Learning About Dogs - What's On for Sport and Hobby Enthusiasts

Welcome to the world of the “Addicted to Dog Training”. Beware, we are going to feed your need!

Whether you have chosen a sport of just enjoy activities with your dog, this is one subject that you discover the more you learn the more you want to learn. The dogs just love the time spent with you, the attention they receive and to see you enjoy yourself. That’s training!

We have a range of activities at lots of different levels depending on your enthusiasm and passion. Allyson Tohme is a top flight trialist with an extremely successful long coasted Weimaraner, Twiggy, and she will happily spend the day with you teaching tracking. You can follow this through to trials competitions, or participate in the K9 Multi Sport events and select the tracking option. Or you can just come for a half day activities and spend an hour trying it out, getting a taste for it.

We have Lynda Edmondson in the team who has successfully competed in top level obedience and with the same dog works Advanced Heelwork to Music. She runs a great training day for Paws 2 Dance and brings clickery enthusiasm to the teaching and routines you can learn.

Several of the LADs Team compete in K9 Multi Sport which has been especially developed for positive trainers - we know clicker pups can learn almost anything, Multi Sport allows us to be challenge and stretch our training skills. Great days out, where the dog is king.

All of our Sport workshops require you to have the basic Clicker Training skills as outlined in the CAP for levels 1 and 2. You do not need to obtain these skills with us, but will need to be assessed for CAP2 before attending the workshops. You can do this through video.

We specialise in clicker training. We pride ourselves on the country’s, if not the world’s, top clicker training centre. We have endorsement from Karen Pryor and it is our pleasure to enjoy a long term relationship with the USA clicker training business: www.clickertraining.com.

We run a series of courses for clicker trainers each containing several workshops over 3 levels. These courses will take you step by step through the clicker skills to ensure you learn the very best way to benefit from this power and efficient teaching method.

You may be experienced at dog training but new to clicker training, then the Clicker Trainer’s week may suit, where Levels 1 & 2 are combined into a week course.

All these courses carry certification as a practical competency assessment.

Clicker Training can be applied when communicating with any type of dog (even deaf ones). It enables us to teach exceptionally complicated behaviours or very simple behaviours to dogs who have learning difficulties. This course aims to teach you clicker training that can be used for any dog in your future.

No previous experience is required to attend this course

This course is 3 training workshops approximately 4-5 weeks apart. You will be expected to complete training between the workshops.

This is the basic course for all clicker courses. You will learn the handling skills of the rewards, timing, clicker, lure and target stick. Adding cues and developing your observation skills and learning to "see" behaviour with different eyes. This course is also ideal if you want to teach clicker training to other folk and would like to see how we teach "clicker style". The behaviours and skills are broken down into easily learned parts giving the learners a high sense of achievement.

During the course you will be unobtrusively assessed for the CAP1. Not only does this give you direct feedback on your progress, but also identifies areas we can focus on. The foundation skills may not have the “sexiest” appeal for clicker training, but make a massive difference to the future of your ability to clearly communicate with you dog.

The Foundation course runs on weekend days, and for a complete week for accelerated learning.

CAP1 is required to attend this course

This course is 3 training workshops approximately 4-5 weeks apart. You will be expected to complete training between the workshops.

The focus is on getting the best quality, on cue, with reliability. Not just a sit when you need it, but a stay perhaps, or a recall - taking the learning on to greater expectations. High frequency reward ratios, fluency exercises, developing and sustaining quality and memory.

Reliability training used to be accompanied by groans ... just the same as piano practice ... not here! We find way to make it fun for you and an exciting challenge for the dogs - they LOVE reliability games!

During the course you will be unobtrusively assessed for the CAP2. This is an excellent foundation for any one wishing to teach dogs where reliability is an absolutely necessity - for Assistance Dogs, Working Dogs and Sports dogs.

The Novice course runs on weekend days and for a complete week for accelerated learning.

CAP2 is required to attend these workshops.

Intermediate workshops are held in various topics through the year. You can attend in any workshop in any order to suit your own learning skills and dog’s capabilities. You can present yourself for Level 3 CAP assessment at any time you feel ready and confident, you can be assessed for one criteria at a time.

