Shamrock PSA

01/11/2023

Delighted to say Gypsy has now achieved his Gold Canine Good Citizen. Hopefully we get our PDC next.
It's not about how many times you get knocked down, it's how many times can you get back up!

26/10/2023

Practicing some obedience skills with natural distraction

15/10/2023

First trial done and dusted.
We did not make our PDC certificate - This time! We did gain a lot from our weekend though.
For Craic this was her first time to trial outside of home. Unknown at the time of agreeing to her, she was a covid puppy which meant trials were few and far between and a lot she wasn't eligible for due to age. It was clear she was a bit at sea being a 3 year old dog who has never seen a trial set up outside of 'home'. She did pass her obedience and with that we are very happy.
For TT there was a few things that were picked up on but we think the thing that lost the obedience overall was she broke her down in motion. Again she was a bit at sea but again happy with her.
Gypsy 🙈 oh Jesus. There's a bit of work still with Gypsy but we are very happy with his stationary work and that he did NOT go near any cones. Aris heart froze when she realised 😄 At the seminar last May Gypsy got a fright at the gun fire which surprised Ari, and in turn Gypsy freaked out in the second shot. Gypsy never was affected by gun fire previously. Thankfully he walked through gunfire without issue and we are very happy.
In reality did we think they were all going to come away with their cert - no. They've seen a decoy 7 times in their life and our own handling style stems from agility leaving this as completely new ground. This is brand new to the 4 of us and for Ari competition is way out of her comfort zone.
However did we learn a lot and enjoy the weekend? Absolutely. Did Gypsy, Craic, and TT get big huge cuddles and yummy treats after? Absolutely!

Another big well done to Lucifer and Naomi who did pass their obedience but due to notions didn't quite get the protection. I've no doubt you'll be coming home with the cert in the next trial 😊

Fantastically organised by Spires K9 dog training Magherafelt and as we have organised events prior in other organisations- we know the work that goes in prior to the day that nobody sees. Brilliantly done and thank you very much for doing so and having us as part of it!
Absolutely brilliant judge and steward, thank you both for your time and Katrina for your feedback.
Well done to all other exhibitors. Going out onto the field and having somebody judge you and your dogs efforts is no easy feat and every single one of us deserve to be proud for stepping out and giving it a go. There were some very good dogs and handlers there and some dogs with a very enthusiastic call to heel 😄

One thing we noticed was everybody's respect for each exhibitor. There was only positivity, everybody kept respectful distance for others and their dogs, the dogs were well under control, and everybody gave everybody a chance to succeed.
An extra little thank you to Piotr Drewniak for coming up and helping us prior to trial. Your positivity rubbed off on us 😄 we look forward to getting a lot more sessions in before the next one!

13/10/2023

Best of luck to everyone doing their PSA K9 this weekend at the Culchie Clash. Especially these 4 who we have particular fondness for 😄
We have our own Tina, Craic, and Gypsy of course and the pups littermate Lucifer all taking part.

It's 3am so words aren't my fortay right now, updates later on. Let's hope its goes in our favour 😄

05/10/2023

Hopefully they will be spooky enough next Friday.
Two pups got their spooktacular trick awards from Canine Coaching Ireland

30/09/2023

When they're not training to be scary they are building a resume for the agri shows in the summer 😃
The same dogs do silly tricks and run agility offlead in displays to entertain people.
Their 'work' is PSA but in their spare time they do agility, nose work, obedience training in IKC rules, and now trick awards.
When you have dogs you need to train every day its great to have a range of things to keep the handlers mind active as well as the dogs.

(While most would assume the breed is dictating they need to be worked every day it is in fact Tina who dictates this. We live under constant threat of holes being dug and I've already twisted my ankle once with her.)

17/09/2023

Fabulous afternoon training with Piotr getting the shepherd's ready for the PDC cert in October.
Thank you so much for all your help and advice and most important the vote of confidence!

24/08/2023

Nothing like a family training session for an upcoming trial 😄
Left to right we have T, Gypsy, and Pi
A new sport to us all so we will try our best and see how we go!

17/08/2023

Looking forward to going to this ☺️

🌟 Very excited to host this comp! 🌟

For more information please get in contact, more details to follow 🐕

Huge thanks to Laura for the awesome poster 🙏

26/05/2023

Dog girls do not request their favourite flowers or chocolates for their birthday. But they do let you know their dog has a 19 inch neck and brass suits their colour scheme more than chrome 😉

Fursavers in from Modogo getting equipment on hand for a hopeful trial in September.
Thank you very much. Will get a photo on the dogs later.

We train every Thursday at 5pm in Carlow.

18/05/2023

Some van work this evening

17/05/2023

Craic doing a run through of the pdc routine. Well done crackers

15/05/2023

When we say all breeds welcome we aren't joking 😄 better still this dog is part poodle! We don't know where... maybe his curly tail.

08/05/2023

Practice, practice, practice.

T doing her down stay under distraction.
Successful reps rather than high pressure reps.

08/05/2023

Out putting in place the feedback from the weekend.
Gyp needs some livening up. Has the skills just need them faster and more upbeat. Rev him up a little. So our second 15 minute session today we busted out some sits, downs, and speaks for a tug and he is completely shattered now for another while.
And yes Alan, I'm sweating after it 😂
Time to do a bit with T afterwards.

07/05/2023

Great exercises done today.
What a weekend.
A huge thank you to Alan and Shane from Spires K9 dog training Magherafelt. Such a fabulous weekend and you created a brilliant environment. No smoke blowing but no dog run down either. We got to see our dogs exact strengths and weaknesses, we got to work on them, learn what to do to improve and get a feel for trial which is exactly what was set out.
Thank you for respecting all of the dogs, treating them with kindness even when being put under pressure, you both made it very enjoyable with an upbeat positive attitude, and created an environment we could learn in.
We hope you and our participants enjoyed the weekend as much as we did ourselves.

06/05/2023

Some great moments today. Learning where all the dogs are and picking their strengths and weaknesses 😄
Looking forward to some continuation tomorrow

06/05/2023

Having a good day today 😄 more photos to come