Latest graduates and what we did in class lately...

This is Jazz.

This is Seven.

Here are a few shots of the most recent class graduates. The first two (top of this page/ along with a third who sadly missed "grad night") graduated from Manners class. The three at the bottom took part in a 6-week mixed class where we combined content from three different classes: Rally'O, Thinking Games as well as intro to Conceptual Learning. What great fun! It is always rewarding and fun for me, too, when people go on with the training beyond just the very basics. In this mixed class we got to introduce dogs and handlers to Rally'O (Rally Obedience) and worked through a couple of Level 1 courses as well as picked apart some of the more complex individual stations and exercises. We also started intro work on teaching concepts; meaning; NOUNS -- teaching the dogs names of objects. This is often a totally new concept; requiring a new and systematic way of working and teaching, as most of the things we normally teach our companion dogs centers around action-verbs, "doing" something. When working on teaching nouns, there is a small degree of "action" - in that we need some kind of indication behavior so the dog can "point" to the object we ask for, but the rest is quite different from most other things we do and it is rewarding yet challenging to work through the stages. Fantastic mental exercise for the dogs! (well, humans, too!)

This is Halle.

This is Charm.

This is Aspen.

As a favorite, we also did some fun Nose Work Games...working on independent searching through some simple yet amazingly fun search games. We start easy and add complexity and challenges as the dogs get confident with understanding the game. Will upload a small video to illustrate some of this fun so stay tuned...video coming soon :-) The search games are usually a favourite for both dogs and people. It is truly remarkable to watch a dog keen to use his or her nose in a game we all approve of...the joy is ever so obvious! FUN to see them use their powerful noses...