Canine Kinetics

05/24/2022

I have had a few questions about how to donate to the Ukrainian family. We do have a GoFundMe page started that you can use, or if you prefer you can contact me directly ([email protected]). This family has become very close to me for various reasons, but the first is because of their love and commitment to their dogs, cat, and guinea pig. Despite bombs falling around them, and the travel being difficult, they did not dream about leaving their animals behind. Even once they safely crossed the border to Romania they went to great lengths to find a way to travel across Europe with all their pets in tow. Even now as they are preparing to come to Canada they refuse to give up on their animals, they are after all family too, and we are working on finding a way to bring all the pets here, including the guinea pig. Once they are here we are going to start agility with the pug!! He seems like a lively one and I can just see him tearing up the course! You can read more about the family here on the GoFundMe page.

Hi, my name is Tina and I am fundraising for the Bieliaiev family so they c… Kristina Karvinen needs your support for Ukraine to North Bay - Bieliaiev family

05/24/2022

Many of you may know that I have been actively involved in helping a family from Ukraine come to North Bay to escape war and start a new life! 🇺🇦🇨🇦Part of this has involved fundraising, as they have quite literally lost everything, yet the expenses involved with coming here and getting established are high. One of our fundraisers is an agility workshop, which will be held on June 4 at my agility field at Canine Kinetics. All working spots are full, but I do have room for two auditors ($50/day). The targeted level is starter/advanced level.
PM if you are interested! 💛💙

04/11/2022

UPDATE: The class is now full! Stay tuned for future classes! 😊

There is ONE spot left in the Baby Puppy (2-6 months) class starting on Thursday, April 14 at Callander Canine Centre in Callander. This class is designed to be a fun way to teach your new puppy manners, age-appropriate obedience, and get ready for dog sports! Please message for more info.

03/19/2022

Canine Kinetics will be offering another session of puppy classes at Callander Canine Centre in Callander, Ontario. 🎉The new session will start on Thursday, April 14 and run for 5 weeks. Taught by Tina Karvinen, our head agility instructor.

Sport Puppy (6-12 months) - will cover basic obedience and agility/sport foundations - 6pm on Thursdays **FULL**

Baby Puppy (2-6 months) - will cover age appropriate puppy foundations work and household manners - 7:15pm on Thursdays. **two spots remaining**

Message me for more information! 😊

Please feel free to share! 🐶

08/16/2021

This past weekend we competed at the Ontario East Regional Championships in Huntsville, ON and brought home some ribbons! What a great weekend we had, full of sunshine, fun, and friends. In terms of overall results, Maize was 4th in 20” regular, Dex finished 2nd in 12” regular, and Delta was 5th in 12” regular!

08/04/2021

Canine Kinetics friends! Run throughs THIS Friday, August 6, from 10am-12pm. I will have a fun course set and we can take turns running it or working on whatever skills you wish. Maximum of four people to ensure we all get lots of time on the equipment! PM me to get reserve a spot. $20/dog (unlimited runs in the 2 hour block).
Note: you do not have to be a Canine Kinetics student to attend, but dogs must have previous agility training on all equipment.

06/03/2021

Dex celebrates his 9th birthday tomorrow! Tonight he got to run some agility with his favourite junior, Kiersten. Kiersten will be running him at regionals this year so they have been spending a lot of time practicing!

05/20/2021

Friends of Canine Kinetics! Once the lockdown is over we will be (finally) opening up for the season! Message me if you would like to book a lesson. Pictures here of Delta from today having a blast ripping around the course!

09/18/2020

Indiana Jones giving a smile on the a frame.

08/28/2020

Boomer having fun at his lesson.

08/27/2020

Wizard posing after a good lesson!

08/26/2020

Happy International Dog Day to the resident pups and all the dogs that train at Canine Kinetics!

08/20/2020

Happiness on both of their faces!

08/19/2020

Delta and Dex relaxing after their practice tonight.

08/11/2020

Kiersten and Delta running a course we set up today. They were pretty excited!

