K9 Kinship -Lifestyle and Sport Dog Training

02/09/2025

👌👏👏👏

02/09/2025

Sunday fun tracking day!
As a trainer and coach with close to 30 years experience, tracking is a sport that is dear to my heart.
But interest in the sport is fading. There are a number of factors for this, with the number one being the availability of fields to practice, because we need at least 5 acres for TD lessons and 10 acres for TDX lessons. The next being the commitment to the training...it is a lot more complicated than other nose related dog sports and requires a fair amount of time learning the skills of leash handling, observing of behaviours along the track or-reading your dog , weather conditions and how it affects the track and scent and of course the dogs natural abilities and more. Some dogs...mostly GSDs and Malinois make the sport look easy with their natural talent to unwaveringly commit to scent. Other breeds have to work harder as do their humans. There is also the issue of lack of local testing here in the interior with most tests down on the coast or the island. Fortunately my club the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Canada is now able to offer tracking tests and we are doing so with our first official one on Sept 27 and 28. And of course the local NOTOC has been offering a tracking test every October after thanksgiving for a number of years also in Armstrong!
So there are now 2 opportunities to test your dog locally which I think is great for the sport and to build back interest!
With the extra local tests available and the potential increase in interest in tracking, what I would like to do is be able to offer more workshops for beginners, and more advanced trackers.
So after this testing season is over , expect to see some workshops offered for all levels of tracking. Some of these workshops may simply be about scent on a track, others on leash handling, others on how to lay a track for your dog and for the test. We always need track layers for our tests and being a track layer is a great opportunity to learn what a tracking test is about before entering one!
Anyway, stay tuned for upcoming workshops and info regarding tracking with your dog.

23/08/2025

Truth...right?

08/08/2025

clear, concise truth right there...👇

The problem with redirecting…

Here’s a message I received the other day. It’s unfortunately indicative of a current training trend, and I know lots of folks are on this same course… and struggling due to it.

Here’s the popular recommendation: when your dog engages in an unwanted behavior, instead of correcting/punishing the actual unwanted behavior (giving your dog clarity about what to do and not do), you instead redirect them with a toy or food, OR you have them perform an incompatible behavior like sit, down, place etc.

Let’s take a look at what this approach creates:

1/ If we offer food or a toy when the dog engages in the behavior we’re reinforcing the unwanted behavior, and giving zero information about that behavior being unwanted.
2/ If we ask the dog to perform an incompatible behavior we’re giving the dog zero information about the actual behavior that is unwanted, and are simply asking the dog to perform something else which will temporarily stop the unwanted behavior… until the dog desires to do it again.
3/ If we try to redirect an unwanted behavior with food or a toy, or another command, we are having a powerful conversation with our dogs — a conversation that 1/ presents us as doormats incapable of sharing valuable consequences for poor choices, and 2/ encourages our dogs to become demanding, pushy, boundary-less brats because they’ve received no valuable consequences for poor behavior.

So what are we getting with this “kinder”, “gentler”, “smarter” training approach? 1/ We actively make the behavior worse via reinforcement. 2/ We get dogs who receive no clarity about what they should and shouldn’t do, because we’re withholding that valuable information, which is delivered through clearly shared consequences. 3/ We create unhealthy, dysfunctional relationship dynamics where we are treated poorly, because we’ve taught our dogs that we needn’t be respected. 4/ We create bratty, entitled, pushy dogs.

Or, we could keep this whole dog training thing simple and clear and healthy. We could simply share positive consequences for desired behavior and negative consequences for undesired behavior, and live happily ever after.

27/07/2025

It was GSD day today and hard to keep our focus on training during the structured pack walk with that gorgeous turquoise water of kalmalka lake !

24/06/2025

Looking forward to this!!😃

The GSPCC is hosting a CKC Field Tracking Test in Armstrong, BC on September 27-28, 2025. We hope you will join us for this fun event!
Watch CanuckDogs.com and GSPCanada.com for the Premium List and entry details.
Happy Tracking :)