BetCo News - Volume 7.1

Hello ,

UPDATE:

We added Agility classes for Monday daytime! Agility in September is now offered on Saturdays AND Mondays, for Agility Beginners and Agility Skilled students.

Fall is looming around us and we have successfully transferred most of our classes to our huge indoors facility. Stations are spaced at 16-20 feet and with only 8 dogs maximum per class, there is plenty of room in our 2400 sqft arena! Daylight is getting shorter quickly, and eventually the rain, cold and ice will get in the way of giving our dogs enough outdoor romping time.

Join our indoors activities - either to brush up on manners, to channel your dog's energy into a controlled dog sport activity or to let them romp during play times or daycare! Open Play Times will be held outside as much as weather permits!

We have several great classes starting in September and October, including our favorite sports of Agility and Treibball!

Prefer to stay home and play with your dog? We can give you some inspiration through our Online Practice Challenges in Treibball and/or Nose Work!

Important news and reads in this issue:

1) Sports Classes in September and October

2) Online Practice Challenges - Treibball and Nose Work

3) Upcoming Behavior Classes

4) Monthly Training Tip: Balancing Act - How To Socialize Your Dog

Need to socialize your dog? Here are some do's and don'ts of proper socialization. Too much socializing? Is that possible??? Read more below.

All clickable links in this newsletter are in PURPLE.

Enjoy life with your better companion,

Claudia

1) Sports Classes in September and October

Back to School and we are starting up our doggy physical education in Agility and Treibball! While Nose Work classes indoors are on hold due to the pandemic (Nose Work Practice students - read about our ONLINE options below!), we want to offer as many other opportunities to play with your dog, engage with your dog and learn in a fun environment. We might add a Trick Dog class at a later date - stay tuned!

Agility Classes

Choose Agility Beginner + Puppy for all dogs 6 months or older wanting to start this sport or to refresh the basics. We'd like to have your dog take one of our basic obedience classes first. Contact us if you have any questions on this! This class focuses on introducing all the different obstacles used in Agility competitions.

Agility Skills is for dogs that have graduated from Agility Beginners. This class has three different curriculums and we recommend repeating at this level before moving on to Agility Sequencing. You'll be introduced to handler tactics like front and rear crosses, while your dog learns to work more independently and away from you.

Agility Sequencing puts your and your dog's skills together on short sequences of 4-8 obstacles. We'll work on fun and control while applying what you learned in the previous classes.

Agility Practices (Ag-P) are for teams that have graduated from Sequencing and want to try their performance at a full course, if possible at the trial venue on a full 100' x 100' field or otherwise in a smaller scale at BetCo. We will hold practices at Sirius Ranch at their indoors arena, mostly on a standard course using all of the obstacles and occasionally a jumpers course using jumps, weaves and tunnels. We will also add a barrel and some hoops to the otherwise AKC-type course where possible. There'll be a different course set up each week. At BetCo we'll have the opportunity to practice specific NADAC courses like Tunnelers, Hoopers or Touch 'N Go.

For the Practices you can purchase a punch card and only sign up for the weeks you want to join. Please note that we have different punch cards for practices at BetCo and for practices at Sirius Ranch!

All Agility Classes and Practices: Saturdays, starting September 12, 2020
and Mondays, starting September 14, 2020!

Treibball Classes

Treibball - Beginner introduces you and your dog to the sport of pushing balls. The class starts with teaching the dogs the different commands to send them out and control there movements at a (short) distance as well as teaching them the proper push - always towards the handler and without biting. Controlling your dog on the playing field will be 70% of the training, pushing a ball to you makes the other 30%.

Treibball - Intermediate is the continuation for our TB-Beginner graduates and a great repeat class for all TB-Intermediate graduates! Sign up now to reserve your spot!

Treibball - Online Practice Challenge is a new format that allows you to participate from your own home! We will give you different challenges to practice with your dog. There will be a new challenge twice a month, always around the 1st and 15th of the month. The challenge will be sent to participants via email and posted on a private Facebook group. You will send in a video for review, either posting it to the private Facebook group or by providing a link to your video. After 5 months (10 challenges plus one bonus challenge in September), we will send out certificates to every team that completed at least 5 (Bronze), 7 (Silver) or 9 (Gold) of the challenges.

Treibball - Beginner: Thursdays, starting October 15, 2020, at 7:30 PM
Treibball - Intermediate: Thursdays in December - on demand
Treibball - Online Practice Challenge: Starts September 15th!

