We like to get intensive with the training and advance the level of obedience and good manners in each of our campers… and last week was our homework day!

We had  really nice obedience sessions…. We divided the dogs in 4 groups and we trained around some  “every day distractions”.

The escenario was a nice table full of “smelly food” (fish, cheese, meat)…. Sometimes the food was there  just as a temptation for the dogs not to steal, but other times we were eating so our campers practiced ‘no begging’.

While some of the campers were working with their down stay excercise, other member of their team was doing some recalls, heeling and waiting at the doors.

It was a difficult test…. they not only have to lay down relax while we were having a delicious lunch, but also stay calm while their playmate was doing some obedience and getting all the attention and treats! and the hardest part was when on top of all that,  we call that camper in turn and  he/ she  happily ran in front of their noses for all the credit!

At some points we even threw a ball while they were in their down stay position!  🙂

After such a good training morning we had a lovely end of the day at the park were your dogs were free to play and enjoy their well deserve  free time!!

Attach some examples of our sessions ….

Happy Training at home !!

PETA, KITTY AND SADIE

LUCY, LULU, NIKO AND SNOOPY

BO, MADDIE AND SOPHIA

DELILAH, RIO AND PANCHO

I wish we could write english better so we would be able to share with you more of our thoughts, knowledge and feeling about your dogs…..

That’s also part of why we like to share the little videos of the camp day…. so you are able to absorb fragments of your dog’s day.

Now, knowing that what you are going to read is not correctly spell and-or the grammar is bad,  we hope that we can transmit the whole idea….

Sometime we forgot to tune in with our dogs, our environment even with ourselves…

A couple weeks ago we went to South Point with our other camp group and we enjoyed it so much that we decided to return with our petit campers. The park is sooo beautiful. Really. There is so much to do  and discover. So many little hills, roads, nature, water, etc… and part of that ” etc ” it is what i am trying to explain here….

Last camp, we were doing a down stay with our older more experience campers while a very noise boat pass by…. for a moment everybody stop, even Ludovic, and turn their head to the boat and after  that they continue with the exercise

( you can see that moment perfectly in the video~

Welcome Back Campers!

~… i even took the music out of that part so the owners could hear the noise with what their dogs where working with… ).

Anyway, with some of our Petit Campers that similar noise was a little bit overwhelming….they are younger and less experience… .. Or maybe more sensible to the noise….or some of them were rescue and they associate that type of noise with a bad experience in the past?

Our job is to understand that and to work to desensitize them to that specify stimuli and maybe even do a different association: a more pleasant one.

If we, as trainers, are aware of our environment all the time, this time we were super focus with all the noises around us. And even we cannot put our ears in your dogs ears at least we try to put our feet in their paws.

“We are visual animals. There’s barely a challenge for second either: audition is part of nearly every experience we have. Olfaction and touch might duke it out for third,a  and taste runts a distant fifth…. If we notice something unusual or unexpected, we turn to examine with our eyes.      The order of operations is turned upside-down for dogs.Given the olfactory acuity of dogs, it makes sense that vision plays an accessory role.”

“By natural design, dogs’ ears have evolved to hear certain kinds of sounds. Our auditory range is from 20 herts to 20 kilohertz … Dogs can detect up to 45 kilohertz, much higher that the hair cells of our ears bother to bend to…”.(Inside of a Dog. Alexandra Horowitz)

We have mentioned before some of the reasons of why we love so much to bring our campers to Free Spirit Center (Thanks Chris!!)

Agility gives the dogs confidence and help them be more sure about themselves when they learn a new obstacle,  jump, climb or run into a tunnel. They are learning to use their body and to overcome their fears.

It also helps us bond with our campers and develop a relationship based on trust. It is nice to see how the new ones look at us like they were saying : “are you really sure i am going into that dark tunnel or am i going up to that thin dog walk ? “ And yes, we do it together!!  Right Myrtle ?!!!  🙂

It is amazing to observe  how all the dogs improve their skills each time that we do agility and they seem to think is super fun!!

It is a new experience that we share and enjoy and added bonus is that it makes their obedience training better and they Love It!!

And on top of all that we also have the whole fence land that allow them to run and enjoy playing with their fellow campers while their Spirit is Free!!