Hosted by Upper Mid-West Flat Coat Retriever Club

Private lessons available March 19 by appointment

Saturday March 20 topics will include:

Elemental Questions: Six "simple" questions that form the basis of respectful relationships, whether with a dog or any animal or person. While easily listed, these 6 questions are 'surprisingly' complex in the asking and in the answering. These questions and their answers shape not only our relationships with others but also begin to shape how we see & interact with our world. We will use demonstration dogs as we work as a group to learn how to ask The Elemental Questions and discover the ways that the answers can be found.

Building Observation Skills: Trainers will improve their observation skills, learn how to really see instead of just looking, and how to watch fine & subtle details from the dogs. We will use exercises that build observation skills for appreciating & entering the "umwelt" (an animal's perception of its world), reading body language on a detailed and whole body basis. We will be focusing on the dog's sensory input, external body language, understanding breathing, use of space, orientation, geometry, tension & more.

Sunday March 21 topics will include:

What Your Dog's Body Can Tell You: Trainers will learn how physical problems are often mislabeled as behavior or training problems, and learn to recognize the most common issues of pain, guarding, structural and functional issues that dogs present. You will build your observation skills as the focus will be on the dog's physical abilities and how they interact with the goals of the handler, and with the dog's willingness & ability to perform.

Practical Bones For Real Dogs: Using pre-selected case history dogs, we will focus on the practical application of Relationship Centered Training to address and help resolve the problems presented. This is a fascinating day with real dogs showing us the complexities of behavior and relationships, and demonstrations of how Relationship Centered Training techniques can help in surprisingly easy but effective ways.  Note: If you'd like to bring a dog as a case history please indicate that on the registration form.  We will send you a short questionnaire to complete. Suzanne will make the final decision about dogs to be used as demo dogs; you will be notified prior to the seminar if your dog has been chosen. There is no guarantee that those chosen will actually be used - that depends on the flow of the seminar.

CCPDT and IAABC CEU credits will be available for each day.