Access Canine Solutions

Access Canine Solutions Access your dog's full potential. Owner-trained Service Dog training program and K9 Performance Sport coaching. Local & long distance learning available.

• Group Classes & Private Coaching
• Virtual, Local, and Hybrid learning solutions
• Highly individualized


� CANINE PERFORMANCE & SPORTS
Access your dog's inner athlete with Canine Sports! Group Classes and Individual Coaching is available for Agility, Nosework, Rally, Competition Obedience, CGC, Tricks, and more. Instruction is highly individualized for your goals, whether you;re planning to

compete or are just looking for something fun to keep your dog healthy and his mind engaged.


� SERVICE DOG TRAINING & EDUCATION
Access your Independence with our TTEAM Program for Service Dogs

Our 18-24 month program for Owner-Trainers (OT) guides qualified disabled individuals through ALL phases of training a service dog for mobility, hearing, medical alert, psych and developmental/cognitive support. The average wash-out rate for service dogs in training is about 60%, and many trainers agree that selection and matching account for 80% (or more) of whether a team is ultimately successful. In addition to helping you select the best propsect, you'll learn how to train basic thru advanced obedience, task training, and public access training. Students also complete lectures and reading on canine psychology and learning theory, health & wellness, federal, state, and local laws and handling access issues. We have a modified version of the program for Program Placed (PP) teams from other schools, with maintenance training, problem-solving and filling any gaps.



� PET TRAINING & BEHAVIOR
Access your dog's Full PETential

Help your pet become a well-mannered member of the family (and when out in the big-wide world). Whether he's a puppy or grey in the muzzle, learn how to teach him basic through advanced obedience, off-leash skills and a reliable recall, and preventing (or solving) common behavior problems. We also offer consults and intensive training for those experiencing more serious behavior problems, including anxiety, fear, reactivity, obsessive compulsive disorder, aggression, and undesired predatory behavior.

12/26/2024

Belated Happy Howl-a-days to all of our students - past, present and future!

Better late than never. Was not feeling well yesterday.

Terrific (if silly) example of teaching by mirroring.Ways to train include:- Word association- Capturing- Marker Trainin...
12/18/2024

Terrific (if silly) example of teaching by mirroring.

Ways to train include:
- Word association
- Capturing
- Marker Training
- Luring
- Targeting
- Molding
- Mirroring
- Shaping
- Patterning
- Chaining & back chaining

12/07/2024

I'm posting this video partly because of the threat made early at the beginning of the video by the DEA agent that he didn't care if the (passenger) consented to a search, that they'd detain them, and "run my dog on it and get a search warrant."

I've always had a problem with this wording. To me, it sounds like a threat to use the dog to justify a search through a false alert. You may suspect, but you don't know. And if you don't know, you can't say the dog will alert to give you the warrant . . . . unless you know the dog will alert (odor or not).

One of the things I cover in my classes is that a few studies found a significant number of detection dogs working in law enforcement frequently false-alert on food and toys and are highly susceptible to false alerts if the handler believes a hide is present (when there's no odor).

I raise the issue to warn scent sport handlers not to talk their dogs into an alert.

However, these studies also raise Fourth Amendment concerns about whether using detection dogs alone is really a legitimate search.

https://youtu.be/AsmVfa3BvvY?si=MpOn289L3CjOg6Nb

Genius! I also love that you're training on CUE. It'll save you later when you forget to put down the blanket.
11/28/2024

Genius! I also love that you're training on CUE. It'll save you later when you forget to put down the blanket.

Interesting. I'll have to look up the study.
10/30/2024

Interesting. I'll have to look up the study.

New study published in Animal Cognition found that dogs have a bias towards vowels when understanding human language. This differs from people who have a bias for consonants. In the study 44 dogs were played mispronounced versions of their names, one with the vowels incorrect and one with the consonants incorrect.

Dogs demonstrated a vowel bias rather than a consonant bias, preferring their own name over a vowel-mispronounced version of their name, but not in comparison to a consonant-mispronounced version. It didn't seem to have much of an impact on their understanding if the consonants in their own name were wrong.

This is interesting when thinking about how dogs respond to our vocal commands - it is more important for us to pronounce the vowels well than the consonants. This might not be intuitive because it is the other way around for us humans.

I've actually tried this on my own dog, Maki. If I call him Baki or Raki or Waki, he responds as if I'm calling his name. If I call him Muki or Moki, he doesn't pay as much attention. Does anyone else have similar experiences?

Paper: The role of linguistic experience in the development of the consonant bias, Animal Cognition October 2020

Link to paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-020-01436-6

10/19/2024

Nosework Student Molly understood the assignment!

I love Halloween because it's a great opportunity to not only buy Truck or Treat pails for containers searches (I have over 50 of them).

But it's also the best time to find interesting distractions with lights and sound for searches. This one even has movement!

Ive used all sorts of children toys that make noise or light up. But holiday decor is my favorite.

