Timber Creek Kennel

11/10/2024

It's been awhile since I've posted anything. Bosco and Gunner have obedience down and are excited to move on to bird work.

09/01/2024

Message for details.

04/04/2024

Posting this a bit late but better late than never. Here's Kit's final training day at Timber Creek; the main focus of her most recent visit was on fetch. She went the Three Forks trial 2 days later where she won 1st place Amateur in both fields and was 3rd and 4th place in the open. She has been a great dog to work with. She shows up everyday ready to go to work and eager to please.

03/07/2024

10 month old Yahtzee arrived today. Here's her first obedience session. Every time she attempts to get ahead of me I turn 180 and make her come with me. I really don't care what direction I'm going as long as she follows. The most difficult thing for a dog on "whoa" to do is allowing the handler to walk behind them where the handler/trainer is out of sight. Yahtzee has trouble with it the first time but with a simple correction she stands for it the the next time. She's going to be a nice dog.

03/07/2024

Izzy went home a few days ago with a good start. Here she is on birds.

01/26/2024

Pebbles is my daughter's dog, I got permission to use her for demonstration purposes. Notice how she's asking the dog to sit in the same spot every time. Dogs get used to routines. Sometimes a routine is good other times you need to change things up. By asking a dog to sit or whoa in the same spot a few times they begin to anticipate it and prepare themselves. You're setting the dog up for success by doing this. Once the dog anticipates it to the point where they sit or whoa before you ask then pick a different spot.

01/26/2024

Pebbles is a 5 month old cocker spaniel in training. Using the command lead she's learning to heel at our side when cued by a tap on her head and learning to sit when we stop. The only verbal command given at this point is "agh agh" when we don't approve of her behavior. We use "agh agh" to caution a dog and let them know we don't approve, this verbal command starts at 8 weeks old as in, don't bite my fingers. We use a "no" command in the event of a forbidden behavior, as in no, don't ever chew on a shoe. Once the dog understands our body language cues to heel and sit (or whoa; flushing dogs learn sit instead of whoa) then we begin to introduce the verbal commands. Pebbles has been slowly introduced to obedience training for the past month so she's almost hooked. You can see a few minor corrections in this video where she loses focus and looks the other direction or sniffs at something. You'll also see some missed opportunities to correct distracted focus where I didn't act quick enough before she corrected herself. You'll also see several times where pebbles gets out in front of me and I simply change direction, this not only trains the dog to stay at your side but also helps to keep their attention focused on you.

01/25/2024

Kate, Izzy, and , Diamond. I take multiple dogs to trials but I don't want to take multiple walks with dogs while at trials. All my dogs are trained to heel as a pack. I don't care if they heel at my left or behind me, as long as they heel. I don't want them on my right cuz I usually carry my gun on my right side. All 3 dogs have been trained to heel and whoa using the command lead (Delmar smith method) and collar conditioned using the same method. I use a riding crop purchased from the local horse tack shop (a piece of plastic pipe or a tree branch will also work) to help guide dogs thru this process. Sometimes a dog looses its place on a corner and moves to the right side. The stick is used as an extension of my hand to move the dog away from my right side. Its also used to keep the "competitive" dog that wants to take the lead from running ahead of the handler. It's only used as a guide not a beating stick. If individual training has been done properly up to this point it doesn't take much to get multiple dogs to heel. I always say a dogs name and then give a command if I want an individual dog to respond. I say only a command if I want the pack to respond.

01/21/2024

Izzy and Diamond today. They're both doing greqt!

01/20/2024

Izzy arrived 10 days ago for basic obedience. She's learning very quickly.

09/01/2023