[ Post a Response | Chicagoland Working Dogs ]
Posted by Kevin Walsh
on 5/7/2008, 4:24 pm
YOU'RE NEXT! 
I finally got through all the photos from the Training/Certification weekend hosted by Windy City Working Dogs out at Mike Pulford's K9 Country In Hinckley.
I've included LOTS of photos for two reasons. First, to give everyone a chance to see themselves or their dogs in a couple action sequences and at rest. Second, I wanted to tell a photo story of what happens at one of these events, from start to finish. For anyone who has the time and endurance to go through at least the thumbnails, you'll see that there are brief periods of instruction and critique spaced between lots and lots of learning by doing. No decoys or dogs were injured all weekend, in all the activity you see. That's saying a lot, considering the varying degrees of experience present. I only saw two dogs slip off the bite, and they immediately and aggressively re engaged the decoy, under strong pressure.
If you are a decoy whose idea of fun is testing yourself by testing dogs, you should check out one of these events. Grab your suit and a bottle of aspirin and sign up! Even if you're just interested in PSA, it's a great way to learn about the rules and what's expected of the guys who might be catching your dog.
Thanks again to everyone who traveled so far to make the weekend a success, to Melinda and Paul for organizing, and Mike for being such a great host.
The dog up top is Ghostface Killa. GDT, IDT3, CGC, IDWP1, IDWP2, UPF1, UPF2, PDC, TC, PSA1 guarding newly certified PSA decoy James King(Ghost also guarding yours truly).
Anyone interested in prints can obtain them directly from the smugmug site.
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