Getting active or involved in sports is more fun with a friend. Especially when it’s your best four-legged friend.
Anyone who dropped by the Mountjoy Farmers’ Market on Saturday had the opportunity to learn about dog sports and training. The folks from The Dog Gym in Timmins had an information booth set up, along with a few of their canine pals and some agility equipment.
“It’s a multi-sport dog-training facility, focusing more on dog sport, which is something we don’t have up here too often,” explained Alyssa McKean, a RVT (Registered Veterinary Technician) -Trainer with The Dog Gym. “So, it’s agility, rally obedience, obedience, protection … It’s more about getting your dog out and active and getting them involved in dog sport.”
But owners shouldn’t expect their dogs to leap onto an agility course right away. There is a lot of basic training, which requires a commitment involving both owner and dog.
“This (agility) is one of the classes we’re going to be offering eventually,” McKean said. “Anyone who hasn’t done any dog training like this will start at the builder’s level course. It’s a course that teaches you the basics.
“It teaches you to use positive reinforcement and shaping based training, which means we get the dogs to start making decisions and start working with you. Rather than just being told what to do, they start offering behaviours because they’re trying to earn their rewards.
“If I hold out a reward for my dog, they’ll start offering every behaviour they’ve ever been taught, because they know one of these must work. That’s what you want to see because they’re enthusiastic and really enjoy working with you. It’s really mostly about building that relationship with you and you dog so you work together.”
It’s a learning experience for both the dogs and their owners.
“From there you keeping moving up,” she said. “There are builder Levels 1, 2 and 3. As we go higher, we start working with more off-leash things, more of the cues that you need to do sending the dog out working at distances.
“All the basics you need before you even start on agility. Any of the contact equipment and the jumps, that’s always the fun part. But you need the basics.”
Dogs learn to focus on their owner, ignoring distractions.
“A lot of them have never been a room with 15 other dogs,” McKean said. “The first day can be a little chaotic. There’s a lot of barking and carrying on.
“We’re graduating one of our courses this week, and those dogs can now walk three-feet apart, side by side, and they don’t even look at each other. They’re so focused on their handlers because that’s what they want to do. They want to work for their reward.”
She said it usually takes a couple of years of the basics before the dog and handler can start the sports training. McKean used her dog, Kai, as an example.
“She’s 10 and has been training for the last six years at rally obedience,” she said. “She’s competed at almost the highest level at this point.
“I started right at the basics, working at Level 1."
Courses can be enjoyed by any breed or age of dog.
“Any dog, any age can all join in,” she said. “We’re even offering what we’re calling a senior fitness class. So, if your dog is seven years or older, it’s not about the behaviour aspect. The senior fitness works on keeping them in motion. Stretches and things like that to keep them going longer and keep their mobility up high.”
Rather than expecting a championship-level competitive dog overnight, trainers urge the owners to enjoy the experience.
“If you’re looking at going to a dog show, you’re looking at a good couple hundred hours at least,” McKean said. “But even the family pet can come and learn something. We’ve got trick-training classes and weekly drop-in classes, where they can learn a different trick every week. It’s a great bonding experience with your dog.
“Kids love doing it as well. We are offering a kids’ camp as well, where the kids come and hang out with us for the day and we have various dogs and they learn all about dog care, dog sport and dog handling.”
Dog days can become fun days, for both owner and pooch.
“You have to make a commitment to your dog,” she said. “A lot of our dogs spend their days alone at home, where this gives them a good hour where they get to come out and get to play. And they love it.”
Learn more about The Dog Gym and its programs on Facebook here.
