Meeting new friends enriches the dynamics of the camp as our dogs have the opportunity to practice their greetings and play behaviors, as well as their manners  and obedience with new members.
This time we were lucky to share our day with two lovely new Petits friends: Arnold who is in intensive training with us and Gizmo who was rescued from the streets a few months ago and is being fostered by Nikki.
Nikki has been a fantastic foster over the years opening her home up to several dogs in need giving them the love, care & guidance they need to find their forever home.
Gizmo is in the process of finding her forever home  (if she has not already found it with Nikki!) and being with Nikki  and coming “to school” will help her to become a well behaved dog.
We want to thank our Petit Campers for welcoming Gizmo as their new friend and for helping her with socialization and training!

Thanks Nikki, it is great to have someone with your heart and dedication in our Dog Connection Family!

We are always so proud about your dogs adventures and progress that we have forgotten to share with you about our dogs.

Attach some videos of Cronos and Ludovic’s competition during  DVG Championship at the Nationals last year. (and also a little bit of explanation about the sport ).

OBEDIENCE: CRONOS SCORE

NATIONAL (OCT/12): 94/100   *    REGIONAL (FEB/13): 95/100 (HIGH OB)

PROTECTION: CRONOS SCORE

 NATIONAL (OCT/12): 97/100  (HIGH PR)   *    REGIONALS (FEB/13): 98/100

TRACKING: CRONOS SCORE

 NATIONAL (OCT/12): 89/100    *   REGIONAL (FEB/13): 98/100

we do not have video of his tracking but they were on the magazine cover  🙂

CRONOS :

2013 REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP : 1ST PLACE    *      2012 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP:  6TH PLACE

BUT MOST IMPORTANT

1ST PLACE IN OUR HEART FOREVER  !!!

(AND THAT IS WHAT IT REALLY MATTERS )

(NOUS AIMONS NOS CHIENS )

What is IPO ?

The origins of  training as Schutzhund or IPO, are based in Germany.  These training tests were developed as a primary method of breeding top level Dogs.  They were geared to identify suitability of individual dogs for work in several formats:

• Stamina and endurance
• Agility
• Temperament and nerves (how well the dog handles stress)
• Courage
• Intelligence
• Handler Loyalty
• Desire to Work

There are multiple levels of titles that represent progressively harder levels of work.  For each title, there are 300 points available (100 points in each of the three components of obedience, tracking, and protection work).  Of course the goal is to score as highly as one can!

Here is how titles breakdown:
SchH 1/VPG 1/ IPO 1: Beginning level of Schutzhund (obedience, tracking, and protection)
SchH 2/ VPG 2/ IPO 2: Intermediate level of Schutzhund (obedience, tracking, and protection)
SchH 3/ VPG 3/ IPO 3: Advanced level of Schutzhund (obedience, tracking, and protection)

People often has a misconception about what this type of training is.  They often see photos of dogs doing bite work and see an aggressive animal.  What they don’t know is how well trained these dogs must be.   Most people are actually astonished when they meet one!

The elements of Schutzhund work are:

1. Obedience: The obedience work is of a high level that is designed to test the dog’s intelligence, desire to work and please its handler, its ability to take directions from its handler, and its ability to work under stress (heeling around other people, during noises like gunshots, etc.) The obedience work includes heeling work, retrieval work (including over an A-frame obstacle), recalls, send outs, stay, along with position related work such as sit and down.  It is important that the dog be a happy worker and interested in what he is doing.
2. Tracking: The depth of difficulty differs based on the title being worked towards, but tracking is all about testing a dog’s ability to not only scent but also about his ability to stay focused enough to follow the scent without distraction or frustration.  It is also a test of how confident a dog is and how well he works in front of his handler.  Tracking is not something that a dog can ask you to hold his hand during!   The dog will be required to properly identify articles (by alerting in some fashion such as lying down on or near the object) to his handler that have been left on the track by the track layer.
3. Protection: This is the most misunderstood of the three phases of training and is normally the one the general public focuses on.  During training and trialing, there must be a ‘helper’ to do protection work.  A helper is the person that will be wearing the padded bite sleeve.  This person will also be concealed behind a blind and at more than point during the test will either attempt to escape or pretend to threaten/attack the dog or handler.  Initially the dog is required to locate the helper when he is hidden and hold him there for the handler.  When the helper attempts to escape or threatens the dog or handler, the dog is to actively apprehend the helper by biting the bite sleeve.  A dog must be confident enough and strong enough mentally to handle this work, but he must also be sensitive to handler commands and release the sleeve when requested.  It is hard to call a dog off when he is working at a high, excited level (or in high drive mode) so it is imperative that he is trained well enough and is responsive to handler commands.

We are training in the rain
Just playing in the rain
What a glorious feeling
we are happy again
we are laughing at clouds
So dark up above
The sun’s in our heart
And we are ready for camp 

And that was easy to confirm –  right after we wrote the email early in the morning asking if even with the rain you were ready for camp, all the answers were an immediately:

Yes, Ready !

&

“Mega ready rain, thunder or shine !!!”

🙂