Bow Wow Seminars are presented by the talented Virginia Broitman. In addition to speaking at private training clubs and humane societies around the country, Virginia has also presented at APDT, ClickerExpo, and the P.A.W.S. service dog training conferences. Virginia is also the producer of the Bow Wow series of dog training videos, the most recent of which, The How of Bow Wow, won the 2004 Maxwell Award for Training and Behavior Video.
One of the many advantages of having a teacher like Virginia is the ability to accommodate larger groups and still make the seminars very "hands-on." Most of Virginia's presentations are working seminars, where attendees and their dogs participate in training segments throughout the day, practicing the elements that Virginia demonstrates with video or on stage. Working groups of dog handler teams (max 50/day), Virginia elegantly structure a fantastic day of hands-on learning with dog-handler teams.
The Bow Wow format is flexible enough, however, to also be stimulating and educational for large groups (>100) . Using on stage demonstrations, videos, and small space exercises, they create a memorable day.
Virginia can speak to two audiences: Dog enthusiast audiences as found in dog clubs and training classes OR audiences of professional dog trainers who make their living teaching dog training. For the latter, Virginia concentrates on advanced skill building and teaching clicker training to others in group classes.
Virginia is also very open to tailoring a one- or two-day program customized to suit your group's needs. Just share with us what topics you'd like to have covered for your audience.
Below, you'll find an example agenda and descriptions for two of the most popular curriculums for pet enthusiasts:
How of Bow Wow: Foundations to Fluency
How of Bow Wow: How'd you do THAT? Tricks That Help You Master the Trade
How of Bow Wow Seminar Series:
Foundation to Fluency
Beginning with a quick review of clicker training skills, this seminar focuses on teaching the important "building block" behaviors that should be part of every dog's repertoire, whether they are family pets, canine athletes, therapy dogs, or assistance dogs. A variety of common behavioral problems will be covered, with an emphasis on solutions using positive reinforcement. Time is also reserved for some fun trick training segments. Various techniques for "getting" the behaviors will be discussed, with an emphasis on shaping behaviors. Also covered: how to ignore distractions in all types of environments; building duration into the skills; and working at a distance from the handler.
- An overview of clicker training
- Maximizing the power of rewards
- Introduction to foundation skills, such as:
- Attention and basic obedience cues
- Leave it
- Go settle on a mat
- Loose-leash walking
- Polishing behaviors to a fluent level
- Adding distractions, duration, and distance
- Build on foundation skills with fun tricks, such as:
- Touch
- Take a bow
- Hide your nose
- Back up
- Cross your paws
- Find the treat
- Crawl
How of Bow Wow Seminar Series:
How'd you do THAT? Tricks That Help You Master the Trade
Tricks represent a legitimate training effort that can challenge and enhance our training skills. Dogs don't know the difference between tricks and "serious" obedience skills so tricks provide the fun we crave to help balance out our more serious training efforts.
This working seminar is for people and friendly dogs that are well-versed in the basics of clicker training and already have some basic trick training on their dogs. Some helpful prerequisite skills would include: basic obedience (sit, down, stay, off); touch; go to a target location; take and hold an item in the mouth.
The goal of this seminar is to increase the TRAINER'S versatility, enhance your creativity and problem-solving skills by learning how to teach the same trick multiple ways (with demonstrations from audience dogs), increase the DOG'S versatility, experiment with the clicker, and hone your timing and shaping skills in the "safe haven" of trick training.
A variety of advanced tricks will be covered, including skills centered on carrying objects:
- Cleaning up toys or throwing away garbage
- Carrying objects to another person
- Games like ring toss or horse shoes
- Limp and leg-lift
- Two-dog tricks, including the "biscuit toss"
- Turning lights on/off (various approaches and equipment)
- Scent discrimination (human and other scents)
- Games for teaching the basics of Search & Rescue
- Tricks that incorporate props
Topics include:
- Lateral thinking/analyzing difficult skills and finding a variety of training solutions
- Behavior chains, and breaking up skills into small steps
- Working at a distance from your dog
- Fluency
- Tricks for TV/film/print work
- How to use tricks to solve behavioral problems
- Using tricks in your classes
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