What a weekend!!!  Back-to-back seminars!  Southern Alberta Working/Herding Dog Association, you have done it again.

Amazing instructors with so much information and the ability to make every participant feel encouraged and supported.  
Thank you, Amanda Labadie, for explaining what nose work is  all about and showing us the steps that go into building a solid foundation for the sport.   Pixel was the best demo dog, indicating her find with a solid down. All the dog/handler teams were successful and entertaining as each dog had its own way of "telling" us that it had, indeed, found the "find".  Tails wagging,  ears forward, ears out to the side, tail wag stopping,
feet on box, nose pushing on box, and not to forget Noelle's raised right eye brow... don't know how Sheena could miss that. 

We loved the games and enjoyed each other's company a whole lot.  The fact that lunch was included was also appreciated by all participants, some of whom came from as far away as Grand Prairie, Red Deer, Calgary, and Cranbrook to "play" hide and seek with dogs.

Carolyn and Ben (the destroyer) 

Lore and Daisy May 

Donnie and Soleil

Darlene and Ben (7 seconds from start to find)

Laura and Sir 

And, thank you Sheena Malone for taking us through the various methods of weaving that are out there for dogs to try.  The gates and the wires and the 3x3's were really fun to learn and went from easy, easy, to a challenge.  Big and little, newbies and dogs that already had a good 
weave ethic were all on a level playing field when it came to the new approaches.
We got to try the weave-a-matics and found that while some dogs took to it naturally, others were not  impressed with the method.  Same with the wires.  They took some getting used to for the dogs that were touch sensitive.  

Throughout the entire day, we were given all kinds of pointers on handling and set-ups so that our dogs could be successful and pumped about weaving.  

When time ran out (boo hoo) handlers interested in learning more about the 2x2 weaves were told to google utube 2x2 weaves k9 dancer, for the absolute best video and instructions for introducing and proofing the 2x2 weaves.  This video, attached at the end of our blog, is stellar! 

Thanks to all those who were able to stay to help clean up.  As usual, the work was done in short order.  To the SAWHDA organizers, you rock.

Working with wires

Weave-a-matics

                                                             Gates 
                       

2X2 weaves 

      Now all that is left is setting up practice times so we can help each other. And isn't that  what we are all about?

The Prez