This outdoor clinic will offer you a calculated and controlled way to fade in distractions and difficulty. We will practice off leash engagement (using training leads for those just beginning), whistle recall, ignoring other dogs and people, calling away from difficult distractions etc..

The event will be held snow, rain, or shine so please dress accordingly!

OUTLINE:

• Learn to achieve “celebrity status” with your dog in a variety of situations!
• Keep your dog on his toes with both captured and cued attention exercises.
• Practice conditioned urgency protocols in the field.
• Add dimension to your reinforcement procedures by using toy rewards as well as creative food delivery games.
• Create crystal clear communication by super charging your cues
• Learn how to use distractions as an advantage! (You read that correctly!)
• Clearly define boundaries and rules in the field so that your dog truly understands your expectations.

Adrienne Wisok has worked as a search and rescue dog handler for 18 years. She’s the education manager for the National Search Dog Alliance and is the manager and head trainer at Fido Personal Dog Training.

Event Outline:

• Understanding the dogs capability for scent and scent processing
• Scent theory and movement
• Rewards
• Understanding the training process: overview of methods
• Laying tracks
• Setting your dog up for success
• Equipment and training locations
• Troubleshooting in the field
• How to progress at your dogs pace
• And of course, hands-on work!

During this workshop we will take an interactive journey. Craig will talk and walk you through a proven, tried and tested step by step acronym-based system that will help you to use the joy of play to improve relationships, build confidence, create motivational focus and implement alternative forms of positive reinforcement. You will also learn how to avoid and overcome some of the common problems during play, such as over-arousal and problematic behaviors.

Learning objectives:

• Learn how to create structured, consistent, positive, interactive play sessions.
• Develop the ability to adjust interactive play to suit each dog as an individual.
• Understand how to implement the joy of play to fulfill your dog’s natural desires, improve relationships, build confidence and increase motivational focus.
• Build an understanding of how to avoid and overcome problems during play such over-arousal and problematic behaviors.
• Incorporate the power of play into both behavioral and training settings.
• Implementing alternative forms of positive reinforcement into our dog’s lives.
• Gain the ability to communicate with your dog during structured periods of positive stimulation.
• Implementing structured periods of calm and alternative behaviors into your interactive play sessions to create behavioral predictability
• Learn how to problem solve when working with a variety of dogs and their owners.
• Take away a simple step by step system that will benefit you, the dogs in your care and your students.

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING AND OVERCOMING AROUSAL AND PROBLEMATIC BEHAVIOR

Handlers and spectators will further develop their understanding of canine behavior during periods of arousal. We will explore on the function of the behavior and the practical steps that we can take to help the dogs in our care.

During lecture Craig will walk us through an extremely informative, interactive, and practical work book with an acronym-based system for analyzing behavior and implementing an effective modification plan.

Learning objectives:

• Learn how to dissect the problematic arousal behaviors in to separate influencing components and develop an effective modification plan.
• Recognize the communications behind problematic behaviors.
• Dog sport training and working dog training specific problematic behaviors.
• Learn how to avoid over-arousal and improve learning experiences by altering antecedent arrangements and managing influencing factors.
• Implement practical efficient calming techniques to improve the day to day lives of the dogs and owners in your care.
• Understand the importance a positive reinforcers and their role in overcoming problematic behaviors
• Become skilled in recognizing the considerations to make for successful learning to take place.
• Discus the ways that the handler’s actions and emotions contribute to the dog’s arousal issues and how to make adjustments.
• Use structured patterns to create predictability and consistency to change behavior.
• Develop the ability to implement techniques that will include positive reinforcement, operant conditioning, classical conditioning, counter conditioning, differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviors and desensitization.