Ascension Canine Training

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Ascension Canine Training

GAK9 Licensee -
Tracking dog trainer for Police/SAR/Civilians

10/09/2025

Great example of how profoundly powerful a well trained proximity alert can be.

08/09/2025

I recently had the privilege to conduct a course for NTPOL’s Dog Operations Unit focussed on developing and deepening understanding of the canine’s proximity alert when tracking.

We worked from dawn to dusk everyday over five days, and some fantastic learning outcomes were achieved. The teams were excellent and worked with an open mind throughout.

I was aided by Josh and Jay, who spent many hours in the Darwin bush laying in wait for the teams to come find them. The week would not have been as successful without their assistance and input, and I cannot thank them enough.

It is a career highlight for to be able to work such a professional and highly competent organisation such as the NTPOL’s DOU, and I am grateful to have been afforded the opportunity to do so.

📷 &J Wikner Photography

01/09/2025

Always some nice smiles at GAK9 Australia workshops 😁

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

29/08/2025

🎶No one poops like Gaston 🎶

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

28/08/2025

The Proximity Alert ⚠️

This is life saving training and also simultaneously improves handler ability to read changes of behaviour when interacting with odour pools.

This video is an extremely simplified example of a proximity alert by my dog Gaston. I have PowerPoint presentations on this topic and can happily eat up two weeks full time training this skill.

Nevertheless this video is a good example of a finished proximity alert behaviour.

27/08/2025

Off leash fire trails are how we get dogs started in the GAK9 system of mantrailing 🐕‍🦺

Working off leash means dogs get to use their senses and learn for themselves how to work odour efficiently, with no human interference, and self regulate arousal to optimum levels.

This method lays the foundation for the dozens of elements needed to produce a well rounded and capable tracking dog.

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

15/08/2025

Building the team around the dog 🐕‍🦺

I am excited to be flying out today to conduct a tactical tracking and integration package for a government agency this coming week.

The course will cover proximity alert training, integrating visual trackers with the tracking dog, and standard operating procedures for tactical operators attached.

It is a privilege to have this opportunity to pass on what I have learnt through my own unique set of experiences and is sure to be a great week.

SAMS Legislation: if you have a query relating to my time in South Africa and any imagery shared on SM, please DM me. This is a screenshot from a publicly available video.

11/08/2025

First GAK9 Field Master certification in Australia 🦘

Aged over 4 hours, tracks of similar conditions have an approximate 90% failure rate over the last 20 years, highlighting the difficulty of double-blind testing, and what is actually viable in terms of the odour picture on a track.

Andy is an ex-6 RAR soldier and veteran who I was fortunate to serve with many years ago. His dog Omar is a black GSD that is one of the most gifted dogs I have ever seen in terms of ability to work older odour as if it is freshly set.

And amazingly, this team has approximately 14 days total training 🐕‍🦺

That is almost all the training this team has over 5 GAK9 workshops they have attended since 2023.

Omar the GSD is truly an exemplar of what nature has created; with 14 days total training up their sleeve, successfully works a double blind, 1.16 km, 4hr old track.

This is a fantastic demonstration of both a great team, but also how embracing dogs’ natural ability to track can yield stunning results.

Other methods measure tens of metres in months. GAK9 measures hundreds of metres and older age on tracks in days.

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

07/08/2025

GAK9 Tracking Workshop in QLD ☀️

I have been running these workshops for a good few years now, and this workshop had a collection of extremely capable tracking dogs in attendance.

Thank you to all the attendees for working so hard, being open minded to learning new things and spending four days with me; it is also no small feat suffering through my terrible sense of humour.

Five GAK9 Certifications were achieved, each one worthy of its own post. A significant highlight was the (first ever in Australia) Field Master level track achieved. This is a level that has an approximate 90% failure rate.

I also got to get creative with the types of tracks I designed and provided the teams with some unusual but informative experiences which advanced them beyond just tracking in straight lines with the odd right or acute angle thrown in.

I am grateful to my good friend Jay for coming up and bringing my own dog Gaston (we got some fun tracks in) with them from Canberra, and laying some brilliant tracks. Thanks to Josh too who is instrumental in getting me around, as well as being a good friend

Thank you to Louis for being so friendly and collaborative; he runs his own local tracking business, but testament to his fantastic character is happy to support me and come and attend my workshops so he can build his own skills with his dog Erma. I always find way to push this team from getting submerged in water to playing mind games; he is a great guy who I enjoy training with.

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

27/07/2025

P**p jokes aren't my favourite.
But they're a solid number two✌️

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

24/07/2025

The source of my inspiration to do the work I do - my family.

My amazing wife shot this image whilst I was working on some fi****ms training with Gaston.

Wren wanted to get involved too, so got to learn about muzzle awareness, and always assuming a firearm is loaded.

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

22/07/2025

Klaus doing some island hopping 🏝️

This is one of the steps to allow dogs to learn through self discovery different locations where they can find productive sources of odour in urban environments.

Klaus does a great job and solves the track nicely.

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