Tag Archives: working dog

Vacation weekend

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This past weekend Kara from Amigo SAR dogs and I attended a Bill Dotson workshop up in Skaneateles New York. It was a pretty dreary wet weekend but we made the most of it. The weekend was a lot of classroom work and it was a wealth of knowledge. Bill is a great guy and one of the guys who started it all with search and rescue in the 1970’s. He absolutely loved the way Raina worked and i was one proud handler.

Feedback time

Every morning and evening we took everyone on long walks around Skaneateles which was  great socialization and desensitization for them. I brought Raina to work the seminar and Abby to keep an eye on her recovery so she was able to tag along on all the walks too. Kara brought Felix the GSD Life Long Tails got a few months ago who we wanted to place in a working home. All three did fantastic downtown even during the busy night hours.

Everyone did great in the hotel room and were on their best behavior at the seminar, no barking or complaining even with being in there crates a lot during classtime.  I have to say we have the best behaved dogs!

No fear of heights mom

I usually only attend a seminar every year but i always take a lot away from it and this time was no exception! I hope before the summer is up to visit Bill and his training facility in Virginia!

   

Girls on the Pier

   

Both girls in front of the lake

And another one bites the dust

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Another weekend gone by. I really don’t know how they go this fast anymore. It’s been a stressful weekend with Abby up at Cornell sick with no direct answer yet as to why. I know they are taking good care of her but i’m still a wreck especially because she is puzzling all the doctors there with her abnormal anatomy in her abdomen!

ready for the command

With the nice weather Kara and I have been able to get up to the state land behind my house and work the girls almost everyday. Erik is amazing enough to hide for us all the time and i’m pretty sure Raina has a crush on him!

pullllllll

We have been working on building raina’s nose time in her search problems and placing the subject in heavy brush. Her third test will be a 30 acre heavy brush test which will be one of our hardest! I have been doing blind problems on a regular basis so that i know how to read my dog in all terrain and wind conditions. Raina has taught me so much these last few months!

Eme is also working on some nose time, as well as getting her bark as strong as her sisters. She has always been a thinker and i see it now more then anything. She needs to fully understand what she is doing to get it down, but when she does there is no fault in the process at all. Once her barking starts she delivers the full out bark and bounce just like her daddy Quax!

Alerting to the find

The time is flying by, and i cannot believe its already may. We have a lot to cover before the summer is up and many more tests to tackle so we can get the girls fully operational! This weekend will be a nice break when we attend a Bill Dotson seminar up in the finger lakes area of New York. He is a SAR legend and i’m sure i and the girls will learn a lot from him!

Keep moving

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The girls spend most of their time off leash either working or hiking so we must practice self control exercises and focus work while out and in the field. The girls are used to this on our land and while out together or with our other dogs in the pack but they also need to be able to do the same with more distractions and in variable environments.

Stay work

The environment is new, we have never visited this state land and felix is a dog that was turned over to Life Long Tails and is currently in training with his K9 handler Kara for Search and Rescue with Amigo Search Dogs.  A simple training command that is obeyed so perfectly at home can be a challenge if to many variables are changed to quick. Both girls did great this time as we have been practicing separate and together in varying environments for the last few months.

Girls

The hard work pays off!

Everyone looking like stars

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As always the girls impress me when day after day i ask so much of them! Just a short video clip of last weekends fun time after of course a day of work. More updates to follow!

 

 

St Pattys day parade

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Binghamton had a huge st pattys day parade a few weeks ago on the 7th and Kara and i took the girls down to experience the mayham. The girls did wonderful, stayed focused on us through all the people, kids, other dogs, drunks, cars and floats and things being thrown in the air! It was great to see such level headed focused canines in such a high intensity environment.  It was a true testament to all the de sensitizing work i’ve done in town and in stores.

Focus is the key

 

Eme did great with working with Kara while her mother was right behind her. She is such a flexible dog and that is a great quality if its ever necessary someone else works her or takes care of her. She was un-fazed by anything that went by and listened well to kara’s commands.

Having hard working, high drive search dogs are great, but the key is also teaching them how to “turn off” inside and how to be calm, front brained, and focused in public.

And then there was thaw

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This weekend was a busy eventful one! Saturday I brought my girls and the Family Foundtion School Dog Corp Kids helping Canines first dog down. Delilah will live in one of the dorms with 10 of the dog corps kids and they will be responsible for training and raising her until Life Long Tails places  her into a home. The boys were very excited when we got there and sweet shy delilah took right to them. It’ll be a long road but i know this will be a great program for the boys and the dogs!

 

The girls got some work that afternoon and each performed a great moving subject problem with multiple refinds. I’m stoked, they are doing so good!!  We spent the night at Ritas and got a few hours of sleep after much talking. Sunday morning brought our meeting to discuss the Comfed we are hosting in September with Amigo and NJ Sar. The girls were patient and new their time would come!

I did it!

 

Eme got a nice 35 minute long problem with 2 subjects hiding together. It was the longest she had ever done and despite being very tired, and the subjects not being were they had been marked on my GPS I was able to follow my dog and her alerts and find the boys. She was exhausted but did a perfect refind and indication with a long bark and victoriously got her ball! The problem had been worked 20 minutes prior by another k9 team so she had to work out their scent and the subjects scent which made it even more difficult!

 

Raina got a short demo problem for a few new people who had come to check out the team. She of course showed off her perfect scent work and full refind. I wanted to set up a longer problem with her so we can start to build some nose time, she can be certified by a year old and i’m sure she will be ready. I set up a good problem which lasted 15 minutes the longest she has worked so far. She preformed great and maintained her refind and indication giving me 2 before i reached the subject.

playing with her subject

We finished the day with 2 HR hides including one that was up about 3 feet.  Both girls did great and are ready to move on in their HR training. Next we will put in the indication using boxes that deliver their toy. This allows the dog to sit and wait for the ball while focusing on the source and not on me!

Its amazing how quick my girls are growing up. Eme turned 1 on friday and i just don’t know where the year went! The next few months are going to be hard, we will be doing a lot of nose building long problems and drilling in obedience. Certifications will start soon and mom will need to learn not to be a nervous wreck! Off to get re packed and ready to work the girls again later today!

All done

 

 

Get out and train!!

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With spring coming, the snow melting and the days getting longer I cannot help but get excited about getting out there and training even more this year!!! You will find the pack and I all over Binghamton and surrounding counties starting now, every weekend. We will be practicing obedience, Search and Rescue, basic manners, agility, and working on some problem behaviors.  If interested in attending any working session to learn the Elite Instinct Canine way please email us EliteInstinctCanine@gmail.com and keep an eye on our website http://www.EliteInstinctCanine.com   Times, locations, and days vary so please keep an eye on our calendar.