Tiptop Training

05/06/2024

05/03/2024

What kind of dog would YOU like to drive?

Helping people enjoy their dogs.

04/29/2024

A German Wirehaired PointerAs a canine behavior specialist, I have helped many owners who were at the end of their proverbial ropes. In some cases, the cumulative stress of dealing with things like constant chewing and destruction had taken its toll. In others, issues such as separation anxiety and....

04/18/2024

Find a trainer who understands both the art and science of dog training!

04/06/2024

Caryl had a great time at Landsford Canal ;)

04/02/2024

So true!

03/26/2024

Dogs are smart!

Dogs understand what certain words stand for, according to researchers who monitored the brain activity of willing pooches while they were shown balls, slippers, leashes and other highlights of the do

03/17/2024

Caryl learning tie out skills ;) (no sheep around)

03/14/2024

Service dog info

389 likes, 63 comments. “Emotional support isn’t a task, but it is an important way my service dog helps me.”

03/12/2024

Join us for 4 days of fitness with Bobbie Lyons, March 22nd-25th.

Registration opens on 2/15/24 at 6:30pm. Email [email protected] to register. Discounts available for multiple days of working spots.

Bobbie owns and operates Pawsitive Performance LLC which offers dog training, fitness training and trick training around the globe. Bobbie currently is the lead instructor and program director for the Certified Canine Strength and Conditioning Coach program that is offered through North Carolina State University and North Carolina State University Veterinary Medicine. She was also part of the TEAM that contributed knowledge and experience to design the CCFT II Live Lab and was a course "Instructor" for the program. Bobbie completed the certification program for Canine Fitness through the Companion Animal Sciences Institute and she is a Certified Training Partner with the Karen Pryor Academy.

Bobbie has a group of awesome dogs that train a variety of skills for agility, fitness training, trick training, tugging and dock diving. Bobbie enjoys the training process and strives to communicate in the best way she can to help her dogs and clients dogs understand the task at hand. She starts every training session with this question "how can I set the dog up for success and give the dog the best information to successfully complete the behavior".
To learn more about Bobbie visit:
www.pawsitive-performance.com

Friday March 22nd - Essential Targeting:
This is a fun workshop that will help you break down and train targeting behaviors that can be used to teach a variety of skills needed for trick training and performance sports.
• Targeting improves communication between dog and handler
• Targeting is a useful way to teach behaviors and tricks
• Targeting is useful to obtain specific positions for fitness exercises
• Learn about shaping behaviors and timing of the mark/click (refine your training skills)
• Learn how thoughtful placement of reward can improve the learning process
We will discuss how each behavior can be used and how to help your dog generalize those behaviors to a variety of skills.

$175 working spot (limit 10)
$50 audit spot (unlimited)
25% discount juniors and BIPOC

Saturday March 23rd - Posture Workshop
Are you wondering how to set your dog up for success in Canine Fitness? Do you know how to shift your dog's weight to the part of the body you are trying to strengthen? Does your dog have a sloppy sit and you need to know how to correct it?

Looking at your dog's posture and that required of each exercise improves muscle engagement, overall strength and decreases the chance of injury. In this workshop we will look at the posture of each dog along with the exercises to improve it. This workshop will teach you and your dog key exercises to strengthen core muscle groups, warm up and cool down your dog as well as exercises you can build upon in your canine fitness journey.

This workshop is good for those just learning and more advanced fitness students who want to refine movements to improve the efficiency of each exercise they do with their dogs. Puppies to Seniors can attend this workshop. Repetition and difficulty level will be adjusted to each dog.

$175 working spot (limit 10)
$65 audit spot (unlimited)
25% discount juniors and BIPOC

Sunday March 24th - Strength for Jumping
Do you want to learn exercises that teach your dog to jump with more power but less effort? Do want to improve your dog's ability to access rear limb power? Do you want to teach your dogs how to collect and extend when jumping?
Increasing strength for each part of the jumping movement is key to improving the overall skill and power of your dog.
In this workshop, we will address jumping, exercises to improve jumping and collective exercises to increase core strength.

If you are having specific jumping issues like dropping bars, taking off late or too early (not ETO) or just want to improve your dog's course time or improve their ability to have control of their body, then this workshop is for you.

Dogs should be 6mo old and older. Younger dogs will be asked to expose their dog to movements and the concept of jumping but will not be doing repetitive jumping. This workshop will be good for agility, flyball, dock diving etc. These are all very different types of jumps but depending on who attends we will discuss and work through several different scenarios.

