20/10/2025
Wow another busy week at Racingredd Active Dogs!
Lots of excellent dogs during their normal lessons Tuesday-Thursday.
Friday was another of my extra scent and hoopers 1-2-1 days,where I introduced three new dogs and handlers to the wonderful world of dog sports.
It’s always great to see different breeds introduced,today’s were a BC,GSD and working lines Golden retriever.
Both the BC and GSD also had a taster session of scent and hoopers which they picked up really well with the dogs learning how to shape behaviours.
The Goldie however was a slightly different lesson,the owner had a very specific quest for me,to find a way to encourage her dog to stay connected with her in the agility ring and not go in search of food.
The dog is food and toy motivated so we started by introducing the dog to Kong with shaping using food,which she picked up quickly so we moved on to rewarding with the toy to channel her into a Kong toy being both the hidden odour and the reward as a toy. She is such a busy working girl that this was easy. So we moved on to the hardest bit,food distraction hidden inside box!
Again she was so enthusiastic and willing to learn there was only a couple of times where the food outweighed the toy. It was fantastic to see her working out that finding Kong earned her masses of praise and rewards,so much more than finding food! By the end of the session she was pooped and happy and her owner had plenty of homework to work through before I see them again.
Saturday started bright and early with me running my own recycled Hoopers show,recycled because all of the trophies and rosettes are either mine or donated by other people.
The show ran like clockwork with me judging,Sharon Farman scoring,electronic timing loaned by Jessica Woodrow Imdt and happy helpful handlers,we were finished 80 runs by lunchtime 🎉
The venue works well for the dogs who aren’t happy working with other dogs near the show ring as handlers and dogs go into the show area through the barn and out through the field gate.
It was a lovely relaxed atmosphere.
Under my show rules there are two courses to run twice with the best results counted for awards. So each dog has 4 runs in total.
The handlers walked the hoops and tunnels course,they talked handling tactics,where to stand to achieve extra points by remaining behind the bonus lines,then the beginners kicked the show off with great runs,followed by the novice dogs.
Once all of the partnerships had completed the first course I adjusted and added the rest of the equipment to include the gate and mat. The new course was walked and off we went again.
They’re were some amazing runs,fast runs,training runs,steady clears and super fast eliminations!
All achieved with smiles and praise for the dogs.
Hoopers is such a fun game for dogs with flowing lines making it workable for young and older dogs alike.
Thank you all for another great week folks.
On my Sunday off I had (crazily!) entered a SWUK scent trial each for Fix and Eleven in Bedfordshire,it was too good to miss with the levels I needed at the same venue,local too being only 1.5 hours away.
Fix worked first,she was very distracted by a new venue,especially the floor but we worked through it and she found all of the hides,the only dog to gain 100 marks and won the trial 🎉 also receiving her Excellent rosette (accumulated points over previous level 3 trial scores)
However I didn’t actually know that she had won as I helped take a lovely little JRT (who had wandered into the venue) to a local vets to be scanned! So that was a lovely surprise to come back to 🎉😁
A quick bite to eat for all of us and on to Elevens level 4 trial. El is an amazing scent dog at home but unfortunately although reaching level 4 had dropped confidence at a trials. I’ve given her a long break from trials working instead on indications and gaining confidence in different places
So my only aim was for her was to search,have fun and if we found some odour it would be a huge bonus.
I kept everything relaxed and to my happiness she found one hide in both of the first areas,missing one completely and although finding another didn’t stay with the odour on another so I chose to work her on rather than stress her into an indication that she wasn’t 100% committed to. This seemed to help her as the last two areas she found both hides. We finished in last place which to me felt like first place,so so happy with yesterday’s progress.