2) Online Practice Challenges - Treibball and Nose Work

September 2020 - February 2021:

Online Practice Challenge is a new format that allows you to participate from your own home! We will give you different challenges to practice with your dog. There will be a new challenge twice a month, always around the 1st and 15th of the month. The challenge will be sent to participants via email and posted on a private Facebook group. You will send in a video for review, either posting it to the private Facebook group or by providing a link to your video. After 5 months (10 challenges plus one bonus challenge in September), we will send out certificates to every team that completed at least 5 (Bronze), 7 (Silver) or 9 (Gold) of the challenges.

Need space to practice and/or video your practice? Ask us about facility rental options!

Treibball - Online Practice Challenge - by Claudia Sihler

Starts with the first (bonus) challenge on September 15th, runs for 5 months (10+1 challenges) until end of February 2021. You can join for the full series or on a monthly base.

Nose Work - Online Practice Challenge - by Deb Frost

Starts with the first (bonus) challenge on September 15th, runs for 5 months (10+1 challenges) until end of February 2021. You can join for the full series or on a monthly base.

3) Upcoming Behavior Classes

Classes that start every month:

Puppy 1 - Preschool, Puppy 2 - Kindergarten, Foundation Class, Grade School;
Click HERE for the full schedule. The classes start on different days of the week and different times of the day, so pick the one that fits you best!

Junior High: most likely to start in December

Rally College: To follow Junior High in February

Rally Practice: possibly offered in October on Wednesday evenings - with the option of videotaping each other for titles! Contact us if you are interested!

Testimonials:

Here's what some of our clients had to say after taking our Grade School Class:

"He entered class barking and jumping. Behavior was also seen on walks if other dogs were seen. Now, he walks around the cones with other dogs near; and when he saw a dog on a walk yesterday, no barking!"
Jennifer and Matthew with "Atlas"

"I let Maddy out on a long lead since we don't have a fenced in yard. It has been a real challenge to get her to come back in at times. Since we started the recall exercises, she has been much better and coming when I call."
Mary and Dennis with "Madalyn"

Read more testimonies HERE!

4) Monthly Training Tip:

Balancing Act - How To Socialize Your Dog

With or without pandemic, every dog and puppy owner understands the importance of socializing our four-legged family members. But the "When" and "How" is not always clear.

When:

When you get your new family member, everything in your environment is new to them. Even while you keep them at home, they are already being socialized to a ton of novelties:

Environment, noises, smells, people in your household, other animals in your household, movements in and around your house, ... the list is long!

Allow your dog to settle into this "new normal" for 1-2 weeks, which often already includes a first visit to your veterinarian, and if it doesn't seem too stressful for the dog, some exploration of the neighborhood on leash.

Socialization periods in puppies have been studied a lot and different recommendations have been made. Here are some important dates and findings:

- The socialization window (while puppies are willing to accept novelties as 'normal' rather than showing fear) starts closing at 3-4 months and is closed at about 6 months.

- The dogs will go through a couple fear periods, one at around 9 weeks, and another one at about 6-9 months. During this time they might get rather sensitized to novelties, instead of desensitized. Depending on the breed and individual genetics, these periods can be more or less prevalent. Especially during these periods, it is important to help your dog to FEEL SAFE, which is always a priority at our facility. We can help you how you can still positively socialize your dog during these times.

- Dog owners are often told by veterinarians to keep their puppies at home, off the ground and away from other dogs until their vaccination series is finished, which is usually right at 4 months. These precautions are in place to prevent contracting deadly diseases like Parvo and Distemper. While these diseases are still quite common, especially the Parvovirosis, it has also become clear that lack of socialization can be in the long term as deadly to dogs.

The AVSAB (American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior) has published a statement that was shortly after adopted by the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association), that socialization of a puppy starting at the age of 7-8 weeks while keeping the puppy Up To Date on its vaccinations is crucial for the healthy development of the puppy. Read the full statement HERE.

At our facility, we encourage owners to bring their puppy to our classes and/or play times as early as with a vaccination given at 8 weeks and about 3-5 days after that vaccine was given, while we request proof of vaccination from every participant, to minimize the threat of a deadly puppy disease.

How:

When introducing a dog to novelties, it is important that they don't get overwhelmed. "The more - the better" is NOT TRUE, but will rather cause the dog to shut down, get overstimulated and/or sensitized rather than desensitized to that novelty.