08/02/2020

Today was a hot and super tiring, yet fun day at the Animoosh Agility trial! Kiersten and I had 14 runs between us with three dogs, with us having at least one entry in every single class. 🤪 Because of COVID we have not trialed since last fall, so we were not sure how the dogs would do being so long away from trialing and given how rusty we would be ourselves! Things turned out pretty well for us. ☺️Delta and Maize each Q’d in all four of their runs and Delta finished her Advanced Agility Dog of Canada title and Maize finished her Agility Dog of Canada title! The best part was that Maize showed zero apprehension with the teeter and happily gave me three great and fast teeters! She also did not show any sensitivity to hearing other dogs doing the teeter. I’m hoping and thinking all the many months of reconditioning the teeter have paid off. 😅 All in all the dogs had a great time, and despite this being one of those endless days (we got up at 4:15am and didn’t get home until after 9pm) it was a good one!

07/31/2020

Day 8 of the “eight days of my dogs”. This last day is dedicated to my “baby” dog Maize. Not that much of baby anymore - she is 3 years old - but she acts like the eternal puppy! Although I love all
my dogs, I have a definite soft spot for Maize. She is the sweetest, funniest little love bug of a dog. She also LOVES horses, so we have that in common. She could stare at them all day long, and frankly so I could I if I wasn’t so busy with everything I do. 😊 Maize has been a joy to play with in agility! She is super quick and has awesome drive, but is also a very careful jumper and sensitive to my cues. She has only to date been trialed lightly as she developed suddenly last year a rather severe noise sensitivy to the teeter. We had to back it up completely and go right back to the tiny baby training teeter which was still too scary for her to be able to endure. Even if she just heard a little tiny bit of movement from it she would run away terrified. This was a very difficult problem! To help her I thought I would bring her love of horses into this. Since she can’t resist being around her horses I decided to park the baby teeter near the paddock. When she was staring at the horses I would move the plank just a millimetre. This was enough noise to send Maize running, but she quickly returned. Whenever we were around the paddock we would move the teeter plank a hair like this until shortly she stopped running as far, and soon not at all. From there we built up to greater movement in the teeter. Eventually she was ignoring the noise and actually started coming over occasionally. I would throw pieces of hot dog at her when she did, which brought her around for more, despite me moving the plank right when she was there. One day she jumped on the baby teeter by herself in anticipation of more hot dogs!! From there we moved the baby teeter to different locations and finally got the big teeter out. This spring she was finally able to do the big teeter with confidence, and now she can do it with distance with no worries, or hang out while other dogs do it without reacting! Her story is a great reminder to us, though, that even though there are challenges that we face in dog training there can be solutions, even if that seems impossible at the time, we just have to be thoughtful about it and dedicated to working on it! I can’t say that Maize and I are necessarily out of the woods yet, we have yet to do a teeter in a trial, but I know I will do whatever I can do to help her, since I know she loves agility and can be a great agility dog! 💓

07/30/2020

Day 7 of “the eight days of my dogs”. Today’s dog, Delta, is not really my dog at all, although I pay the bills so I thought I would include her! Delta is my oldest daughter, Kiersten’s, sheltie. Kiersten has loved all animals since she was little and she was particularly enamoured with shelties from a very early age. After years of begging for a sheltie puppy we finally said yes (I mean, how could I not?) to getting Kiersten a sheltie when she was 7 years old. As strange as it seems to write this now, Kiersten at this young age did all of Delta’s training with the exception of the weave poles which I mostly trained. Delta has proven to be a super motivated and fast little dog with a giant love for agility and trick training! She is Kiersten’s constant shadow and she is the only dog that really actually prefers the kids to me or my husband. While Delta has all the drive and motivation in the world she has some fear issues that have created some challenges. Mainly she is quite fearful of new people, so there have been many runs where she has had her run disrupted because she has had to try and drive off that scary judge with her barking! Also sometimes the trial environment can get to be too much, especially large events, and she will fall apart at the weave poles and can’t find her entry. Nonetheless, Kiersten has persisted and Delta has improved considerably. She is running at the advanced/master’s level and her speed and dexterity matched by her young handler make her fun to watch! A memorable moment was, at her first regionals in 2018, when Delta and Kiersten qualified for Nationals with Delta at just 2 years of age and her handler at just 9 years of age! At that Nationals in Maxville, Ontario Kiersten and Delta placed 7th overall in the Junior Handler division and were 2nd in the Junior Stake just behind Dex, also handled by Kiersten. Delta’s training continues with her young trainer and it makes me burst with pride at the team they have become. I’m excited to see where they will go as Delta’s confidence continues to grow. 💓

