🏅Champion🏆
Starting a new sport at 13 was something I just thought we would do for some fun because he's always up for anything. Being taught almost everything he knows with hand signals for 13 years then suddenly retraining everything (well, still not everything 🤪) on verbal cues only was a huge switch. I said many times this will never happen but it's fun to try, and why not get judged so I can keep learning.
Most other sports Silo was my dog to test them, so he's a Novice level at almost all sports 🤣 but we got to try so many and always have a blast doing it. Never ever did I think he would go higher than that in any, and definitely didn't think we would get to champion! But my love for this sport grows and grows and you can see by his enthusiasm here that his love is growing to.
I wanted to complete this title and then retire him... he should be living out his golden years, but I think for him, working with me is living. So here's to his 15th year and his new title, though he's always been a champion to me.
Up next I guess we need to go on to grand champion?!? 😱
Rally-free is by far the best sport I've found that brings light and life to your relationship with your dog. It's ok to have flaws and mistakes, it's flowy and beautiful and you get opportunities to show your dogs personal style and unique skills.
So much fun.
#rallyfree #Freestyle #championtitle
Today was really fun! Hope to grow the group when any dog is ready.
Our classes get you ready for the things you think you need but we throw little bit of the things you don't know you want yet in there 🥰
#paddlesanddogs
#unleashedniagara
Join us July 21 to learn the skills needed to potentially save a life.
$159 for an 8 hour certification course.
#caninefirstaid
#caninehealthcanada
Sign up www.unleashedniagara.com
Last night concluded our Indoor/outdoor loose leash walking class.
Last night's test....Some no hands and no food walking!
They all did great. It's a process to really understand what's going on while walking your dog in order yo get the results you're looking for. It'd easy to start relying on food or the leash as a crutch for walking. Which ends up leading to frustration or what feels like bribery to some.
We don't use force or punishment techniques so the dog really needs to want to be near you.
Bring back the fun!
Hopefully these teams learned some new strategies to implement to make their walks more fun for both sides of the leash.
#letthemsniff #looseleashwalking #dogvideo
A little Taste of our most recent grads!! All ages and breeds welcome!
Sport Dog 1.
Prerequisite of Family Manners 1 or training at another facility using force free methods.
*Wind!*
Airflow is not something we can see and it can really confuse us if you don't consider it.
Today is super windy. I wanted to take advantage of that.
Here in this video a few things happened, I thought it was an interesting few moments to share.
Eevee hasn't done much Arial searching yet, but when you set stuff up for one dog might as well do the others!
She is trying to work through it, when she alerts at first she's definitely on odor (its right next to the correct option but is windy), it helps I know where it is but her alert included a few bum drops and not very good eye contact after the sit, which she never does so I admired what she was telling me and kept going. I don't really want to just say oh you're close, so here's your snack. I want her to always feel super confident in her answer. It can be a tricky balance between pushing to hard and just enough.
As we move through it she's starting to send little stress signals, so I stop, do a few tricks to reset her brain and reward her to keep her up as well as tell her she's doing a good job (food doesn't talk remember!) And we keep going. It's one thing I love about this sport, it's super easy to support your dogs emotional state the whole time. You can opt out at any moment or just reward reset and keep going.
She then moves around in a more familiar way (none arial) and catches it from away and uses the airflow to follow it back. It's so cool, every time it's still just as cool. She's cool. What fun. Now they are all wiped and I can enjoy my afternoon.
Scent Detection is such a cool sport for all dogs. The ideas you can run with and play with are endless.
#scentdog #scentdetectiondog #dogtraining #stcatharinesdogtrainer #sportdogs #sportclasses
Tricks are such a super fun AND usable skill for our dogs.
Like seen here, (in dress rehearsal) when Judith's Chi Mcgee was Brutus and Candice's Sail the rescue mutt was Rufus in the local stage production for Legally Blonde in 2019.
Not seen here was Mcgee needed to perform and hand signal only cue for barking, while on stage with the actors. He was handled many times throughout the show in hand or in a bag/purse and was a natural. Sail was required to come out Unleashed onto the stage each night to her actor handler and at another time carry a toy across the stage with a different handler. Also performing a bow at the end each night with an actor handling her.
Tricks was the beginning to all of that! Confidence was the true key.
They killed it and almost stole the show each night.
You never know where tricks may lead you. Mcgee also had a part in a TV commercial shortly following that show.
We have a new tricks class starting Saturday March 16. Little dogs, big dogs, rescue dogs, old dogs and new dogs, Tricks are not just for kids! They are for all ages.
Tricks help to increase your dog's focus and confidence! And they help create foundation behaviours to lead you and your dog through to more complex performance in many areas, including obedience and sports. This one is entry level; teams that have taken Tricks previously will work at Intermediate level; all work to earn Do More With Your Dog Novice Trick Dog Title
Prerequisite – Level 1 Obedience or Sport 1. Taught on-leash. Cost includes DMWYD Novice Title Evaluation and Certificate.
Trainer-Judith
Having some fun with the take a bow challenge.
What are your creative take a bow ideas?!
If you were around during covid you know I love a challenge. Who's up next???
#bow #dogtrick #challenge #takeabow
