VIK9

07/01/2024

It is going ti be getting hot here. Please protect tour dog’s paws by having them wesr boots, cooling off surfaces that they need to walk on to get to where they need to do their business, changing routine so that their exercise is done during the cooler part of the day.

06/26/2024

HUGE CONGRATs to Dina and her handler for passing the Level 2 Certification (PAT) today.

06/20/2024

UPDATE. VIK9 (in preparation to changing over to a non-profit) has opened up a new Division. Canine Assisted Intervention (CAI) Dogs (formerly known as Therapy Dogs) has been initiated. Jack and Groot have been retired as Service Dogs whereby their skills are now being used for others.

Jack was retired by our Vetrinarian as a Service Dog and his work as a CAI dog will be curtailed (schools, facility support, etc) around the condition to which he was retired by and therefore his health and well being will be protected.

Groot has been voluntarily retired by myself, his skills as a PTSD Service Dog can be an extreme benefit to others as a Critical Incident & Trauma (CIT) Dog. This is a specialty within the CAI field.

Why is it important to not have a dog change roles and concurrently work as a service dog and a CAI Dog?

First and foremeost, service dogs shall ONLY be trained and meant to support an individual to meet their individual needs, which is why they are protected under Human Rights.

Second, if a service dog is actively used to support others then it causes confusion in the dog by not ensuring it remains focused to support its handler and the handler’s needs amongst distractions.

Third, the service dog community is already challenged with maintaining issues whereby the rights of service dog access and too many people do not know bserve the service dog harness and want to interact with service dogs (while working) and having service dogs actively assist others only adds to the confusion of society’s understanding and proper decorum is counter productive for all concerned.

Groot and Jack supported veterans in the Broadmead Lodge facility yesterday which was a HUGE SUCCESS. We look forward to providing such services to the various communities and facilities.

06/07/2024

https://www.vicnews.com/local-news/public-warned-of-bacteria-contamination-at-4-greater-victoria-beaches-7371796 #

Evidence of f***l contamination especially bad at Gorge Park where sample was over 33 times the limit

06/06/2024

All pet owners and people that love going into the water.

Just days before warmer weather, Island Health has issued water advisories for several beaches in Greater Victoria due to high bacteria levels.

06/02/2024

HUGE THANKS to everyone (Leila, Kate, Caitlin and Llewyn) that helped out with the Brentwood Bay Parade and the Shoal Centre Accessibility Expo that happened yesterday (1 June). By passing out bundles of info, VIK9 was able to share what we are doing now, what is coming in the near future (standing up a Non-Profit Organization, VIK9 Assisted Human Services Society-VIK9 AHSS which will replace VIK9 when appropriate to do so), educational information about the updated terms & supports of Canine Assisted Human Services that are available and the latest update to standards being established for the Animla Assisted Human Services Industry. SD’s and SDIT at the Expo were SD Level 3 Groot, SD Level 2 Twain, Hoover, Dina, SDIT Level 1 Diesel (awaiting pairing), Nyla & Bishop (4 months old).

It was a great oppertunity to share and network.

05/28/2024

A great article!

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05/12/2024

Anyone that may be interested. We recently lost a wonderful man that served his country in the Royal Canadian Navy (one of the few that are left that was a part of D-Day operations), Peter Chance. He will be missed as he played a vital role in the community up until the end.

Get ready to step back in time and dance the night away at our 80th Anniversary of D-Day Hangar Dinner Dance!

04/10/2024

VIK9 is happy to welcome the two newest recruits into our family. Bishop (male), left and Nyla (female), right were individually selected and picked up today from Grace Goldens and are making their way here to the island.

04/10/2024

04/06/2024

Reminder to all, Monday we have an eclipse. Pic shown below is for time periods specifically for BC (Victoria). Please be careful for yourselves, your 2 and 4 legged family members.

03/19/2024

Monday, April 8th is set to have a solar eclipse. Even though BC will not experience the full effect of this, VIK9 highly recommends that people take protective measures for yourselves, your loved ones and your service dogs and pets.

