Weekend Workshops / Getaways

Why Dog Train­ers & Dog Hob­by­ists Should Train Chickens

Come join us with world renowned trainer and author Terry Ryan for two days of fun and learning.

It’s all about skills train­ing!  Train­ers are not “bonded” to their chick­ens.  Chick­ens don’t have big brown eyes.  Train­ers do not have bad (or good!) chicken train­ing habits because they’ve never trained a chicken before, thus avoid­ing the bag­gage often taken to dog train­ing work­shops.  You will not be show­ing your chick­ens at the next per­for­mance event, nor will you be tak­ing them home, so there is no pres­sure on what will hap­pen in the future.  You prob­a­bly do not have a library full of chicken train­ing books and DVD’s to influ­ence you, much less tele­vi­sions shows on chicken training.

Train­ing a chicken is a stretch and a boost to your mechan­i­cal skills. The aver­age chicken is faster than the aver­age dog, giv­ing you a chance to improve your coor­di­na­tion and timing.

Chick­ens will freeze or fly away if they don’t like the way you are train­ing them.  Unlike dogs, you will know imme­di­ately if you are tak­ing advan­tage of a chicken or push­ing too hard too fast.  Chick­ens don’t give their train­ers a sec­ond chance as often as our dogs do.  This cur­ricu­lum includes the direct appli­ca­tion of the course work to dog training.

Exer­cises include observ­ing and graph­ing (ethogram) chicken behav­ior.   You’ll explore how chick­ens acquire, store and process infor­ma­tion.  We’ll prac­tice mechan­i­cal skills with spe­cial atten­tion to tim­ing and eye-hand coor­di­na­tion.  Lessons include sys­tem­atic desen­si­ti­za­tion, cap­tur­ing a behav­ior, shap­ing a behav­ior and the use of tar­gets.  We’ll work on a three or four-component dis­crim­i­na­tion and con­duct extinc­tion trials.

Dates:  August 3 & 4, 2013

Who for:  All dog train­ing enthusiasts

Dura­tion:  2 days (Sat­ur­day and Sunday)

Class size:  30 work­ing spots, 15 observer spots

Cost (includes lunch):

Chicken Camp Trainer:  $335  All work­ing spots have filled.
Email us to be put on the wait list.

Observer Tuition:  $165   Space still available

Trainer or Observer?  What’s the difference?

Trainer:

• Trainer’s par­tic­i­pa­tion includes work­ing with a chicken.
• Observers do not work with a chicken, but do par­tic­i­pate in every other aspect of this workshop.

Observer:

• Par­tic­i­pate in all the lec­tures and all train­ing that doesn’t include the chicken (i.e., mechan­i­cal skills drills)
• Inti­mately observe all the hands-on chicken training
• Inter­face with students/faculty through­out the entire course
• Con­tribute to dis­cus­sions and Q&A
• Per­fect for the trainer/handler/supervisor aller­gic to birds
• Per­fect for those stu­dents who learn best by listening/watching rather than “doing”

Click here to down­load our Chicken Camp Reg­is­tra­tion Form.

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The Magic of TTouch

If you are inter­ested in increased atten­tion span, reduced stress, enhanced relax­ation and improved well-being in your pet, this is the work­shop for you. Come join us and learn how to estab­lish a deeper rap­port with your pet through the use of the Telling­ton TTouch Method (TTouch).

The TTouch Method is a train­ing and health­care sys­tem devel­oped by inter­na­tion­ally known ani­mal expert, Linda Telling­ton Jones. This amaz­ing method can help you under­stand and influ­ence your ani­mal with your heart and hands in a way that devel­ops trust, cre­ates a har­mo­nious rela­tion­ship, and changes unwanted behav­ior. It is cur­rently rec­og­nized world­wide and used by ani­mal own­ers, train­ers, breed­ers, vet­eri­nar­i­ans, ani­mal shel­ters, zookeep­ers, Olympic teams and uni­ver­si­ties in over 30 countries.

You will learn how these gen­tle and non-invasive tech­niques can have a dra­matic impact on a mul­ti­tude of health and behav­ioral issues as well as sim­ply being an enjoy­able bond­ing expe­ri­ence. This work has been proven to calm ani­mals and restore their con­fi­dence along with alle­vi­at­ing their pains, fears and tensions.

The Telling­ton TTouch can help in cases of:

• Exces­sive Bark­ing & Chewing
• Leash Pulling
• Jump­ing Up
• Aggres­sive Behavior
• Extreme Fear & Shyness
• Resis­tance to Grooming
• Excitabil­ity & Nervousness
• Car Sick­ness
• Prob­lems Asso­ci­ated With Aging

Date:  June 15, 2013

Who for:  Every­one who lives with or works with a com­pan­ion ani­mal
(dog, cat, rab­bit, etc.)

