Thanks for having the KivaDog Team out there today Pet Fresh! We loved show casing our favourite sports and introducing some lucky dogs to the game! Thanks crew - your enthusiasm, energy and kindness to all really shone today and made me proud ๐ฅฐ
Thanks to Pet Fresh for having the KivaDog Team out today and letting us showcase our favourite sports of Hoopers and Scent Work! We loved introducing the sports to some of the lucky pups there today :) I lost track of the age of the dogs but from 4 month old pups to 16 year old dogs - all out there having a go!
We love it!
A special THANK YOU to the KD crew who shone today - showing the love we have for the sports with endless energy and kind, enthusiast support to EVERYONE - you are all absolute superstars in my eyes ๐ฅฐ๐๐
Scent Work @ Optus Stadium
What an incredible evening at Optus Stadium last night! The weather couldn't have been more perfect for some Scent Work - balmy with a gentle breeze. Kudos to those who braved the peak hour traffic and stepped out of their comfort zone to join us for a unique experience! We can all agree it was well worth it. Personally, I love being able to offer these adventures and really enjoy setting the searches and challenges for these awesome dogs and watching them thrive! ๐
I think I need to consider putting together a video montage of me setting up the searches in public one night. It always feels so suspicious - me, walking around with my black bag, gloves on, hiding things in peculiar spots, cleaning and clearing the areas to ensure they're safe for the dogs (don't even ask about the cobwebs and redbacks I encountered last night!), and then snapping photos of everything. Surprisingly, I only get the occasional second glance - I must look incredibly innocent! ๐คฃ
#GetOutOfYourComfortZone #TrainDontComplain #ScentWorkWA
Scent Work Training - taking it out of the classroom into the Wild! #perthhills #dogtrainingperth #scentwork #scentworkaustralia #scentworkwesternaustralia
Sunday morning Hoopers is back for 2024! Some of the happy faces from the classes this morning.
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Look who came to join our Scent Work classes tonight ๐
These rookie legends met distractions for the first time last night!!! They are used to searching with โcontrolsโ (all the โthingsโ that are used in a search in conjunction with odour eg empty tins, magnets, tubes etc) and last night successfully worked their way through a barrage of distractions including Alpaca fleece, Cat & Dog hair, dog biscuits, coffee beans with of course controls! They successfully worked through their distractions (with the odd cheeky lick ๐) and found their target odour!
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Sunday morning Hoopers Shenanigans ๐ this was โmeantโ to be a lunging stationโฆ but either way it was a great warm up station
โwith flair ๐โ for all involved ๐
Well done to all KivaDog Hooperholics and friends who either came down to support or entered in the Fun Day at Flying Hoopers last night! As per usual, lots of laughs ๐ lots of WTH moments from our dogs ๐คช (not to mention the handlers!). Great to see everyone out there having fun and having a go!
Well done to all KivaDog Hooperholics and friends to either came down to support or entered in the Fun Day at Flying Hoopers last night ๐ As per usual, lots of laughs ๐ lots of WTH moments from our dogs ๐คช(not to mention the handlers ๐!). Great to see everyone out there having fun and having a go!
Well done to all KivaDog Hooperholics & friends who attended the fun day at Flying Hoopers last night! As per usual - lots of laughs ๐ with lots of WTH moments from our dogs (not to mention handlers!) ๐ great to see everyone out there having fun and having a go!
When you canโt control your enthusiasm for finding your hide ๐ zoom in on that tail!
Good girl Odette- we love your wiggle butt ๐
#scentwork #cypress #happydog
Whilst the sun made a brief appearance on the weekend โ๏ธ we got out and had some Hoopers fun! How good is the foundations class - only week three and they are putting new found skills together and started running small courses! Then the intermediate class got back in the saddle and worked on skills ๐
When Hoopers goes to the dogsโฆ oh wait ๐คฆ๐ผโโ๏ธ better rephrase thatโฆ When Hoopers goes to the clowns ๐
#connection #whereisyourdogat?
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Thanks for the video Cara ๐
After a month break our Thursday night class kicked off again last night... someone was super excited to be back at it... at 10 and a half years old - Guinness has such a zest for life and never a dull moment with him around ๐๐๐
Sniffing is Life!
Do you have a support group that supports you in what you love doing?! We have a great group of social sniffers that catch up once a week and work our dogs together - yesterday we spent our morning setting up blind searches - so dog and handler have no idea where the scent is hidden! A very interesting exercise in learning to read your dogs body language and trust your dogs ๐๐๐
Enrichment toys:
*Are all toys created equal? ๐ค
*Do all dogs get an โequally enriching experienceโ from each toy? ๐ค
No!
Yes Iโm completely guilty of having a freezer full of delectably stuffed kongs and similar enrichment toys that the dogs all get on a very regular basis. Iโm also guilty of making sure they all get the same โstuffed treat toyโ! Firstly (and most importantly ๐) to please my OCD nature and that they all match and secondly to make sure all is fair amongst the dogs... however if I asked myself the question, do they all find the same toys enriching... then to be honest - absolutely not.
My old girl Kiva loves anything and everything and relishes every toy as if it was her first and last. Kongs are her favourite. Never destroys them.
Zara - likes something a bit more challenging- the easier ones she polishes off in nanoseconds and likes the challenge of working for her treats - never destroys them and grins from ear to ear at a particularly challenging one!
Mac - my gentle boy, really finds even a Kong too much frustration and will prefer to give up and walk away if too hard or secondly destroy the rubber first to get straight to the food rather than work politely at it. He likes his treats to be easily accessible and if so, he will happily take half an hour to work away at what Zara would zip through in a minute. I have lost more โindestructibleโ toys to him than between all my other dogs combined however if the food is easily extracted the toy is no longer destroyed.
So solutions... have your freezer full of a range of great toys and pick the ones perfect for each dog! Let go of your OCD tendencies... ok that one is for me ๐โโ๏ธ๐ณ๐
Remember variety is key ๐ Here is Mac (with a West Paw Tux) and Zara (with Soda Pup can) enjoying an afternoon session ๐
Congrats clever teams ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ Last night gave us a bit of everything! Some beautiful runs ๐ some oh so close runs (they really break my heart!) and some WTF moments ๐ hoops? Nope never seen one in my life or the opposite- โhoops!!! Iโm going to do them all!!! โ (not looking at anyone in particular Ricki!) ๐พ๐พ #dogswillbedogs
(Yes there really were bats and a full moon last night ๐คท๐ผโโ๏ธ)