What novelties/ stimuli to socialize your dog to: The list is endless!
There are lots of novelties not only out in the world, but right around you, in your house, yard and wherever your dog goes - with or without you. For most of the items in this list, dogs will also socialize to the different scents of it - we just don't know much about this. Example: Smoker or specific perfume.

- People: family, visitors, strangers, bearded, age, shape, movement, outfit ...
- Animals: dogs of all shapes and sizes, farm animals, small pets, wild animals ...
- Places: friend's home, store, veterinary clinic, airport, train depot, park, trails, campground, daycare, training facility ...
- Floors and ground: grass, wood, tile, wet, stairs, elevator, escalator, concrete, bridge, grates ...
- Objects: vacuum, mower, snowmachine, 4wheeler, broom, pots and pans, umbrella, garbage can or bag, new wall mount, rearranged furniture, crate ...
- Visual and Noises: train, vacuum, horn, gun shot, fireworks, motorbike, doorbell, crowds, bicyclist, jogger, cars, trucks, mailman, odd movements ...
- Handling: being touched, moved, handled in different ways and by different people, tight hold, hugging, collar grabbing, exam of ears, mouth, teeth, medicating ears, eyes or giving pills, tolerating muzzle, cone, booties, clothing and bandage ...

When dogs experience a novelty, they can react in three ways: don't react (neutral), positive emotions (happy) or negative emotions (fear).

We want the happy emotions, and when we see negative emotions, it's clear that we need to "work on that" to turn that around. What we often overlook, are the neutral reactions. It's very uneventful and might look like "acceptance" of the stimulus. In reality, the dog hasn't made up its mind yet which way to go. Often a non-reaction can already be a silent "shut-down", leaning to the negative emotion of fear.

But even if a reaction is truly "neutral", it won't stay that way. Chances are, over time the stimulus will become rather annoying or even threatening to the dog, causing a fear reaction. This is very common with noises, but can happen with any stimulus.

What to do when your dog encounters a new stimulus of any kind (person, dog, animal, object, noise ...):

- Allow your dog to keep a distance, not only where they ARE safe, but where they FEEL SAFE! Keep the stimulus/person at a distance and observe your dog - does s/he WANT to come closer? Does s/he lean rather backwards or even hide behind you?

- Give your dog the freedom to say "No". Don't overwhelm your dog with being petted and fed treats. Your dog should ENJOY the interaction, not just SURVIVE.

- Keep a happy voice. When you tell your dog "It's okay, it's oookaaay", that sounds to the dog as if you say "You are correct, this is a scary situation, it's okay to be scared". Keep your voice upbeat and happy, as in "That's great, isn't that fun?"

- Pair the novelty with something pleasant. If your dog is neutral and not sure yet what to think, make sure your dog has a pleasant memory of the situation. Play with your dog, pet, praise, give treats ... Anything your dog will enjoy - in that situation! Be certain your dog enjoys it! Hugging and corralling your dog might be rather scary, if your dog feels helpless to escape.

- Have lots of repetitions of the happy experience! Keep up the pairing and the pleasant experiences as long as possible, while your dog still goes through the different life stages. Sometimes you might have to back up a little and renew a positive experience.

- Review every new encounter: Was my dog having fun or just 'surviving' the moment??? Make sure you increase the rewards next time and lower the encounter experience if you feel your dog was just surviving or stayed neutral, without really enjoying it.

What NOT to do:

- Don't force your dog into socializing by throwing them in with a bunch of dogs at the dog park, and letting them "figure it out". That's a recipe for disaster!

- Don't ask other people to come and pet your dog, if s/he doesn't enjoy being petted by strangers.

- Don't coax the dog into walking up to strangers by having them hold out a cookie, if your dog is clearly not sure about that. I have seen dogs taking the cookie and then immediately biting the hand of the person. They have very mixed emotions at that moment, especially if they are very food motivated.

- If your dog shows signs of lack of socialization like barking or growling at other dogs or people, it takes more than "going out and socializing them" to change that. It takes a Behavior Modification Protocol, developed as part of a private consultation, to help your dog. Contact us about your options with us and our referral of other trainers!

And now go out with your dog and look for a new, positive experience for both of you!

Maybe a visit at our facility, e.g. playing with other dogs under the supervision of experienced staff? Or joining one of our classes or dog sports? Contact us to learn how we can help you with socializing your dog - the right way!

Enjoy the Journey of Dog Training!

Claudia