07/29/2020

Day 6 of the “eight days of my dogs”. Today I highlight Dex, my perfect poodle boy. I don’t even know where to begin, other than Dex is my once in a lifetime dog. I got him as a slightly older puppy in fall 2012 from a lovely breeder in Minnesota. He is the dog that has just sailed through everything with ease. I often say I just have to show him what I want and he does everything he can to deliver. The larger the event, the better he gets, squeaking and yipping his way around the course. He breezed through his ATCh-C and countless other AAC titles. Dex and I have also had success at the regional and national level. We have won Ontario East/West regionals four times and placed 2nd twice in 16” or 12” regular. Dex was also the 12” regular National Champion in 2018 and 2019. At the 2016 National Championships in Montreal we placed second in 16” regular and also, to my great delight, won a spot on the National Team! In spring, 2017 Dex and I traveled to Spain to compete at the IFCS World Agility Championships and had a once in a lifetime experience! Dex has also been a wonderful partner and teacher for my daughter, Kiersten. He helped her finish her Junior Handler ATCh-C and has competed with her at a number of junior events, with one of the highlights being winning the Junior Stake at the 2018 National Championships. Dex is also one of my most devoted friends. He is my constant shadow and is always ready for a cuddle on the couch. At 8 years Dex is still going strong and I hope we will have many more years together! 💓

07/28/2020

Day 5 of “the eight days of my dogs”. Today’s dog is actually not my own dog, but my mom’s and late dad’s papillon, Mimi! I wanted to include her, though, because whenever I have been visiting or living anywhere nearby even for a little while I have worked with her and she has been so much fun. She has the most amazing little work ethic, drive, and confidence! I actually have asked many times if I could steal her and my parents always said “no”, much to my dismay. When I moved to North Bay and was finally close-ish to my parents my mom and I made a greater effort to get together to work on her training, even though at this point Mimi was already 8 years old. We even entered a few trials and she did amazing, running like a champ and loving every minute. My highlight with her though was when we went to Ontario West Regionals in 2014 and Mimi and I got a 5th place overall in 6” vets and qualified for Nationals! My parents were so tickled that their little darling (the dog, not me) had qualified for nationals! Mimi is now quite an advanced senior at 15 years of age but she still sometimes gets it in her mind to run a tunnel
or two when she visits. She was the dog that sparked my love of papillons and I’m sure that I will have another one again. 💓

07/26/2020

Day 4 of “the eight days of my dogs”. Today’s tribute is to Maija (pronounced Maya, but spelled the Finnish way). Maija came to me as a rescue from my dear friend Susan in summer of 2008. I already had three dogs and was very pregnant but she was such an adorable little love bug I had to have her! Yes, I’m crazy! 🤪 Maija was such a sweet little thing. She loved snuggles and loved her ball and treats! In agility we had our challenges. She would sometimes freeze in the middle of a run and there wasn’t anything that would “unstick” her. It was something I racked my brain with and we were able to make some progress after finding a few things that worked for her. Nonetheless we worked through the levels into Masters and I have memories of lovely runs where she ran her little heart out, unfettered by the “demons” that sometimes haunted her. Unfortunately as time went on there were some physical limitations that became more pronounced that made agility no longer safe for her. At that point she transitioned to an agility cheerleader for our gang, and as she loved all people, she still enjoyed going to trials just to socialize! Maija also loved spending time with my parents and their papillons, and over time we found ourselves sharing her with them since she often wanted to stay with them when we went to visit! Sadly, her ongoing health problems began to take over and we sadly had to say goodbye to her in 2017. Maija will always hold a special place in my heart with her quirky ways and sweet little smile. 💓

07/25/2020

Here is Snaps’ last run before retirement in September, 2019 being run by Layna, age 4. This run was in starter gamblers and earned Layna her first junior handler Q. Snaps was 12.5 years old in this video and still loving agility!

