Author: Kimberly Buchanan

Why do you go to class, any class? To learn? To practice? To see friends? There are probably a lot of reasons. Why does your dog go to class? To learn? To practice? To see friends? Well, in all honesty he goes because you took him there. :-) For many of us class time is fun time. As a student I've always been really bad about practicing or studying at home but I always went to class because I love learning. It's also a time to put away the day-to-day things we have to deal with, not think about what…

"UN-Peeling the Onion?" What the heck does THAT mean??  Well, it's the easiest way I can think to describe my thoughts on LESSONS. Huh? Lessons, training, working with your dog. Giving your dog tools along the way so you can err on the side of a successful outcome. When we train our dogs, it's very hard sometimes to keep things SIMPLE. Why not just add a little challenge here or a little difficulty there? "We've done this before so my dog knows how to work this problem already." I see it a lot in students - I've done it myself!…

I was so excited to be invited to attend the first joint detection dog conference between CNCA (California Narcotics Canine Association) and NACSW (National Association of Canine Scent Work) in San Diego, CA! This has been in the planning stages for quite awhile as I recall chatting with a couple of our K9NW Judges about it after a trial about a year and a half ago. They wanted to know if we thought our folks would be interested in a collaboration with their organization's annual conference. Oh yeah! :-) Along with about 170 other NACSW participants we listened to several respected…

Yep, I've been a member of each of those categories! I try to stay positive but it is challenging when my current NW3 dog is wait-listed once again so there is no chance of us getting his Elite title any time soon. Well, that's not really true, we could potentially get into another trial that just hasn't announced yet, they do pop up occasionally and if statistics bear out we're due soon. However, we do seem to experience a lack of trials in Southern California which means a lot more potential travel and expense or more waiting. Ironic since this…

I've used this phrase for many years and the longer I train and trial with dogs the more it comes back to me. I was the trial secretary for our Schutzhund club's recent IPO event. It's not hard, really, you just need to keep on top of the details from track layers and tracking articles, who is going to go first, collecting score books, field help during obedience, who will fire the gun, who will ride the bicycle, etc., etc., along with making sure all the paperwork is handled. Schutzhund/IPO is a sport with three phases: A=Tracking, B=Obedience and C=Protection.…

"Oooo, that looks like FUN!" Hides on the ceiling or suspended from a string above the dogs' heads; Hides at the top of a doorway; Hides under water; Buried hides; Hides at the top of a Jungle Gym; Etc. You know, "Sexy Hides!" They look cool and your dog may just rock it! But before you begin, consider what you are expecting from the dog? How will you support the dog if he struggles? What if the dog just gives up? What did he learn? How will it affect the teamwork? What's the long-term fallout? Sometimes we get re-energized by…