In November 2014, Lisa Trippett of Denton rescued a German Shepard puppy, approximately four or five months old, from the Animal Resource Foundation in Chester. She named him Asher. He was a large puppy, full of energy but, like all puppies, without much self-control or focus. Lisa knew she and Asher would need training. They took Puppy and the Family Dog classes at Talbot Kennel Club (TKC).
“We continued with Family Dog and then on to Focus. In Focus, the dog and handler work on relationship building and other skills to prepare the team for higher level classes,” Lisa explains.
After Focus training, Lisa and Asher began a Beginner Agility training program as well as classes for competition level Obedience, a dog performance activity Lisa had participated in before. Lisa recalled, “After training for some time I was seeing a great improvement in Asher’s behavior, and he was doing very well in all his classes.” The instructors at TKC encouraged Lisa to enter trials where she and Asher earned Obedience Beginner Novice (BN) and Preferred Companion Dog (PCD) titles as well a string of Rally titles up to Rally Excellent (RE).
The Obedience and Rally success set a foundation to build upon, “…giving Asher and me the confidence to move on to Agility training,” Lisa said. “Both Asher and I enjoyed this time together. Before long we began competition Agility training.” Along the way, they also picked up lots of titles in Canine Good Citizen, Trick Dog, Scent Work, and Barn Hunt (Asher’s absolute favorite activity).
But it has been Agility that has crowned Lisa’s and Asher’s development as a team. “We finally got our timing together and started to get those double Qs that we needed to earn an Agility championship: my goal!” The path to that goal was detoured, though, by an injury to Asher that required orthopedic surgery and physical therapy. But just two-and-a-half months after completing the therapy, Asher and Lisa earned a PACH (Preferred Master Agility Champion) title. “Reaching this goal with him after not knowing if he would ever run Agility again made it all the more special,” Lisa said.
Asher now has titles in Obedience, Rally, Scent Work, Barn Hunt and Agility. Lisa said, “He has taught me to never give up on the hard ones and to find amazing instructors who support and encourage you, like those at TKC. The joy of finally reaching your goal is incredible!”
For more information on the training available at Talbot Kennel Club, visit talbotkennelclub.org.
Dog Sports
Canine Good Citizen (CGC) is a certification program that is designed to reward dogs that have good manners at home and in the community.
Agility has dogs racing against a clock as they navigate an obstacle course.
Obedience involves training your dog to walk on- and off-leash, retrieve, jump or stay in place.
Rally involves navigate a course of 10 to 20 different signs. Each of these signs provides instructions regarding the next skill that is to be performed.
Scent Work has dogs search for cotton swabs saturated with different scents hidden out of sight in a pre-determined search area.
Barn Hunt has dogs locate and mark rats (safely held in aerated tubes) hidden in a maze of straw or hay bales.