This two-day workshop will provide valuable information about how we, as handlers, influence the search with our body movements, direction and pathways, and speed and body orientation. Sue and Dana will also discuss what we are communicating to our dogs from all of our “handler actions or inactions” throughout the search, and why we may be getting certain behaviors from our canine partners in trial that baffle us. This workshop will include video footage from other dog sports and video submissions from those attending the workshop as auditors both days, to demonstrate deliberate and inadvertent communication between dogs and their handlers. Additionally, Dana will set up exercises, with the working dogs, to highlight handler movement and the dog’s response to better understand what our dogs are communicating “at each moment” and improve our productivity as handlers without diminishing drive and independence. Participants will also be given specific handling tools to increase the ability to listen while simultaneously allowing the dog more freedom to make choices and hunt independently. Sue and Dana deliver this workshop with humor, compassion and enthusiasm knowing that teams will leave with a new way of looking at the search and new tools to strengthen the handler/dog team through the long-term journey of this amazing game.

Sponsor:Dogs of Course
Speaker(s):Sue Sternberg and Dana Zinn, CPDT-KA, CNWI

Contact: Dana Crevling
 Email: Crevling@dogsofcourse.com
 Web: https://dogsofcourse.com/