Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Silvia Trkman Seminar

In February I went to a seminar with two time World Agility Champion Silvia Trkman.
It was great!! Didn't want for it to stop. She is an amazing trainer and really helped me out to do some very nice handling. Ryker enjoyed the experience and he was very well behaved in his crate when the other dogs were running. I shared the ride to Colorado with my friend Julie and her dogs Rift and Cash. We shared a room at the Drury Inn. Rift was signed up to attend the puppy class. I was auditing it. Some of the exercises I already knew to do. But she had some other great ides, which I will incorporate into my classes as well. I have never trained the running contact and the way she showed us really seems like it could work. I can't offer this to my students until I have trained my dogs on it first.
She uses the clicker a lot. Shape, Shape, Shape. Love shaping. Not a lot of people I know understand shaping the way it was intended and it is hard to teach if you don't understand the concept of it.
Having fun in Agility is the most important key to becoming a great team.
Tricks are so important for brain development in a dog. They not only have a stronger bond with the handler, but if they have been trained using PR, Clicker, Shaping etc. it is quit easy to add on Agility "tricks".
Silvia has 3 dogs at this time, Lo and La are Pyrenian Shepherds and Bu is a Border Collie.

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