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Clinics and Seminars Here at the farm, we believe in lifelong learning and strive to share knowlege with others. To do that, we invite the best instructers we can find and then invite you to attend. If there is a clinician you would like to see, please let me know and I will do my best to accomidate! Classes Offered: Victory Farm offers Yappy Hour on a weekly basis. Yappy hour is designed as a semi-structured social hour for your dog. Dogs learn to interact and socailize with each other in a normal, healthy way. A guide is present for all sssions to offer behavioral and training advice, as well as to keep all participants peaceful and happily playful. Yappy Hour Sessions are generally guided by Sarah Ruckelshaus. Please e-mail Sarah in advance so that she knows of your attendance and so she can make you aware of any cancelations or schedule changes: sarah@ruckelshaus.com Victory Farm will begin to offer Agility Practice Sessions beginning Thursday, July 24. Sessions will run from 5pm until 7 pm, you are welcome to drop in for all or part of the session. Sessions will be run by Barbara Ellis, who will be there to guide you with ‘rights and wrongs’, but will not be giving lessons. Each session is $12.00 for a handler and one dog, $6.00 for each additional dog. The handler involved must have completed a minimum of one agility class so that at least the basics are at hand. All equipment will be available for use during each session. Please e-mail Barbara in advance so she knows of your attendance: bwe@fast.net We offer a variety of classes, group as well as private, to help satisfy both the dogs and their people. Classes include Behaviour, Manners, Clicker, and Agility.
| Yappy Hour Schedule: Monday 8 am Wenesday 5 pm Friday 8 am Satruday 8 am Please be sure to let me know you are planning to come in case of change in the schedule. If there is a time better for you, I need three dogs in order to make a session, feel free to ask! Agility Practice Sessions: Thursdays 5 pm to 7 pm -- see right for more information Agility Clinics: Maryellen Miller Agility Clinic: 25 October 2008 From simply the basics to more advanced training! Maryellen and Brit are back for a second clinic!! Once again, this clinic is open to all levels of student, from beginners to more advanced: Beginners 1 - 8am to 10am Beginners 2 - 10.30 am to 12.30pm Novice - 1pm to 5pm All proceedes to benefit Mid-Atlantic Border Collie Rescue! Please note, you must sign up in advance for this clinic in order to hold a spot. Please check back as we continue to schedule events for 2008/2009
| Herding Clinics  Carol Campion Flanking Clinic - 10, 11 November 2008 Carol Campion lives on a small sheep farm in northeast Connecticut with her husband Larry and numerous border collies, fifty ewes and their lambs, and two cats. She has been training and trialing Border Collies since 1984. Since moving to Bittersweet Farm in 1997, she has focused on the breeding and training of Border Collies which allows her to spend more time on the farm.
Carol is well-respected for her success in bringing along young dogs and her gift for helping others learn to train their dogs effectively. It is through this intense training of dogs for others as well as working with her own and her students' dogs, she became fascinated with the process of how these dogs think and learn and how to approach training the border collie, with its' instincts, in relation to this learning process.
The flanking clinic is an outcropping of this study and the insights that resulted from it. Carol teaches you to tap into the brain power of these dogs. Carol has been a friend for years, and has certainly earned my respect as a handler/trainer who can see and issue and help you understand it in order to help your dog.
Her approach to dog training is that the dogs master one level of work before adding another while always striving to achieve the balance between obedience and instinct. The proper teaching of flanks and stops in a non-stressfull manner that encourages a natural dog with a good feel for sheep is paramount to a happy and obedient worker.
This clinic is designed to troubleshoot poor flanking and poor stopping and recognizing the cause and effect of problems in these areas. A structured approach is taught so that the handler can go home with exercises and a system of training that allows the flanks to be transferred in to better outruns with solutions for fixing outrun problems. Flanking on the drive and driving problems will be covered as well as addressing proper flanks for the shed and pen. I am sure this clinic will fill quickly. Send in your entry today in order to reserve your spot in this clinic. (It is preferable to not split spots between dogs.) The entry form for the Flanking Clinic is available here
Kathy Knox Training and Handling Clinic - 2, 3, 4 December 2008 Kathy, for those of you who are not aware (this novice was not when she first met her, how embarrassing!) was the first woman to have won our National Finals with her dog Bob and is also one of only a few women to have won the prestigious Meeker trial in Colorado. Kathy and her husband Jack teach many clinics each year, sharing their Method with students (and their dogs) from Novice through Open level. With more than 20 years of dog training and sheep watching experience, Kathy is quite astute at pin pointing a dog and his handler’s issues and has a variety of creative solutions for each situation. Kathy is always patient and willing to help even the most novice of handlers advance to the point they feel comfortable and easy handling their dog on sheep and is quite supportive if surprisingly simple solutions to seemingly difficult problems. To quote student Darleen Muhly, “Kathy is a great communicator. She is able to explain her "methods" so that even a novice like me can easily understand what she means. After this clinic, I know that I am much better at reading the sheep and the pressure than I was before. It was so cool to be able to watch the sheep and know when and where to move my dog. Thank you, Kathy.” And from studentJaneen Hair (a true Novice, Kathy started her young pup at a Kathy clinic) “Kathy has a way of helping all handlers, regardless of the level of dog they are working, gain a better understanding of how to work as a team. My favorite quote from her is "don't watch your dog, watch the sheep, they'll tell you where your dog is". Personally, she gave me very useful information on starting a dog (it was my pup's first time on sheep) and I hope to have a just started dog with me next time I see her. I just wish she didn't live halfway across the country so I could work with her more!” I myself have attended a few clinics, while all have been good and very informative, Kathy’s ranks as one of the best. I can highly recommend her as a teacher and believe that her Method does, indeed, improve a handler’s ability to work in tandem with their dog. There is a waiting list for this clinic. If you are interested in attending, please complete the following form and mail it to me. In the event someone pulls, you will be called in the order of receipt of your entry. If I do not have an entry in hand, you will not be placed on the waiting list. Kathy Knox Clinic application can be found here
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