Ascension Canine Training

22/12/2025

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas ⛄🎁🌲

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

19/12/2025

2025 has been by far the biggest year for my business in seven years of operating.
To start, I will summarise the year by the numbers:

4 Countries worked in
3 GAK9 courses (2 government, 1 trainer)
7 GAK9 workshops (mix civilian, SAR, and Security)
16 Breeds of dog
16 Flights; mix of international and domestic
28 Different police agencies; mix of Aus and US
105 Dogs trained in tracking (50 were police or corrections K9s)

There were some notable achievements which I am very proud of. I conducted two government agency workshops which were well received and very successful in terms of outcomes achieved. I ran the first GAK9 Trailing Trainer Course in Australia. The first GAK9 Field Master Certification was achieved by Andy and K9 Omar. I was the first Australian to instruct at the American K9 Tactical Conference. And I travelled to South Africa to train the Anti-Poaching Unit which K9 Hans is a part of in tactical tracking techniques.

None of this happens without support from both my friends and family.

Josh McDuff, Jay Quinn, and Ezra King were with me for most of these great activities. They laid untold amounts of tracks, sometimes unarmed in a Big Five reserve with only a stick to defend themselves… It is not easy putting yourself out there and doing these big courses. Having my mates there backing me up made the experiences even better.

My wife, sister, and in-laws made my absences possible. Our little girl is a (delightful) handful, and Olivia has been pregnant with twins most of the year, so it's not been easy for me to be away so much. It is hard being away from my family so much, and I look forward to a quieter 2026 to enjoy more time at home.

To everyone who paid good money to work with me, or who lobbied their agency for funding, thank you. I thoroughly enjoyed working with everyone this year.

18/12/2025

Everyone loves water crossings when tracking 💦💦💦

📸 O&J Wikner Photography

17/12/2025

Training handlers from all walks of life is one of the best parts of being a tracking trainer.

I have trained everyone from retirees, teachers, and wheel chair bound, through to SAR, Police, and anti-poaching K9 handlers. Working with a wide array of dogs and humans across Australia and the globe is something that brings me great satisfaction.

16/12/2025

Military Police Dog Dirk pictued at an ADF MWD activity in Darwin, NT.

It is very nice to see the puppy I raised (with support from some amazing people here in Canberra) working hard in the Australian Army.

📸 Department of Defence (you can find more images on the publicly accessible website too)

15/12/2025

Leash handling

I work at the end of a 30ft leather line at almost all times. I almost never get tangled, and in particularly thick terrain often only get glimpses of my dog working. Tracking by feel is very much possible with practice.

In urban terrain I normally work at the end of the line but will close up the distance with my dog if we're approaching a blind corner, if there is extremely busy traffic, or my dog's tracking behaviour is looking a bit less predictable if the contamination and odour picture becomes more difficult to predict where he'll hunt for odour.

There's many ways to approach leash handling. Some people like working very close to their dog, often for fear of their dog getting a bite on a member of the public.

My view is that working as far from the dog as is practical makes for a better tracking dog. I've seen handlers who micromanage their dogs up close, very much to the dogs detriment.

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

13/12/2025

Great to see MPD Dirk, the first dog I ever sold, doing well up north

Australian Army maintains world-class capability at the leading edge of K9 best practice.

12/12/2025

Be sun smart this summer everyone, and wear your hat!

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

10/12/2025

Going visual

I often feel like I'm living in a nut house in the tracking industry, particularly when I see people talking about their dog “going visual” at the end of a track.

By way of quick summary, many people conflate a dog's nose being glued to the ground with the dog effectively working odour. Therefore if this is the foundation concept, then the perception of a dog lifting its head as it hits the odour pool created through off gassing by the track layer is misinterpreted as the dog “going visual”.

Article tracking methods deliberately avoid dealing with the direct odour pool at the conclusion of the track. Some go as far as to suggest that it is counter productive to train with people waiting at the end of a track due to dog's learning to work the odour pool and cut the track when it does so. On an IGP tracking field, that makes sense. When tracking armed offenders, a little less so.

I'm not saying these methods don't create competent tracking dogs, because they do.

But reality is messy and having a canine vacuum cleaner work with it's way nose down right up to a potentially armed threat, or lose the missing person because your dog can't work the odour pool, represents a failure of analysis of one's training system.

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

09/12/2025

Looking forward to returning to the USA in 2026 🇺🇸

I had an incredibly successful trip this year, and am looking at expanding my trip to deliver additional workshops whilst stateside next year.

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

08/12/2025

If you want some amazing photos of your dog - head over to O&J Wikner Photography to book a session, or just like the page on FB / IG to see more awesome pics.

📷 O&J Wikner Photography