$175 working spot (FULL-WAIT LIST ONLY)
$65 audit spot (unlimited)
25% discount juniors and BIPOC

Monday March 25th – Private Lessons
Private lessons are 55 minutes long and will focus on exercises to help you achieve your individual performance and fitness goals. You will be asked to fill out a questionnaire in advance so Bobbie can prepare for your lesson. Time slots will be assigned with preferences considered if possible.
$145 (limit 7)
25% discount juniors and BIPOC

03/12/2024

Good info for dog sports folx!

Those of you who tuned in yesterday to the first Food for Fen webinar, hosted by Dore River Border Collies, learned about glycogen sparing and replenishment as a way to promote stamina in our canine athletes. We talked about how muscle glycogen replenishment can be maximized during that short window...

03/10/2024

Caryl and I had a great walk at the Harry and Rebecca Dalton WMA :)

03/10/2024

Did you know that sniffing can make your dog’s outlook more positive? A 2019 study by Dr. Charlotte Duranton (Ethodog) and Dr. Alexandra Horowitz (Barnard College) compared dogs participating in nose work with their owners to dogs participating in heelwork. The dogs were then giving a cognitive bias test, which gauges optimism using one bowl that always contains food in one specific location, and a second that never does in another specific location. The test is what the dog does when they come across a third bowl in a new location, right between the other two. An optimistic dog would get to this new bowl more quickly, thinking it contains a snack; a pessimistic dog would get there more slowly, unsure about the snack or thinking the bowl is empty.

After two weeks of sniff- or heel-training, the nose work dogs went to the third bowl significantly faster time than they had before; the heelwork dogs showed no difference in time to reach the bowl before and after the training.

Why is this? One possibility is that dogs engaged in sniff training are encouraged to move around and make their own choices; heel training requests the opposite, remaining in a specific spot and not moving around or investigating. Smell is also an incredibly important sense for dogs, so sniffing allows a dog to engage in a natural behavior while obedience heel work is more artificial, and this may have an effect on how each dog is feeling at after the training.

03/10/2024

03/05/2024

Caryl being a Very Good Girl hanging out at Chipotle while I eat :)

02/28/2024

Let your dogs sniff!

Turid is mentionning our work during the DoceVitaDog Symposium concerning Dog’s communication and langage !

Thank you :)

02/25/2024

Helping your dogs spend time sniffing is hugely helpful!

Shake it…shake it off…

A recent study by two researchers in France looked at sniffing, pulse rate, and leash length on walks. Sixty-one dogs were taken on three separate walks, five minutes each walk, once with a 1.5m leash, once with a 5m leash, and once without a leash at all (walk order was randomized for each dog). Off-leash dogs sniffed the most, more than 3x as long as the dogs on short leashes. Dogs on long leashes spent nearly as much time as unleashed dogs sniffing, almost 3x as long as dogs on short leashes.

This study also found that sniffing resulted in lowered pulse rates, and the more intensely they sniffed, the more their pulse rates lowered. Pulse rate was also lowered when dogs “shook off” during walks on all leash lengths. The “shake off” behavior was often seen when the dog’s pulse rate was particularly high.

Read more about it below!

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1HX77kp2HBDiTxmq/?mibextid=Le6z7H

https://www.tuftsyourdog.com/everydaydogcare/giving-your-dog-time-to-sniff-on-walks-will-literally-soothe-his-heart/

What else can we learn about dogs from their walking behavior? Take your best friend on a Sniffari and see what you observe!

02/24/2024

Understanding dog body language is important!

40.1K likes, 2035 comments. “how well do you understand body language? here’s a - more to come in Part 2!”

02/22/2024

Learn about dogs at Discovery Place!!

02/20/2024

As dog guardians, we all want our loyal companions to be well-behaved and happy. But when our dogs exhibit undesirable behaviour, we may be tempted to resort to quick fixes like punishment collars or trainers who use forceful techniques. However, these methods come at a high cost to both the dog and...

01/16/2024

Anyone can call themselves a dog trainer.

01/08/2024

Caryl got to play with RATS today! She thought this was A1 fun, and also enjoyed her waiting time while staring at the fancy baby chickens ;)

Allie Smith and Bubbles also has a great time, a big THANK YOU to Rebecca Schnulle !

01/08/2024

Hanging out at Service King! Damage to undercarriage after running over something at night. She's being a super star!