Upcoming Events at Crossbones
Are you new to Crossbones Dog Academy? We’re located just 5 minutes off I-95 in Providence, RI – a couple blocks away from “Nibbles” the Big Blue Bug! We have a climate-controlled indoor training facility including a 75×45′ training hall with GreatMats agility flooring plus adjacent crating spaces. We have ample off-street parking for our guests.
The purpose of this seminar is to teach dogs to focus on their handlers in high distraction environments. These exercises will be perfect for the competition dog and handler team.
We will begin by reviewing the new Click to Calm protocol (the presence of the trigger IS the cue to look at the handler) as well as work on necessary Foundation Behaviors such as the Back Up Sit, Get Behind and Re-orienting. We will also explore the role eye contact plays when building certain behaviors.
Faulty behavior chains will also be explored: how the handler thinks they are helping the dog, while in fact, it is creating more destructive behavior.
Fun games will be played towards teaching specific skills like acclimating dogs to the movement of other dogs, (Parallel Jumping or Heeling) navigating small spaces in public areas safely (Follow the Leader) and teaching dogs to better tolerate the “head to head” movement towards other dogs. (Musical Chairs or Magical Hoops) Novel stimuli will be used to add complexity to the exercises.
CEUs pending.
Saturday, June 10th & Sunday, June 11th
9AM to 4PM
Working Spot: $375 + tax, limit 8. Click here to register!
Auditing Spot: $175 + tax, limit 20. Click here to register!
About the Instructor: Emma Parsons, CDBC, KPA Faculty
Emma Parsons is currently a Canine Behavior Training Consultant at Gemini Dogs in Littleton, MA as well as owning her own business, Emma Parsons, LLC. She specializes in managing and rehabilitating the reactive and aggressive dog and has authored three books on the subject. Emma also works with agility competitors who are having emotional difficulties with their dogs. Emma is a faculty member of Karen Pryor Academy for Animal Training & Behavior (KPA-CTP) as well as of the Karen Pryor Clicker Expo conferences. She is also certified by the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. (CDBC).
She taught reactive dog classes for twelve years at Masterpeace Dog Training in Franklin, MA.
Emma holds a BA degree from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and shares her life with her husband, Greg, and their three clicker-trained competition dogs—two Golden Retrievers, Austyn-Roque and Spirit-Rayne, and a Border Collie, Joshua Lee Hunt.
This half-day agility training seminar will focus on teaching running contacts. Open to dogs 9 months of age and up at any stage in their running contact journey. Join us to get coaching on your individual dog’s “next steps” in the process!
Monday, June 19th
8AM to 1PM
Working Spot: $140 + tax, limit 8. Click here to register!
Auditing Spot: $65 + tax, limit 8. Click here to register!
About the Instructor: Andy Winther
Andy Winther acquired his unique animal training and handling skills in his home country of Denmark. Andy worked as a trainer at the world-renowned Blu Horse Dressage in Randbol, Denmark. In 2000, Andy was recruited by dressage trainers in the US to train horses in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and West Palm Beach, Florida. Andy has since discovered that his unique skills as an international dressage trainer are highly transferable to agility and trick training for dogs.
Learn more about Andy at his website.
TAGteach International is offering a seminar for professional certification of TAGteach instructors. Attendees will learn how to apply the marker-based positive reinforcement TAGteach method of teaching and coaching, becoming popular in the US and around the world.
TAGteach is a ground-breaking teaching technology used for fast-track learning in disciplines ranging from elite athletes, non-verbal children with autism, medical students, dog trainers, corporate training and everything in between. The all-positive tools of TAGteach create a comfortable and secure learning environment for students and teachers of any discipline and any skill level. TAGteach focuses on the success of the trainer and the student to ensure maximum teaching and learning efficiency. This is an exciting development in corporate training, sport coaching, classroom teaching and parenting, which is accessible to everyone who teaches anything to anyone.
“TAGteach is going to change the way I teach for the rest of my career. Without a doubt I would recommend this training to everybody. I like that I don’t have to correct them every time. The students are self-correcting because they either hear the tag or they don’t, which is where the true learning happens”, said Cheryl Anderson – Director of Instruction, Mike Bender Golf Academy, and 2006 National LPGA Teacher of the Year.
“TAGteach has an important future in the treatment of autism and other developmental delays”, said Joseph Morrow, PhD, BCBA-D, President Applied Behavior Consultants Inc. and Professor of Psychology and Behavior Analysis, California State University.
Seminar attendee, Anja Rudolf – University of Applied Science, Ingolstadt, Germany, had this to say about the TAGteach certification seminar, “I thought this was a great seminar, but I had no idea of how it would change my life”.
TAGteach certification will be of interest to teachers, coaches and adult students as well as parents of children with special needs who wish to use positive and precise teaching tools. The 2-day seminars will bring together coaches and teachers from many disciplines to learn from TAGteach Faculty member Anne Wormald.
All registrations & event details are handled through TAGteach International. Please contact them with any questions. Click here to register!
Location and arousal-dependent marker cues are becoming “a thing!” Learn why and how from one of the first trainers to use them in sport. We’ll practice them on each other first, then teach your dogs the difference between at least two different marker cues and explore the possibilities for improving your communication, along with the why.
Have a dog that you want to use tugging or chase to reinforce behaviors? Have a dog that loves to chase but doesn’t love to bring the toy back? Have a dog with excellent toy skills but when you ask for obedience or agility skills, it all deteriorates? This seminar covers how to harness those prey instincts into reinforcement that you can use in training.
These skills are part of an excellent foundation for all dog sports.
Saturday, July 15th & Sunday, July 16th
8AM-4PM
Working Spot: Teams will be chosen through an application process to ensure we have an interesting variety of dogs for auditors. Working attendees must have taken online courses with Shade and/or worked with her in person in the past. Working spots are $400 + tax. Click here to apply.
Auditing Spot: $175 + tax. Click here to register.
About the Instructor: Shade Whitesel
Shade Whitesel has been training and competing in dog sports since she was a kid. Always curious in how dogs learn, she teaches people how to get along with their dogs in all behavior things, as well as competing in the sports of IGP and AKC Obedience.
Though Shade is owned by highly motivated working line German Shepherds and is known currently for her toy skills and marker cues classes (online through Fenzi Dog Sports Academy and in physical seminars), she especially enjoys teaching foundation skills to all manner of dogs and their people. Good training and learning starts at the beginning with clear reinforcement and motivation for both parties.
Sports wise; Shade enjoys IGP (Schutzhund) and AKC obedience. Her current dog Talic, recently entered the AKC scene and scored 3 straight High in Trials earning his CD. He should be ready for the Open level this spring.
Access to Shade can be found at her website and she is on Instagram and Facebook. She currently has a Patreon page “Eye on Ion” that details out how to raise a young sport puppy.