07/25/2020

Day 3 of “the eight days of my dogs”. In summer 2007 another wild little bundle of border collie energy entered our lives. We called her “Snaps” since she snapped (in a good way 😬) at toys and pretty much everything. While Riley had been a serious, energetic, working machine, Snaps was an adrenaline high, fun loving, ball of frenzy! Agility was the ultimate high for her, there was nothing on earth that would make her so excited, except for maybe swimming while barking and biting at water. At the start line her pupils would dilate and you could see her soul get possessed! Snaps taught me so many things in agility, like good timing and the importance of impulse control training. While Riley was forgiving of my mistakes Snaps was not, and she quickly made her own decisions if I even hesitated for a moment, usually in the form of an off course tunnel or whatever else was handy. In her prime her speed and dexterity made her hard to beat if she ran clean and I revelled in the exhilaration of running such a slick, speed machine. Snaps finished her ATCh-C with style, although it was jumpers that held us back for a long time given her tendency to flatten out over long lines and pull bars! We had some nice runs over the course of her career. One of the highlights was winning the Steeplechase Final in 16” specials at the 2016 AAC Nationals in Montreal. She was so wild there, I literally held her by the hair at the start line as demonic possession took over her eyes and soul!! She also had other podium finishes and accolades over the years with me and my daughters, Kiersten and Layna, in a variety of events. She also helped Kiersten through achieving her junior handler ATCh-C, especially in gamblers, which was her absolute specialty! In her last run before retiring, Snaps ran with Layna to achieve Layna’s first ever AAC Q in starter gamblers in fall, 2019! Snaps is retired now to the couch but she still runs some tunnels and low jumps at home. Mainly though she likes to keep the other dogs in line and enjoys her snuggles with Layna, who has claimed her as her heart dog. 💓

07/24/2020

Day 2 of the “eight days of my dogs”. My second dog was my first border collie, Riley, who brought me over to the dark side of crazy herding breeds! After getting bitten by the agility bug with Cody I decided I needed a border collie to add to our family! In the spring of 2004 we welcomed a tough as nails, cattle line, wild child of a black and white fur ball into our world! What a change that was from the mellow Cody! Riley was a ball-a-holic, high as a kite, no end of energy type of girl and I fell madly in love! She changed the way I had to think about agility, and think I did. At first we failed miserably as, in her enthusiasm, she would run full speed around courses while I stood at the start line calling and trying to rein her back in. Eventually I learned to train and run smarter and things came together and we found ourselves in a nice, albeit exhilarating, partnership. Riley ended up being the little dog that could and ran with all her heart. She ended up easily finishing her USDAA ADCH and gave me so many great runs that I can still remember them with great pride. In 2009 we went to the AAC Nationals in Ottawa and while she was high as a kite all weekend I was beyond belief when I found we had finished 6th overall in 22” regular. Sadly, at Ontario regionals in 2011 I noticed that something was wrong. My normally super sensitive dog was missing my cues. As soon as we got back home to North Carolina (where we lived at the time) I went straight to my vet who found that she seemed to have some kind of peripheral vision loss. After follow up visits in Raleigh with specialists Riley was suspected to have a brain tumour that was affecting her vision. With heavy hearts we did what we could to keep her comfortable with medications until that no longer worked and I had to give her my final act of kindness. My heart still aches for her and her enthusiasm. I also think that those final runs at regionals were the last time I would step to the line with her and at the time I did not know it. I try to remember that, and celebrate my runs with my dogs even when they are not so perfect, because you just never know. 💓

07/23/2020

This is Cody, my very first dog of my adult life and my first agility dog! He arrived in my life as a sweet, little, velvety puppy in the summer of 2001 when I was working on my Master’s degree. At the time I was looking for a running partner, little did I know that my life would take a drastic turn when I took my first agility classes with him in January, 2003 with the Performance Agility Club of Edmonton in Edmonton, Alberta. Cody and I learned so much together in our journey into the world of agility, and although not the fastest guy around he was remarkably consistent. He was one of the first German Shorthaired Pointers to finish his AAC ATCh-C and also gave me a couple of podium finishes at the Alberta and later Ontario regional agility championships. We also dabbled in obedience and he finished his CDX and later some scent hurdling titles. Cody was also with me through my wedding (quite literally), saw me through the completion of my graduate degrees, and the birth of all three of my children. Sadly, I lost him in April, 2015 at the age of 14 years. I miss him and still think about him every day. He was truly a “dog soulmate”. 💓

07/23/2020

To kick off the start of the new Canine Kinetics page I want to feature each of my dogs, past and present. For the next 8 days I’m going to be featuring a dog each day with a little story about them. I am going to start from the beginning, from my very first dog, Cody, and go all the way to my current “baby” dog, Maize.