Hi Katie,

Claudia is not a helper, so she didn't put on a sleeve and play decoy. What she did was help us from a handler's viewpoint. Very, very useful, especially for newbies like me. From her perspective she sees things a decoy might miss.

In my case, she gave me some handling tips on getting greater control over my dog, e.g. telling him to sit before trying to heel him out of the blind so he would be a bit more focused and more likely to obey the heel command.

She also suggested using a long line to teach my dog where he's supposed to be for the bark & hold. Parek sometimes does a real quick spin that we've tried to cure by having the helper pop him on the rear when he does that, in hopes he'll be worried enough about the decoy popping him that he'll be afraid to spin.

Claudia suggested the problem is he's not sure what he's supposed to be doing. She put him on a long line so he couldn't spin and had me come up and praise him while he did the B&H. A couple rounds of that and he wasn't spinning anymore. I'm keeping my fingers crossed he'll remember that this weekend at our first trial

You're going to enjoy the seminar!

Cheers,

Anita

Thanks Anita.

Yeah, I know Claudia isn't a decoy -- I was referring more to dog handling skills and obedience in the protection phase. Using the word "bitework" was an error on my part.

Good luck to you and Parek this weekend!

Katie

Claudia was outstanding in working with the handlers on the protection part.

I have a male that I am having issues with in in the control portion of protection and she gave me and my trainer some good ideas.

I've gone to seminars where the instructor wore the sleeve and I think I prefer it the way Claudia conducted it. It really did seem that everyone walked away looking better.

Katie, this was the first time that I have seen the protection part of a seminar done the way Claudia did it. I can honestly say that I liked it as she is able to look at the dog, the handler and the decoy all at once and see the whole picture. I was the decoy for most of this seminar and I did exactly as she asked me to do and we got a lot of QUALITY work done using her methods.

For me, she can see little things that a training helper may not pick up on. Most of the time she is handling the long line on the dogs and making the training very clear to the handler and decoy. You really cannot have excellent protection without having good obedience too, there has to be control in the work. What I learned from Claudia the most was with this control, the dog explodes on the helper as all of his energy has been contained until it is time that you ALLOW him to bite.

Tell everyone at your club to have a long line or have one that everyone can use because it is essential for training & control in the bitework. Claudia handles the long line in excellent fashion and brings control to the dog. Not using a long line with a lot of dogs was a major problem at our club and she showed us prime examples of why the dogs must be on a line. Now we do not let a dog go out on the club field without a long line in protection, there is no reason to with a green/young dog.

Also make sure and get her Dunkin Donuts Coffee (Total New Englander) as she likes that more than Starbucks..... Me, I am sticking with my Starbucks in the morning. You guys are in for a lot of fun and great training.

I have been to a number of seminars over the years, hosted a few and I can say that Claudia gives a super seminar with quality information and direction, and noone left the field crying which is always a good thing in most cases!!!!LOL!
I did a bit of the helper work there at this past seminar and can tell you she understands protection just as well as anyone wearing the sleeve. Her instructions are clear and there was never any misundestanding between us while training.
I would attend another one of her seminars any day.There is no ego and she gets along with everyone which is something rare with alot of top competitors. She answers questions freely and is willing to share information with anyone that asks her. I am thinking about bringing her down here this year.