negative within 20 feet and circles around until she has reacquired the trail and works it out, I’ve seen time and time again no matter the age that she will only reacquire within 20-30 feet of the actual footstep trail.
I never wanted a trailing dog, never even thought about what it would be like to train one, but i have to say that i have learned a ton. Eme has really taught me how to do it right, actually she has taught me how to trail! I didn’t make Eme a trailing dog, she made me a trailing dog handler i just made sure we did it right and set her up for success like any good handler does!!!!
Our weekly post schedule
As the new year is under way we will try to keep the blog updated as best as we can according to our weekly post schedule.
Monday
Tuesday- Terrific tip tuesday
Wednesday- Wordless wednesday
Thursday
Friday- Flackback friday
Saturday- Our weekly training posts
Sunday- Supply sunday
If you have any ideas for things we can fill in on monday or thursday please let us know!
Supply Sunday- Our newest weekly post
Supply Sunday is our newest weekly post, and my goal in bringing you guys this post every week is to get some attention called to the new and old training tools on the market that we are using at Elite Instinct K9 Training. Having been graced with a very diverse population of canines through my home over the last decade I’ve had years of experience with almost every training and playing tool on the market. Of course holding true to our training philosophy, what you use and your results ultimately depend on the dog you are training.
Our dogs in the canine copilot pack, as well as the dogs we train at EIK9T are versatile in many different disciplines. You can expect equipment review (in an informal fashion of course) on any of the following training sports……
Search and Rescue– This includes for trailing dogs, airscent dogs, cadaver only dogs, and even an occasional debris or rubble tool.
Plain old fashioned boring obedience for pet dogs– Do not underestimate the power of the simple things in life, with the simple dogs. Yes we have mostly working dogs in our pack but Anna and Frank have a job too, and that’s to love people and just be dogs.
Obedience for the working dog– Obviously every dog is different no matter what, but the tools i use on my pet dogs and the tools i use on the working dogs are a world apart
Schutzhund– Including but not limited to the 3 aspects of the sport encompassing obedience, tracking, and protection.
Agility– The obsticles, the rewards, and everything in between. We have a full outside set up of agility equipment on the grounds used mostly year round.
And of course we cannot leave out health and wellness products, or general pet ownership items too!! If there is a product you would like EIK9T to test out and review please comment below or email us at EliteInstinctCanine@gmail.com
(c) Canine copilot tested and handler approved!
Flashback Friday
Enjoy these flashback friday pictures!
Eme- 7 months
Eme watching the fire burn
Eme working the bark barrel in 2010
Ripley and pup in 2010 litter
Wait what is it really that you want me to do mom????
Sören has a dual job, one that fits him just as good as his IPO work. This boy is like a finely tuned machine………..all oiled and greased (requiring of course weekly bathes) and ready to the job i decide needs to be done that day. The genetics of this fine young stud (or so he thinks as Raina stares adoringly at him in his crate for an unbeknownst reason to him) allow him to excel in whatever venue i see fit, now THAT folks is the total German Shepherd Dog. When he’s off hes off, and when hes on, holy shit you better watch out because HE IS ON!
Ready to work on command
“The man who rears a dog must complete what the breeder began.”
~Captain Max von Stephanitz
Not only good words about dogs in general but amazing words coming from the father of German Shepherd dogs themselves. I know all my dogs have a little of me in them, if they had been owned or handled by someone else their genetics mixed with that handler would have altered them in development in some way different then with me. This can be good and it can be bad, and i have seen both with my dogs. Spend an hour with my 4 shepherds and you can conclude one major trait that i poses, i’m a workaholic as are they.
So for Sören it’s really no big deal to put on the search vest and “GO SEARCH” when commanded, or put on his agitation harness and work on his bite and protection work, or watch me grab the treat pouch and get ready to do some obedience, or even hit the scent pad and do a little tracking. This boy is ready and waiting, literally for my every command, and he will preform with gusto!
working ground scent prior to indication
A new year and a new page
2012 was a rough year, one of many ups and downs and I want to thank those who are my real friends, those who stood by me through it all and even if we didn’t see each other or talk much were still right there when i need you. I also had some amazing things happen in 2012 some things that have changed my life for the better, and that is Jenn looking at the glass half full for the first time in years.
With that being said, its a busy year and the list i have to accomplish is long. Bear with me as i get through the next 12-18 months. My goals are simple, to finish things i started, to live for myself and to make myself happy, to remember that I don’t have to worry about each day i only have to live it, and to appreciate what i have been given in life. 
In the little free time i do have i will be taking on some new clients this year, but will selectively choose the more aggressive cases that i cannot pass on to other local trainers. The webpage was indeed outdated and i have created a new one which i’m in the process of finishing. Please take a moment to check it out and follow my blog posts on there. Delaware County New York has no idea what has hit them, and for right now this is where the Canine Copilot pack and I are staying.
Its that time of year……….
Well Raina is currently in her month long lock and key lifestyle…….in other words she is in heat. It really isn’t that bad, she just isn’t allowed off leash (which kills her because she is never on leash to speak of) and we need to keep her brother Tank away from her when shes at work with me. Luckly Sören has no idea what is going on, though he will have no problem in 6 months when she goes in again figuring out why Max and Fugly are in love with Raina right now!!!
We take precaution for 3-4 weeks depending on how this cycle acts. It’s not worth a risk to my girl! Her heat cycle has been pretty consistent at January and July so if we do breed her i would use her January cycle and we would have summer pups, but we have awhile!
Needless to say the boys will spend the next month frustrated and I will have yet more laundry to wash every week than usual.
Elite Instinct K9 Training 