Dura­tion:  1 day (Saturday)

Class size:  12 work­ing spots, unlim­ited observer spots

Cost (includes lunch for work­ing spot participants):

Work­ing Spot Tuition:  $125 (full pay­ment due at time of registration)

Observer Spot Tuition:  $65 (full pay­ment due at time of registration)

Click here to down­load our TTouch Reg­is­tra­tion Form.

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Moun­tains of Learn­ing: Week­end Get­aways For Dog Lovers

Escape to the Blue Ridge Moun­tains for dog train­ing work­shops in a stun­ning nat­ural set­ting. What could be bet­ter? Hone your dog train­ing skills, have fun with your dog, and enjoy morn­ing hikes along trails in pris­tine forests.

At the end of the week­end, you return home refreshed, inspired, with a bounty of lovely memories—and a better-behaved dog!

Work­shops

Fab­u­lous Focus:  All dog train­ing begins with your dog pay­ing rapt atten­tion to you.
Dial Up Your Per­for­mance:  Obe­di­ence booster that takes you and your dog to the next level.

Fab­u­lous Focus

Strengthen your dog’s man­ners and teach him new ones. Learn how to keep your dog’s atten­tion on you despite dis­trac­tions like bounc­ing ten­nis balls and skate­boards.
When:  Twice a year
Next dates:  May 31, June 1&2  2013
Octo­ber 18–20  2013
Who for:  Novice clicker train­ers and dogs
Dura­tion:  2.5 days; half day Fri­day, full days Sat­ur­day & Sun­day
Class size:  10 han­dlers and dogs
Cost:  $295 includ­ing lunch Sat­ur­day & Sun­day
CEUs:  Approved for 13.375 CEUs for train­ers and 2.5 for behav­ior con­sul­tants.
Email us for more info.

 

Dial Up Your Performance

Taught by expert Han­nah Brani­gan of Won­der­pups Train­ing. Take your han­dling skills and your dog’s obe­di­ence to the next level. Great for all-purpose obe­di­ence train­ing and for any­one want­ing to com­pete in Obe­di­ence, Rally, and Con­for­ma­tion.
Next date:  August 24–25  2013
Who for:  All dog train­ing enthu­si­asts
Dura­tion:  2 days, Sat­ur­day & Sun­day
Class size:  10 han­dlers and dogs
Cost:  Work­ing spot: $160 per day or $295 for both days.
Audit Spot: $80/per day
CEUs: Approved for 16 CEUs
Email us for more information

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Mas­ter the Growlies with Kim Moeller & Gina Phairas of dog∗tec

Learn suc­cess­ful train­ing and busi­ness prac­tices for dog-dog aggres­sion cases. Rel­e­vant for dog train­ers, behav­ior­ists, walk­ers, vet­eri­nar­i­ans, and oth­ers who work with on-leash or off-leash dog-dog aggres­sion, as well as any­one with an inter­est in the pro­fes­sional side of dog-dog aggression.

Dura­tion: 2 Day Sem­i­nar
Date: Com­ing in 2014
Cost: $185.00
CEUs:  Approved for 10 CEUs

Instruc­tors

Kim Moeller is a pro­fes­sional dog trainer and a cer­ti­fied spe­cial­ist in dog-dog aggres­sion and reac­tiv­ity, Kim Moeller is the San Fran­cisco SPCA’s dog-dog social­iza­tion and reha­bil­i­ta­tion expert. A rec­og­nized expert in dog reac­tiv­ity, Kim has spo­ken inter­na­tion­ally on the sub­ject of dog-dog aggres­sion and has earned renown within the indus­try for her content-rich, hands-on, enter­tain­ing sem­i­nars. Her long-standing pri­vate prac­tice focuses on aggres­sion issues. Kim co-designed, and cur­rently teaches, the SPCA’s famous Growly Dog pro­gram. Her skill in read­ing dog body lan­guage and work­ing with reac­tive dogs is well known and respected among her peers. Her exper­tise in suc­cess­fully work­ing with dogs of all types reflects her love of ani­mals and her pas­sion for the work she does.

Gina Phairas, Bsc Comms, CTC, has been assist­ing dog*tec clients estab­lish and grow their pet pro­fes­sional busi­nesses for the past three years. She is a trainer with exten­sive expe­ri­ence in the dog ser­vice indus­try. Gina has run suc­cess­ful dog train­ing busi­nesses of her own and has con­sulted for shel­ters, res­cue groups, and day care facil­i­ties across the coun­try.  Gina is a for­mer San Fran­cisco SPCA Acad­emy for Dog Train­ers instruc­tor and grad­u­ate. As the SF/SPCA Reha­bil­i­ta­tion Coor­di­na­tor she devel­oped and over­saw staff train­ing as well as devel­oped cur­ricu­lum and taught classes for the SPCA and other organizations.

Click here to down­load our stan­dard Reg­is­tra­tion Form.