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Treibball

Pronounced “try ball,” this fun new dog sport was born in Germany in the mid-2000s when a Dutch hunting and herding dog trainer, Jan Nijboer, wondered if he could teach high-energy dogs to play soccer. The game boils down to getting your dog (or a team of dogs) to push large exercise balls across a field into a goal. While herding-type dogs and dogs who love chase games are natural Treibball contenders, dogs of any age and breed can take part. As with all dog sports, some foundational skills are important. For Treibball, it’s an advantage if your dog knows sit, down, left, right, and object targeting. Playing the game is simple. Arrange eight exercise balls (some play with fewer) in a triangle in the center of your field and set up kid-sized soccer goals or mark the goal zone with orange traffic cones. The dogs—with handlers using commands like

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The Expectation Game

In our ongoing adventure of companionship with dogs nothing trips us up quite as much as our own unrealistic expectations. Dogs who don’t do as they are told? We think them willfully disobedient, stubborn, or, worst of all, slow on the uptake. We overestimate their attention span and level of emotional control. We think they should know instinctively how to navigate big groups of dogs playing together. We expect them to quickly grasp concepts we deem important and logical for dogs, such as going to the bathroom outside (except when it’s OK not to, like at daycare). Unless a good dog trainer sets us straight, we may even expect angelic behavior after completing a single 6-week training class. Our high and often naive expectations cause us grief and worry, so why are they so hard to shake? Blame culture, for one thing. Books and movies that portray dogs as highly

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A Day Of Fun With Your Dog

Obedience and Agility Fun Match Sunday, May 29th Location:  Lucky Dog Adventure Camp in Waimanalo Canine Good Citizen Evaluation Set your dog apart from the rest!  See if they can pass all 10 Canine Good Citizen test items to earn the title of a ‘Good Citizen’. Evaluation begins at 8:00 am and is $50.00 Obedience Fun Match Obedience is a fun opportunity to practice obedience behaviors such as ‘sit’, ‘down’, ‘stay’, ‘loose leash walking’, and more. Each owner handler team can participate in: Novice = 10 – 15 behaviors on leash Advanced = 15 – 20 behaviors off leash Praise & rewards are encouraged! Event is judged & timed. Everyone is a winner! Runs begin after the CGC evaluation and is $30.00 per entry. Agility Fun  Match Agility- run through an obstacle course timed.  Challenge your dog over jumps, through tunnels, up and over an A Frame and more. Each

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Games to play to STOP problem behaviors

Dogs and humans that play together stay together.  Believe it or not, “play” can actually be considered a trainable behavior with dogs. Teaching your fuzzy friend to play with you can help build your relationship, increase trainability, provide mental stimulation and exercise (for both of you), and help to eliminate behavior problems. My training philosophy is to ‘have fun and be consistent’.  I like to stress to my students, if you are not having fun your dog will know, and your training sessions will not be as effective. How many of you can tell if someone close to you is frustrated or upset just by their body language?  How does it make you feel when you walk into a room and you see someone with ridged body movements or sighing?  When I see someone exhibiting frustration or anger my body tenses up, I hold my breath for longer periods of

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