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.
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