Building on skills taught in our Obedience 101 class, this class is designed for those who want to continue bonding with their dog through training, as well as handlers who are interested in building a solid foundation for competition obedience and/or other dog sports.

The course is structured around the needs of those in the class. Fun, motivational exercises are used throughout.  Specific skills include:

• a continued emphasis on teaching dogs to focus on their handlers, even with distractions
• solid loose-leash walking and an introduction to precision heeling
• teaching dogs to continue to work well in the absence of obvious food lures and constant treats

In addition to the above, the Spring session of this class also includes the exercises required for the Canine Good Neighbour (CGN) test, as offered by the Canadian Kennel Club.

The purpose of this class is to prepare you and your dog to compete in the dog sport of obedience trialling.

In order to be successful,  the following prerequisites are required: reliable “sit”, generally loose leash walking on handler’s left.

The content of each session will be chosen according to the needs of the students attending. Key elements will include:

• Precision heeling, on and off-leash
• Motivated recalls with a formal finish
• Learning effective handling skills
• Sit stays and down stays of varying duration with distractions

Lessons will progress towards refining details of each exercise while increasing dog/handler connection and reliability despite distractions.

Students  who are new to trialing will learn how to enter, participate and succeed at a trial. Helpful hints such as warm-up exercises, calming and motivating your dog will be covered.

For dog/handler teams ready to enter trials, particularly the NYOC Trial in June, there will be opportunities to work through all the exercises together in partial/full runs

Note: The exercises you’ll learn in this class (Loose Leash Heeling, Figure 8 Heeling, Standing still for Examination by Judge, Recalls, Sit/Stay, Down/Stay.) will also help you managing and enjoying your dog each day around the house, out walking, in social and public settings, vet visits etc.)

 

 

Our Rally Obedience Beginner class is an exciting way for you and your dog to try out a dog sport.  You will learn to work more effectively as a team while refining and enhancing skills learned in previous classes.

Rally Obedience is a dog sport in which you and your dog negotiate a course consisting of signs that instruct you to do various things such as sit and stay or weave through pylons.  Each week you will learn new skills or reinforce existing ones while enhancing the team work between you and your canine partner.  You and your dog will have so much fun you might even want to enter our rally obedience trial in June.

Prerequisite:  Successful completion of Beginner’s 2 or equivalent.  Dogs should be able to heel on a loose leash.