Training moves into Autumn

The hot weather continues but with a little less enthusiasm and an anticipation that the cooler days are not too far away. Dogs are much more comfortable in the cooler weather and generally more attentive and ready to learn.

Our March Foundation Class is now well underway. However, there will not be a Foundation Class in April. There has already been a public holiday for the King's birthday in March and there will be two long weekends in April. Our club does not meet on long weekends, in order to give our instructors a break and also because many members take the opportunity to take the Sunday off. Because of the missed sessions, particularly in April, we have decided not to have an intake in April. So our next Foundation Class will start on the first Sunday in May (with the usual compulsory Induction Session anticipated to be the Wednesday evening before the Sunday). We apologize that this delay will cause potential new members and their dogs to have to wait an extra month before commencing training. There is usually a waiting period of at least a month for new members to join our Foundation class so if you are interesting in being part of the May intake it is best to get your registration form in promptly.

Our Foundation classes aim to give new members a really good start to their training experience with the Foundation classes focusing on the very basics of positive reinforcement training. New members are usually in in the Foundation class for around 4 weeks, however, with the short training month in April new members would only have had 2 weeks in that class. While the exercises covered in Foundation Class are the basics of Class 1 and there is an automatic transition from Foundation Class to Class 1 at the end of the month, Foundation Classes are usually significantly smaller than Class 1 and there is a focus on learning the very basics, such as use of the 'bridge word' and the importance of the timing of its use.

At KODTC we aim to provide an excellent dog training experience and hence we are always looking for motivated members who would like to join our instructors. Rob, our Training Manager is currently looking at breaking instructor training down to a series of modules which will make it is easier for interested members to dip their toes into learning how to help with training classes. The idea is that interested members would initially focus on one class level and be very supported in learning how to assist in teaching at that particular level.

If anyone is interested in learning more please talk to one of our instructors or a committee member in the kiosk.