I've got some monster eyes that blink, a witch that flies and a ghost that wiggle if they sense movement. I have a battery operated Santa Clause from the 80s that plays Christmas music while it shuffles about, stopping to ring a bell. I use to have a pressure mat made to slip under a rug and play spooky noises when you step on it.

Last weekend, I saw these light up spooky flashlights that okay noise. I'll post a video of those in the comments.

Get created with your search distraction! Also this sort of stuff is great for puppy exposure and service dog acclimation training!

Great advise. We start with an exercise I call Duck, Duck, Goose that helps encourage dogs to start searching from the s...
10/11/2024

Great advise. We start with an exercise I call Duck, Duck, Goose that helps encourage dogs to start searching from the start line.

What is the importance of Threshold hides in Scent Detection?

If we accept the fact that in "Real World" operations our adversaries want to keep their stuff from being found, and stop dog teams, Threshold hide placements teach handlers and dogs to slow down and start the search at the first opening. During many a session in the military we placed hides right at doors, and any other entrance to a search area. This is a safety issue for handlers and dogs. Many times from dopers to terrorists they want to target dogs and handlers and will place or emplace Passive Infrared or Trip wires to initiate explosives, even for narcotics searches.

Now to sport scent detection. What's the importance of thresholds there? In my opinion Threshold hides teach a couple things at once.

First, the behavior chain begins at the start line. Even if the dog wants to pull into the search, the dog doesn't get to start until we tell them too. Pulling could lead to faults. It can also lead to safety issues.

Next, Threshold hides teach teams that the search starts at the door or start line. That's why as a skill we should train a Deliberate Off-set from the start line or entrance to a search, if the space permits. This allows the dog to be searching for odor as they cross the line, not bursting from control to chaos as they cross. Then as they cross, the dog may encounter their first hide and be more motivated to find the next.

Finally, Threshold hides can put the team on a logical pattern for clearing the area. Even if you don't believe or prescibe to the notion that all searches must be conducted in a systematic fashion, these hides can get you started on the right track and prime your team with their first find. When the hide count is Known, you'll know how many you have left. If the hide count is unknown, at least you got one.

Look, there is nothing wrong with missing these hides and coming back to find them later however, it's a training scar that may lead to other problems down the road.
What we habitually do in training can come back to haunt us at trial or operational context.

Threshold hides are not about speed. They are about putting your team in the right mindset from the start. You MUST rotate them into your training sessions and prepare for them. From safety, to control of arousal, to just good sense, training for them is a critical skill

Attack the week and find your Motivation Monday! MonSLay!

10/10/2024

Oh that's hilarious!

He's so big now! He weighed 80 pounds today for his September weigh-in.
09/18/2024

He's so big now! He weighed 80 pounds today for his September weigh-in.

Blast from the past! I've been busy cleaning, clearing out drawers, and more. I found a USB stick in a drawer and though...
09/17/2024

Blast from the past!

I've been busy cleaning, clearing out drawers, and more. I found a USB stick in a drawer and thought it was someone else's. I'm so glad I checked first because it was mine!

A student took photos during the first UKI Beginner Trial at K9JYM and gave them to me on a USB stick. I don't remember if I ever looked at them.

My favorite, though, was this group shots of my students.

This was in 2015. I knew there was a problem getting new people to trial because they were intimidated. One Saturday, I asked Roy to come 'play judge' for some of my beginner classes to prove to them it really wasn't such a big deal.

Roy ran with the idea and got permission to conduct a UKI Agility trial for beginners (dogs or handlers).

Roy got approval and organized the trial. I pumped it up during classes and got more students to try trialing than ever before. Some were completely new to dog sports, and some had baby dogs looking for a low-stress way to dip their toes in.

In addition to having many of their classmates there for support, they weren't as worried about looking like 'a fool' in front of 'the pros.' And (I hoped) learned we're all fools on course -- even the "pros." Mistakes in agility are a GIVEN. They're part of the game.

We had a lot of fun that day. I'm still friends with many of these students. It was the first of several of these Beginner UKI Agility trials.

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Doylestown, PA
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Our Story

Rebecca has more than 30-years experience in the animal training industry. She first began with the animals on her family’s exotic animal farm in Kansas. By a teen, she started her first business, offering professional horse training and riding instruction at the local barns.

After high school, she ran away to join the circus - becoming the first woman hired by the Animal Department at Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus (Red Unit). There she studied under some of the great European circus families and oversaw the care of the exotic animals in her tent, including camels, yaks, ostrich, alpaca, zebra, horses, and more.

Later, she would return to the Midwest, and looking for something to do, began volunteering with a local Service Dog program. Operated by the Department of Defense/Army, AIM HI used minimum security prison inmates - teaching them a marketable skill, to train dogs from local shelters - saving their lives, to become service dog’s for qualified disabled veterans and their family members.

While helping train the dog’s and inmates there, Rebecca completed their Dog Obedience Instructor and Service Dog Trainer Courses and started her own pet training business. Later, when AIM HI closed, she would continue to train and place service dog’s with disabled individuals - helping them achieve greater confidence and independence.