The workshops include:

Shaping skills where you will learning to capture a very broad range of different types of behaviours through different approaches. This is exciting and stimulating for both you and the dog. You will be able to look at a range of shaping challenges and their particular benefits to your dog - or you can shape just for the fun of it!

Chaining, merging and sequencing established behaviours, ideal for obedience, heelwork to music, agility, assistance dogs, substance detection. You will need a dog capable of at least five high quality, reliable behaviours such as those taught in Novice Course.

All workshops will focus on developing data gathering skills and analysis.

Intermediate workshops are also held on a complete week for accelerated learning.

CAP3 is required to attend these workshops.

Advanced clicker training is about developing projects that will impact on the whole of the clicker world. Such topics as:

“Can different value reinforcers alter the preceding behaviour?”

“Can the clicker carry emotional context that can be changed?”

“Do jackpots have any measurable effect?”

Moving your training onto the advanced areas, learning to think outside the box and producing a piece of work that is based on your practical experienced supported by data evidence.

CAP4 projects will be published yearly with accompanying video and data

Helen works her team of home bred Vizslas on Winter shoots around the UK, and is author of the Clicker Gundog book. She travels all over the UK, Europe and USA to teach positive gundog training techniques and introducing many new folk to the inherited skills of their gundogs.

Workshops teaching the essential field control and skills, hunting and retrieving. Suitable for HPR, Retrievers and Spaniels. CAP 2 required for participation. If you have never been gundog training you are welcome to attend as a “Discover Day ” on any of the days.

No of Days Attendance: 1 day, as desired

Dates for 2008 Jan 26, Feb 9, Mar 1, Apr 6, May 24, Jul 13, Sep 27, Nov 22

Fee £50, or £25 for “Discover Day”.

Gundog Week: 5 days, October 27 - 31 Fee: £255

Allyson’s foray into serious training came with the acquisition of her first Weimaraner in 1990. Told that "You will never do anything with one of those" by her local dog club she set about finding something that they would both enjoy and stumbled into Working Trials. The breed and this discipline has been her passion for 15 years and Allyson has won a Ticket with Twiggy (Championship Working Trials Certificate) in TD at Essex in 2005, and several Reserve Tickets. She also competes successfully in Schutzhund, and completes her dog team with Arrow, GSD.

Tracking is the exciting sport of teaching your dog to follow laid tracks across fields searching for objects. It is mentally demanding, ensuring tired and contented dogs by the evening, and a deeply humbling experience learning the capacity of your dog’s scenting abilities. Once hooked on tracking you will be enthralled for life.

If you have never been tracking you are welcome to attend attend as a “Discover Day ” on any of the days.

No of Days Attendance: 1 day, as desired

Dates for 2008: Jan 13, additional days to be scheduled

Fee: £50, or £25 for “Discover Day”.

Clicker training is second to none at teaching dogs new behaviours, teaching new dogs complex behaviours, and teaching all dogs exceptional behaviours. But the extra step needs to be taken if the quality of these behaviours is to be tested in a performance environment. Whether the performance is for awards or real life the behaviours need to be polished so brightly that nothing will diminish their execution.

This intense training week requires both people and dogs to have some clicker training experience and a clear idea of the performance standards required.

No of Days Attendance: 5 days

Dates for 2008 Apr 7 - 11, Nov 24 - 28

Course Fee £255

This relatively new sport demands exceptional training skills combined with musicality and movement. Dogs find all of this quite easy, people need a bit more time to acquire the necessary skills. This week looks at building the behaviours from scratch with error-less learning, adding flair and star quality that demands audience attention. Every dog has signature movements that make their performance unique.

A chance to learn choreography, choose suitable music and prepare for the Paws N Music Progress Awards Scheme that will be held on the Friday evening.

This intense training week requires both people and dogs to have some clicker training experience and a clear idea of the performance standards required.

No of Days Attendance: 5 days

Dates for 2008: May 26 - 30

Fee: £255, fees for Progress Award not included.