Racingredd Active Dogs.

21/12/2024

Racingredd is closed until 7th January 2025.
Happy Christmas and New Year to all students past and present.
I hope you all have a lovely break,this was my morning view from the crazy youngsters.
I’m looking forward to seeing you all in the new year and watching another year’s progress in your chosen activity.

15/12/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/cc3YBsaDMkwk2MMx/?mibextid=WC7FNe

08/12/2024

When there’s a digger in the yard at training it would be rude not to search it 😆

05/11/2024

Sunday and Monday Racingredd hosted lovely Jo Crosby from K9 Scent & Search UK.
During the morning sessions Jo had a mix of beginner dogs and handlers who had great fun learning about searching for food and odour for the dogs who were already imprinted on Kong. Jo showed how to start to build the foundations for strong indications.

Afternoon groups were for the more experienced partnerships. We covered amongst lots of other things,independent searching,line handing and stronger indications.

Thank you for coming to teach us again and we all look forward to seeing you again very soon I hope.

Here’s a few pictures that I managed to snap.

02/11/2024

We had a lovely evening trying something new yesterday at Racingredd Active Dogs.
I taught a session of Mantrailing and an area search by head torch.
I’m sure the dogs thought we nuts with the amount of laughter 😆

25/10/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/ijLFy9Yp3ZYV99hd/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Research from Drone To Home Regarding Dog Behaviour When Missing.

Why won’t your missing dog come to you straight away?

During the search for a missing dog, owners are often advised not to shout, chase, or run towards their dog. This advice can be met with disbelief: “My dog always listens and will come back if they hear me.” While this may be true under normal circumstances, a missing dog doesn't respond the same way.

Understanding Survival Mode.

It's crucial not to humanise the situation. You're not looking for *your* missing dog; you're looking for *a dog that is missing*. This shift in thought is not a reflection of any owner or their bond with their dog; it's about the dog's current state of mind.

When a dog enters survival mode, their priorities shift to survival, food, water, and shelter. In this state, every human, even their owner, is perceived as a potential threat. This isn’t the fault of the owner or the dog—it's simply a missing dog trying to survive.

The feral state can kick in almost immediately but can take upto 6 weeks. Dogs experience various layers of the feral state, and it's definitely not one-size-fits-all. It's not about breed either.
We've seen thousands of dogs, both from the same breed and different breeds, act in similar ways. This behaviour is more primeval to the canine family than to an individual feral dog.

The Role of Scent in Reuniting with Your Dog.

Our research shows that a dog's brain responds more strongly to the scent of familiar humans than to other scents. Your missing dog will be trying to find you by scent rather than by sound or sight. Your scent carries upto 3 miles depending on various factors like weather, wind etc.

While it might be instinctive to organise a search party, it’s often wiser to wait. Allow your dog the chance to find you without being scared off by unfamiliar scents and people.

Avoiding Unintended Consequences.

Strangers calling your dog by name or whistling can actually push your dog further away. The missing dog hears a noise, sees it as a threat, and moves on, causing the search to restart. This includes searching with other dogs, even ones the lost dog knows.

As an owner, walking around the area where your dog was last seen is key. This will help your missing dog track back to you. Please remain calm.

Stay Patient and Positive.

Ask experienced people for advice on finding and reuniting with your dog. While many on social media have good intentions, they may not have first-hand experience with missing dogs. Don’t believe everything you read online.

Thank you.

Drone To Home
🌐 www.dronetohome.org.uk
📞 0330 124 2004

Let's bring them home together. 🐾

18/10/2024

Wow what a fantastic day for Racingredd full and part time sniffers today.
Sandra Rose and Logan 1st L1.
Nicky Hamlin and B**g 2nd L7 and Deborah Gilbody and Jonesy 3rd L7.
Congratulations ladies,you’re all amazing.

11/10/2024

Congratulations Ruthie and Saatchi,level 8 here you come 🎉🥂🥰

29/09/2024

I’m so pleased with Chilli today,we finished 4th in our L9 trial at Elton and more importantly we had a qualifying score which means we can work the L10 in October rather than having to do it NFC 🥳
He was such a happy boy,just loves his Scentwork,the difference it’s made to his confidence is incredible.

28/09/2024

Here are some facts about dogs' noses:

Smell receptors
Dogs have about 300 million smell receptors in their noses, compared to humans' 6 million.

Stereoscopic
Dogs' noses are stereoscopic, meaning each nostril can operate independently, allowing them to determine where smells come from.

Separate air
A fold inside each nostril separates the air into two parts: one for breathing and one for sniffing.

Sense of smell
Dogs can "see" more through their noses than their eyes. They can recognize people and other dogs by their smell, and they pay more attention to how someone smells than how they look.

Brain area
The area of a dog's brain that detects smells is 40 times larger than a human's.

Olfactory sensing area
The olfactory sensing area of a dog's nose has up to 300 million receptors.

https://www.google.com/search?q=facts+about+dogs+noses&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

Would you like to harness the power of your dog’s amazing nose?
I have a space in my nose work classes at 11.00 at Milking Nook near Peterborough.
Please pm the page for more details from Wendy.

31/08/2024

Congratulations to club members Nicky Hamlin with B**g and Deborah Gilbody with Jonesy finishing 1st and 3rd at yesterday’s SWUK trial.

29/08/2024

Fun Scentwork classes at Racingredd this week.

21/08/2024

Scent work friends….I’m in the process of booking the very talented Jo Crosby for some workshops during October.
Venue will be PE147BQ,dates to be confirmed,would you prefer Mondays or a weekend day and any requests for what to work on?
Comment below please.

04/08/2024

Charlie Turner and I have a couple of spaces on our Hoopers/Scentwork camp in September if anyone is interested?

20/07/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/GkahDBZZh4fMnjKS/?mibextid=WC7FNe

I often see people rewarding their dogs with one treat, small piece of kibble after they find odour then wonder why their dog might ignore odour at times, indication is sloppy, search lacks motivation or purpose…..

PAY YOUR DOGS!!!!

Imagine if you were paid absolute minimum wage or not even that for a top piece of work? 🤷🏼‍♀️ would that make you motivated to do it again or to try even harder next time…. No.

PAY YOUR DOGS!!!

I have a huge party if they find odour with toys and high value food rewards. I pay my dogs when they have worked hard simple as. If wren finds a dead bird, water vole poo or bat we have the biggest party together. Build those emotional responses to odour so they basically can’t ignore when they find it.

This is the same for any sort of dog training recall, agility etc pay your dogs! If you want to see a behaviour like recall more often then you need to start paying for it 😉

Payment can be different for individual dogs- how we reward them can be different such as the delivery of rewards, having a variable reward system, and what the dog finds most rewarding.

Red flags 🚩 is when a trainer says they don’t believe using treats for training, ignores what the dog finds rewarding, assumes every dog can be rewarded in the same way, thinks dogs should work for nothing.

PAY YOUR DOG!

20/07/2024

Quincy and I at a recent Level 7 trial.
Thank you to Justine Steele for the photos.