Merry Christmas and Class Announcements

Merry Christmas to All!

I hope all of you have an enjoyable holiday season and a Happy New Year.

Class Announcements:

Monday evening classes were not held on December 21st. If you are in that class and not planning to return to the next session please be aware that you are welcome to return for one more class on Monday January 4th.

Drop In Handling on Monday evenings will now be by "Reservation Only". Due to a fluctuating number of participants I am going to try a reservation system for the Drop-In Handling class. Class will only be held that evening if you have reserved your spot in advance by calling me or by emailing me By 5:00 pm on Mondays (reservations can be made anytime the week before as well) 717-203-0033 wescotdobe@hotmail.com If you call/email on the day of the class please be aware that I will not have time to reply. Simply leave your name and phone number (Be certain emails include Phone numbers) and confirmation that you will be attending that evening. As long as we have at least 3 people class will be held. If less than 3 people have made reservations for that evening the class will be cancelled. Participation in the drop-in class without a reservation is not guarunteed. If you make a reservation and later learn you will be late or need to cancel that reservation please Call me @ 203-0033 as I do not check email after 5 pm.

*No-shows will be billed for the missed class.

*If the drop in handling class is cancelled for an evening, you are welcome to schedule a private handling session during that time slot. Cost of a private Handling lesson is $25/half hour.

The Controlled Canines Class is to resume after the Holidays. However I have been informed that the building will not be available Thursday evenings @ 6:45 due to a scheduling conflict. If you were in the Controlled Canines class and had planned to attend the next session, please contact me with your availability. I'd like to reschedule this class for Monday evenings @ 6 pm. If that doesn't work for the majority of the class I will need to explore other options or delay the start of the session for a few weeks. Please contact me and let me know if Mondays @ 6 pm would work for you.

Rally Obedience has moved to 4 pm Mondays for the winter session. If you are gearing up to enter your dog in Rally Obedience this spring, or if a daytime class appeals to you we are currently accepting new students for this class. The new session will begin Monday January 11th @ 4pm.

The Thursday evening Combined Competitive Obedience Class will continue however our start time will be pushed back to it's original start time of 7:45. Class will run till 8:30.

Treat yourself to a Christmas gift!



Or a new clicker...




See you Next Year~!

4 Week Handling Class is on the Schedule!

The Four week long, Scheduled Handling class has been scheduled. It will be held Thursday evenings, @ 8:30 beginning December 10th. Although we've reached the minimum sign up needed to hold the class, there are still a few spots remaining. If you'd like to join us, please email me @ wescotdobe@hotmail.com

This class is for young dogs and/or beginnner handlers. We will work on the training of the dog, and polishing of the handlers skills. The current roster is a good mix of beginner handlers and a few experienced ones with young dogs.

Is there more to a clicker than just the sound?

I recently participated in a month long study of Karen Pryors newest book Reaching The Animal Mind. One of the things the book answered for me was "WHY" is the dog more responsive to the mechanical "click" than to a spoken word. I knew it was, I have seen it time and time again amongst the dogs in class who's owners use a mechanical click vs those who use a word paired with the reinforcer. The dogs with the mechanical clicks learn faster and work differently...more "sharply" and possibly with a bit more focus. But I couldn't explain the "why's" beyond the possibility that perhaps the owners timing was simply off. (it has been proven that the timing of the click Is faster than the timing of a spoken word)

This book discusses the Amygdale, the small area of the brain that is a common factor in all animals right down to the smallest/simplest of creatures. While I'm not a believer the evolution theory, I do believe all living beings follow a similar "blueprint". The book explained that a part of this blueprint is the inclusion of the Amygdale even in living creatures who's brain is fairly simple. Apparently the mechanical sound, triggers a response deep down in the brain (at the Amygdalia) which has a fast, lasting effect on the animal.

Here is an explaination, in Karen Pryors words, that I hope will also help explain the speed and enthusiasm that develops in the Clicker trained dog.

All animals, right down to crabs and fish, anything with a nervous system, pickup on the importance of the message in conditioned reinforcers, because of the way they work in the brain. That click, properly used, goes through theamydgala, creates chemical changes, neural changes, memory, AND a feeling ofexcitement that stays with the learner, no matter what the species. Moderntraining, using a marker, taps into a very old system that we normally only reach when we frighten the animal—and then it's a completely different kind of message, going through another part of the amygdale and creating chemicalchanges, memory, and a feeling—a bad feeling, never quite forgotten. - K. Pryor, as written to DogRead 2009