03/09/2024

Been a busy week. Great success at the MARPAC Health and Wellness Expo. Opened up some leads on future Canine Assisted Human Services on base and 2 other non-military facilities. We did a lot of educating to military members regarding service dogs for themselves, their loved ones and/or friends. We advocated the need of a national standard for service dogs. Huge thanks to Caitlin Branch, Hanna Duce, Kate Mahone, Randy Muttit and Len Tally in helping VIK9 make this event another success. We got very lucky ti be placed right near the food stand so lunchtime provided excellent visibility and slow enough traffic that we were able to talk to most people.

Service Dogs and Service Dogs In Training were: Groot, Ace, Holly, Jack, Hoover, Diesel, Skye and Dina.

We introduced the upcoming K9 First Aid Courses that VIK9 will be offering in regards to pets and service dogs once Randy Muttit completes his training. He already has extensive experience teaching various human first aid courses. The orgainisation that will be training him is open to colaborate with VIK9 as linguistics as we discussed not compete or undercut them on pricing. Stay tuned on when Randy will be offering the courses.

If anyone took pictures of us at the event, please feel free to share.

01/21/2024

Ewan has been secured into a purchase and will convert over to Owner Trainer Program. VIK9 welcomes Ewan’s handler into the family. Ewan will be passed to his handler early Feb and the team will be supported by a VIK9 Trainer in the local area.

01/21/2024

VIK9 would like to welcome Lavender and her handler to the VIK9 family. Lavender is an 8 week old English Cream Lab from a breeder here in Victoria. This team will commence the prep training part of the Owner Trainer Program.

01/19/2024

Training is cancelled today. Please reach out to your individual trainers for any phone support you may benifit from (ie new clients to address the basics of structure, routine, learn to earn, etc).

12/14/2023

VIK9 wiuld like to welcome Darwin and his handler into the VIK9 family. They will commence the trwining in the new year.

12/01/2023

Socialization Training has started for Dina and Grim. They joined us during our regular Team Training Session and got a lot of exposure to public places (and moderate Christmas shopping crowds). VIK9 Trainer Hanna and vollunteer Peter are also in this pic. Thanks team!

11/25/2023

Snow and cold weather is coming. Please ensure that pet owners and service dog handlers alike wipe the paws when coming in as many deicing agents are caustic to dogs. You can also start using dog boots to protect their feet.

Clip below is this morning’s start of snow in Saskatoon.

11/24/2023

VIK9 regrets to pass on that Roxy passed away Monday, 20 Nov 2023. I will not get into the details of the medical situation. She was an amazing spirit and made a huge impact to anyone that was involved with her. She will be greatly missed. Our prayers and support go out to her handler (and handler’s) family) as she was able to develop a significant bond with them throughout the training plan.

We urge anyone commenting to be respectful and compassionate. VIK9 will delete anything that would intentionally or unintentionally cause more distress to the handler.

This post was done with the consent by the handler.

11/24/2023

Query.

What would the interest be for VIK9 to do up a 2024 Calendar. It could feature the variety of breeds, services, programs, etc

11/24/2023

VIK9 would like to apologize to the new additions to our family (Daisy, Grim, and Mocha). Each have joined the family at different times over the past few weeks, unfortunately other things have kept me from paying these teams the proper respects and I am catching up with various administration issues while I am working remotely in Saskatoon. I will be returning next week to lighten my trainers loads. I sincerely thank the VIK9 trainers and volunteers that have helped share the load during my absence.

11/24/2023

Dina will be joining the VIK9 family this coming Wed. She will be flying in to Comox from the prairies and will be picked up by one of the VIK9 Trainers.

11/24/2023

VIK9 would like to welcome Mocha and her handler to the Prep Phase of the Owner Trainer program. Welcome to the family!

11/24/2023

VIK9 would like to welcome Grimolde and his handler into the Prep Phase of the Owner Trainer program. Welcome to the family.

11/24/2023

VIK9 would like to welcome Daisy and her handler. They are entering into our Prep Phase of the Owner Trainer program. Welcome to the family.

11/23/2023

Finally got around to making a QR Code to my brief educational video about SD’s. Please share.

11/09/2023

Congrats to Bruno and his handler for passing our Public Access Test.

10/27/2023

HUGE CONGRATs to Mia and her handler!!! They just passed their MSAR/CASDT Level 3 Team Certification. Strong performance of Mia working for her handler!

10/18/2023

Congrats to Hux and his handler for passing the MSAR/CASDT Level 3 Team Certification. Great work done by this team in preparing.