OBEDIENCE TRAINING SEMINAR
Mastering Your Ring Performance with Lara Avery
OCTOBER 28-29, 2023
donida farm
About Lara:
As a dog trainer, Lara Avery has had a successful career competing nationally over the past 20 years. She has achieved numerous titles in conformation, herding and agility while earning numerous #1 national wins and rankings in Obedience. Other accomplishments include an OTCH10 as well as OTCH titles on 5 different dogs, multiple perfect 200's, High in Trials, and having the #1 ranked Border Collie and Herding Dog in the nation.
Lara is constantly pursuing the most positive and progressive way to train dogs for competition. Her current OTCH dog, Sailor, has been taught the hand touch heeling method without ever needing to use a leash or collar and is all reward based. This method has earned multiple 200's and an OTCH this past year. Competing in the horse world and winning at both the National and World level has also made her a more well-rounded competitor who can show you how to channel nerves into winning energy! Lara takes great pride in her students’ successes, from their first title or to an OTCH. She has experience working with multiple breeds. Lara consistently customizes her methods to bring the optimum out of each team.Join Star Power Dog Training on Facebook for more information about Lara, her dogs and her students’ accomplishments!
registration will open soon and be advertised on facebook.
SEMINAR: Alex Robinson
Advanced Competition Obedience Training Seminar
Five Days of Fun & Learning: Saturday, May 20 – Wednesday, May 24, 2023
Location: Donida Farm in Auburn, WA
UPDATE April 10, 2023
We have a couple of working spots left available. Working spot preference will go to people who have previously attended one of Alex's seminars in either a working or auditing spot. If you have not previously attended one of Alex's seminars, but would like to attend this one in a working spot, please email Kathy Lang to see if that is an appropriate option for your dog and you based on your level of training experience. We have plenty of auditing spots available.
Link to register: Canine Activities | Donida Farm
Introduction
Alex is a successful obedience competitor and trainer hailing from New Zealand. He is an in demand and world renown seminar presenter. Alex has achieved many national level wins with his dogs and has coached teams to national level wins and obedience championships.
Alex presented for three days in November 2022 and was so well received we’re having him back for five days in May 2023.
If you previously attended one of his seminars (he was also here in 2019) in either a working or auditing capacity, you may sign up for one of the last remaining working spots in May. (Auditors are welcome to bring a dog and work it during the breaks.)
Participants will be invited to join a private Facebook group with videos and written homework to begin working on, prior to the May seminar. Facebook group invitations will be sent upon receipt of registration.
Comments from Alex
I thought I would write a bit about myself without any of that advertising fluff so you get a feel for who I am as a person, a trainer, and what you may get out of attending a training workshop of mine!
Long story short dogs saved my life in my teenage years.
Dogs have given me so much throughout my life, it is not lost on me how incredibly privileged I am to get to travel the world doing something I love. I have met amazing people and have developed deep and treasured friendships because of dogs.
My motivator for training, is for the dogs. Teaching people how to be better trainers, better relationship builders, essentially better teammates for their dogs is my way of giving back to dogs who I owe so much to.
As a presenter my goal is to empower you, the handler, with information. When you understand the what, the why, and the how, you are independent as a dog trainer. Not only will you be able to implement and use the techniques learned with confidence; you’ll understand the underlying and overarching concepts and be able to extrapolate these and be able to troubleshoot and problem solve independently.
I want anyone who trains with me to be independent! I’m not there every time you train and for you to give your dog the highest quality of training - you need to be able to react and act in the moment. If you as a trainer are reliant on me to tell you what to do each step of the way, I have failed!
Truth be told, I can’t lay out an exact step by step program, because the reality is that the dog training journey is not a linear path. It’s a crawl forwards, a leap sideways, falling backwards into a hole, hauling yourself out, powering forward toward your goal, only to find yourself running backwards, you hit the wall and bounce forward, you can see the finish line, but out of no where BLIZZARD, you can’t see up from down, left from right. Just as you’re about to give up, the storm eases and then finally you have arrived at your goal…
Instead of a step-by-step method I have identified concepts that every successful obedience team has mastery of. My training now revolves around teaching trainers and their dogs how to master these concepts.
I would like you to think of these concepts as ingredients that you need to mold and create a successful and harmonious obedience team. The majority of your training sessions should be focused on nurturing mastery of the three C’s instead of focusing on the specific competition obedience exercises. If you and your dog have mastered the three C’s, the obedience, or to be honest, any dog sport world is your oyster!
Seminar Topics by Day
Saturday: Review of foundation skills, including engagement, mechanics and heeling from 2019 and 2022 workshops.
Sunday: Problem solving with each worker choosing exercises or concepts they would like to work on with Alex. Alex will help participants understand his approach to diagnosing issues and coming up with solutions. After each person has their individual floor time, the rest of the working teams will have the opportunity to try the techniques as a group.
Monday: Heeling, fronts and finishes from beginning to advanced skills. Alex will share his techniques, concepts and games to train and maintain animated and precise heeling, fronts and finishes in the ring.
Tuesday: Signals and drop on recall during the first half of the day, followed by trial prep, ring entrances and engagement between exercises.
Wednesday: Retrieve, scent discrimination, go-outs and jumping during the first half of the day, followed by tricks and games to keep training fresh, build confidence and increase drive.
Video Pre-Seminar Homework: Workers and auditors will receive an invitation to join private Facebook groups that include videos and written homework material. Workers will be expected to refresh their skills.
Complete details, pricing, hours, registration options and more are available at this link: Canine Activities | Donida Farm
If you prefer a PDF copy of the flyer, click here.
“Alex has an uncanny ability to read dogs and people. He breaks training into very small and understandable steps. He is more detail oriented than any other seminar presenter I have worked with in the past 45 years. Alex knows how to draw dogs into the engagement game. Before long the dogs are initiating engagement. Once that happens, Alex teaches his students how to transfer value for engagement to longer and longer periods of obedience. His experience working with a wide variety of breeds, personalities, biddability and intensity, allows him to get inside each dog’s head and guide the team toward success.”
-- Kathy Lang
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“Do you struggle with keeping your dog’s attention without food and begging? Would you like your dog to stay engaged when you are training and showing? Do you have a dog that is reactive, shy, or struggles in some environments? Then you will not want to miss this workshop. I am really looking forward to having him in my area in October for a refresher.” -- Jeannie Dennard