Meander River German Shorthaired Pointers is proud to announce that we will be hosting a course by Elsa Blomster. Ms. Blomster is known for her book and website, Retrieving for All Occasions, where she teaches positive, play-based methods of training gun dogs. We are proponents of her methods and use them with our own dogs.
The first class takes place on June 1-2, 2024 and is hands-on with your dogs. The second class is on June 8-9, 2024. We have one working spot available for the June 8-9 class, and audit spots are available for both weekends.
This is a foundations course for those who want to learn the basics of gun dog work. The course is aimed at those who are interested in learning more about the different parts of retrieving, whether you have a goal to hunt, compete in trials or just want to do a fun activity with your dog. Teaching your dog to fetch and carry objects can also be used as a foundation for tricks, for example. The course is primarily aimed at those who have a gun dog, but all dog breeds are welcome!
We will break down the different tasks into smaller parts and then put them together into chains and add distractions. During the course, we will work on deliveries, taking and holding, stop whistle, casting, heel work, and steadiness.
The entire retrieval chain can be taught in a playful way, which we will take advantage of. The course is tailored to each team’s level and goals. We will also be able to make the exercises more challenging for those who have progressed further in their training. The course is open to dogs of all ages and is equally suitable for puppies as well as older dogs. The course is based on clicker training. However, you do not need any experience with clicker training before the course, but it is helpful if you have some understanding of what it means so that you know that this is a course that suits your training style. The course is based on the book “Retrieving for All Occasions” by Elsa Blomster and Lena Gunnarsson.
Registration:
We have priced this course on a cost-recovery basis. There are 8 working spots and 8 audit spots available at $400+HST and $100+HST respectively. Please send us a message on Facebook or email us at info@meanderrivergsp.ca to register.
About the instructor:
Elsa Blomster is a dog trainer in Gothenburg, Sweden, and base all her training on the clicker training philosophy. She hunts, train and compete with her retrievers mostly in hunt tests and field trials but has also trained and competed in obedience, nosework, rally obedience, tracking, and field trials.