Did you see the Easter Bunny?

Did you have a Happy Easter?

I remember when I was a little kid, my mother and grandmother used to take my sister an me to the edge of the woods to look for the Easter Eggs, the bunny had hidden for us. As we scurried around the bushes, trying to find those delicacies and handed them back to my mother and "Oma" to carry safely in the bag, they just through them back into the bushes to go and find them again! I am not sure if we noticed!!!

I hope you had  great Easter and enjoy spring or whatever season you are in at the moment. Spring may not come to us in Vancouver this year. I hope summer will show up, though!


Share your story of this Easter or any funny Easter story of your childhood here!http://ppp-photography.com/kirby2010

Tracking for dogs builds trust

Today, Maureen will introduce a Portuguese Water Dog, Naia with a breed typical hair cut. Naia, being so dark and "wooly" is a challenging dog to photograph so I was happy to capture the personal moments between her and her handler Luara.

guest blog by Maureen Fielding, K9Leadership

Naia is a young, mature Portuguese Water Dog. Naia has some insecurities, and Luara has been working with her in many ways to help her become a more balanced dog. Naia wants to work for Luara, and is very motivated in tracking. You can see in her photos how happily she indicated the prizes she finds along the way. Luara is working on developing trust and consistency in their teamwork, which spills over into other areas of their life together.

I like to work with insecure dogs in tracking and watch their confidence blossom. Fearful and insecure dogs who have been rescued, all benefit form the "therapy" of tracking along with good, consistent leadership. Dogs who are "clingy", i.e. not wanting to leave their guardians, will quickly develop confidence to move ahead in the track and problem-solve, while owners soon report more confidence in their dogs' daily lives and interactions.

As shown across these last four blog entries, tracking benefits most dogs and many dogs need it, whether to redirect prey drive, fulfil the need to work, build trust and respect, release pent up energy and build confidence. Along with good leadership, tracking helps create a balanced dog. Most dogs find it exceedingly fun, as do their guardians, whose eyes are opened to the incredible scenting abilities of their dogs.

The dogs introduced have had five weeks of basic wilderness tracking, followed by five weeks of advanced wilderness tracking which has given them the foundation to move on to urban tracking. They have all since graduated, but the journey of tracking never ends.

The goal of K9Leadership follows the goals of K9Kinship, that dogs and their guardians enjoy the journey of tracking at any level.

For more information on tracking contact Maureen Fielding at K9Leadership.
All photography by Petra Mayer, PPP-Photography.

Drain your dog's energy with tracking

Today Maureen introduces Fritz, a German Shorthaired Pointer who was both challenging and fun to photograph. Challenging because of his speed, and fun - well, just look at his face!

guest blog by Maureen Fielding, K9Leadership

Fritz is a loveable, very high energy German Shorthaired Pointer. You can see in his photos that he does not even have time to put his bum on the ground in a sit. Instead his is "spring-loaded" for a fast takeoff like a sprinter at the start of a race. If you have the opportunity to watch him walk with his handler, you will see that Fritz runs on the spot, taking tiny steps forward and back so he follows the rules of "no pull on the leash". He needs to track just to drain some energy. Fritz is a very fast tracker and his handler has learned to work with his manic style, which is kind of like Marlin fishing and tracking combined. Thus, I call this "cartoon tracking" as it is very entertaining to watch!

Dogs with very high energy need to track because physical activity alone does not drain energy in these dogs. They may only become more fit from physical activity, like athletes. These dogs need to combine mental challenges with physical activity to feel satisfied, as well as a handler who can keep up with them. 

Urban Tracking, Variable Surface Tracking or Hard Surface Tracking area all terms which refer to tracking in urban environments with varied surfaces for the dog to track on. Dogs learn to track on surfaces such as grass, mulch, gravel, asphalt, concrete, brick and even rocks and sand. They learn to transition from one to the next as they follow a track down grass, up a concrete sidewalk and into an asphalt parking lot. They learn to differentiate the scent of the person they are tracking from a myriad of cross tracks from other people as well as the scent of the article left by the tracklayer as opposed to all the other bits of garbage along the way. 

For more information on tracking, contact Maureen Fielding of K9Leadership.
All photography by Petra Mayer, PPP-Photography.

Tracking used to create confidence in dogs

This blog is a continuation of our urban tracking for dogs series. Today, Maureen Fielding of K9Leadership is presenting an adolescent Canaan dog, Sara, and her owner David.

guest blog by Maureen Fielding, K9 Leadership

Today I introduce Sara, a young, adolescent Canaan dog. This is a primal breed, rarely seen, and this young dog has a strong, independent streak. You can see her regal confidence in her photos. David has been working with her in tracking and obedience to build a stronger bond with Sara.

With a primal independent dog like this, tracking is beneficial to build trust and a common bond that makes sense to the dog. Tracking is an opportunity for us to step into the world of the dog, and work in partnership with the dog - which is different to most other activities and obedience, which is usually fitting the dog into the human world.

Other dogs that can benefit from tracking are rescued dogs, who need to rebuild trust with humans, as well as dogs raised with poor imprinting with humans. These dogs basically have little use for humans and don't live to impress us. Tracking is a way to break into the independent and learned independent world of these dogs, and combined with good leadership, start to develop a long lasting relationship of trust and respect.

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These last comments from Maureen really struck a cord with me. They so reminded me of my Shadow, a rescued Lab/Rotty cross who I adopted in early 2004. Shadow had been at the very least neglected, if  not abused by her previous owner and was surrendered to the Vancouver SPCA with her 9 puppies. It was one year of hard work to overcome Shadow's fear aggression towards men particularly and to build the trust and revert to her canine ambition to please. My tracking classes with K9Kinship, the predecessor of K9Leadership where a great help in overcoming Shadow's issues.

For more information on tracking, please contact Maureen Fielding at K9Leadership.
All images by Petra Mayer, PPP-Photography.