Well, we have just finished our 7 day intensive course for those that are thinking about working with dogs and boy did we have fun! On Monday morning bright and early a group of people turned up at In The Doghouse with an eager look and the slight awkwardness of meeting a group of strangers for the first time brings, but after a brief introduction I couldn't shut them up (as is always the case with dog lovers) :-)  So we set about discussing different points such as where dogs come from and looked at some of the research that has been carried out into raising wolves vs dogs. Then later that evening we headed to Antequera for our first outing to view the Wolves in Lobo Park. It was amazing to see these animals and how different they are to dogs. Day 2 was all about the dog in depth looking at the senses compared to humans answering the questions like are dogs really colour blind? How they learn through different types of conditioning and the communication system they use between humans and other dogs.  Day 3 took us on a trip down memory lane through the history of dog training and the different methods and equipment that can be used. After which we trained each other using a technique called 'Shaping' which left a lot of funny expressions and a deeper understanding of how dogs feel when we are not consistent! We were all rewarded with a BBQ and the culinary delights of Richard Clarke! (The irony is not lost on me for those that know I used to have a mentor of the same name). Day 4 had the team (with sore heads) presenting talks to each other about some of the most random subjects in the world and then we covered the other end of the lead! Some of the guys (me included) decided we had worked hard enough to spend some time swimming in the reservoir with a gang of the dogs as another reinforcer!  Day 5 and the practical side of training really took over, with lots of theories to try out first hand. The students were kept busy and you guessed it - we rewarded ourselves in the evening by taking a stroll with some of the dogs through the gorgeous village of Almogia and even had a coffee in the town square.Day 6 and some of the gang decided they were brave enough to try out their new skills on real people at the Saturday evening class in Almogia, if you were one of the "real" people then let everyone know how they got on.  Day 7 ~ Assessment day.............Very impressed by the improvements made over the week and it showed in the results, we even had 2 distinctions!! Overall I think it is fair to say that everyone had a fab time, if you were on the course please leave us some feedbak below. If you have any interest in joining us on the next intensive or if you cant make a full week and would like to do the 2 dayers the available dates are on the website. For those guys that have already asked for level 2 you will have to wait till 2012 :-) |
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CategoriesClub UpdatesDog Blog Donna |
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