At last, what you’ve all been waiting for, the schedule of seminars taught by Mary Ellen Barry here at Quicksilver in November 2023. First, in case you aren’t already familiar with this excellent competitor and teacher, here are a few words about her. if you have not worked with her before, I and many others cannot recommend her highly enough.
Mary Ellen has been participating in agility for 27 years and has been involved in all aspects of the sport including: training, competing, teaching, coaching and judging. She is a 3 time member of the IFCS team, a 5 time member of the WAO team and is currently the coach of the WAO Team USA. She has won multiple medals on the national and international stage at WAO, IFCS, Cynosports, and the US Open. She began judging in 2018 and her courses have shown to be fast and flowing for the dog, yet challenging to the handler. She lives in Norristown PA with her 4 border collies and runs a full time agility business, KineticDog, LLC which offers training and competition events.
Schedule of seminars offered:
- Thursday November 9
- Layering – 12:30 – 4:00 pm – 7 working spots, $150. FULL – To be put on waiting list email Leerie.
Learn how to layer easily using effective lines of motion and where to look! Sequences will also include either/or options so your dog knows when to come in towards you vs when to layer. - Deceleration – 5:00 – 8:30 pm – 7 working spots, $150.FULL – To be put on waiting list email Leerie.
Whether your dog is fast, doesn’t like turning or is undermotivated, this is a much-needed skill for all agility competitors. Most agility courses consist of many more turns than straight lines and most of these turns need deceleration skills. While it may seem like a basic skill, deceleration is often underutilized and misunderstood. In this workshop, you will learn why, when, and how to use deceleration. We will cover the elements of handling including connection, footwork, timing, and your dog’s response to your cues. We will cover the differences between the rhythm change, send, and turning into your dog. We will start with very short sequences and progress to 10-12 obstacles of jumps and tunnels only.
- Layering – 12:30 – 4:00 pm – 7 working spots, $150. FULL – To be put on waiting list email Leerie.
- Friday November 10
- Beginning Discrimination Skills – 12:00 – 4:00 pm – 7 working spots, $150. FULL – To be put on waiting list email Leerie.
This workshop will focus on how to teach your dog common discriminations of 2-3 obstacles in close proximity to each other. This workshop is geared towards training the discriminations on mainly verbal cues with very little handling involved. Dogs should already have some understanding of verbal cues. - Walking Agility – 5:00 – 8:30 pm – 7 working spots, $150. FULL – To be put on waiting list email Leerie
Stop rushing! You will only be allowed to walk – no running. The purpose of this is to help you slow down your mind so that you can focus on reading your dog and giving handling cues at the correct time versus always running to try to “get there.”
- Beginning Discrimination Skills – 12:00 – 4:00 pm – 7 working spots, $150. FULL – To be put on waiting list email Leerie.
- Saturday November 11
- Advanced Discrimination Skills – 12:00 – 4:00 pm – 7 working spots, $150. FULL – To be put on waiting list email Leerie
This workshop will focus on how to teach your dog more difficult discriminations of 2-3 obstacles in close proximity to each other. This workshop is geared towards training the discriminations on mainly verbal cues with very little handling involved. Dogs should already have an understanding of verbal cues. Weaves will likely be included but can be skipped for younger dogs. - Introduction to International Skills – 5:00 – 8:30 pm – 7 working spots, $150. FULL – To be put on waiting list email Leerie
Your dog has some good traditional agility skills, maybe is titled in AKC or CPE, but you’d like to try UKI. This session will show you how to train the “fancy moves,” and get greater obstacle commitment.
- Advanced Discrimination Skills – 12:00 – 4:00 pm – 7 working spots, $150. FULL – To be put on waiting list email Leerie
- Sunday November 12
- Deceleration – 9:00 am – 12:30 pm – 7 working spots, $150. FULL – To be put on waiting list email Leerie
Whether your dog is fast, doesn’t like turning or is undermotivated, this is a much-needed skill for all agility competitors. Most agility courses consist of many more turns than straight lines and most of these turns need deceleration skills. While it may seem like a basic skill, deceleration is often underutilized and misunderstood. In this workshop, you will learn why, when, and how to use deceleration. We will cover the elements of handling including connection, footwork, timing, and your dog’s response to your cues. We will cover the differences between the rhythm change, send, and turning into your dog. We will start with very short sequences and progress to 10-12 obstacles of jumps and tunnels only. - Distance Skills – 1:30 – 5:00 pm – 7 working spots, $150. FULL – To be put on waiting list email Leerie.
Being successful at agility is not always about “running fast”… it’s about giving the dog the information it needs in a timely manner and training them to be able to do it regardless of your position. The focus of this workshop is to improve teams’ communication at a distance. Using sequences, you will find out what your dog can do, what needs improvement and how to handle your dog from a distance.
- Deceleration – 9:00 am – 12:30 pm – 7 working spots, $150. FULL – To be put on waiting list email Leerie
Unlimited audit spots, $75 per session. $90 for auditing both sessions in a single day. For any questions email Deb Norman.
Payment
Upon being accepted into the session, you will receive a confirmation email and invoice. This is how you know you’ve gotten into the session. Please pay using the invoice, or you can send check or money order to:
Quicksilver Canine
4620 Hale Rd
Climax NC 27233
Registration
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