Other (tricks, frisbee, herding)

TRICKS: We like to do tricks mainly because they are soo much fun but they are also useful at the same time. They set up a huge groundwork for just about any serious training you can imagine, they can take care for your dog’s fitness and mental development. It doesn’t take much to train them, just clicker, 2 square meters and lots of imagination.

Learning new stuff is for sure the favorite activity for my little brainiac Šja. She just loves to think, and she is crazily proud on herself when she figures out the solution to the shaping problem in question. At first I had the impression that dogs are only cooperating to get snacks, but she made me realize that they just love the challenge of the game. They are sort of like those people who like to solve crosswords or sodoku. Of course some are more talented than others. If Šja is one of those guys who will rather die than live the crossword unfinished, Šaj is one of those who will tear the newspaper to little peaces and stuff it deep down in thrash bean after the first little problem she bumps into. And Kiša – well she is the one who wants to solve all at once while cleaning the kitchen. But the bottom of line is – they all like doing it and despite their different approach, they are all getting better and better at it.

FRISBEE: Well what do we have here…? Polona who cannot really throw well and 2 maniacs who would die for Frisbee, so we are keeping it on a recreational level at the moment. Hopefully I will have enough time someday to practice throwing, because I really enjoy seeing good freestyle performances, and someday I would really like to make one.

I have no doubt in my mind, that my dogs are really talented for Frisbee, but Kiša proved that this summer – while I was enjoying on the seaside, my friend Petra took her to a Frisbee competition, where she won mini distance challenge and was 4th in time trial. Yeap I really have to learn how to throw…

HERDING: To tell you the truth – if I had a little house of my own with lots of space around – I would have sheep for sure, and herding just might be pretty much the only thing we would do. I love to do it and my dogs as well, but sadly we do not have many opportunities for serious training, because there are no appropriate sheep and/or instructor in a close proximity of our home. So whenever we have a chance we drive to Bjelovar and try to learn as much as we can. Big thanks to Alen (kennel Mawlch) and Branko from Bartolovi dvori for all your help!

SEARCH AND RESCUE: I first started to train Kiša to search for missing persons mainly because I am a really bad babysitter. Well it is not as bad as it sounds, I am not loosing kids on a regular basis, I just don’t really know how to play with them, so once when I didn’t know what to do with my little cousins, we started to play Kommissar Rex. Choosing which dog is suitable for that honorable role was not difficult at. Since little Šja is afraid of her own shadow and Šaj couldn’t care less for anyone but me, Kiša was the obvious choice, and before I knew it, she was able to find “criminals” no matter in which hole they were hiding. I think that would probably be the highlight of her “searching” career if I didn’t get a call from Tanja asking me If I would participate on a search and rescue competition which was part of 1 Croatian Sheepdog Working Championship. I said – “why not” and transform the two “vicious criminals” into a very skilled decoys. Matej and Nina, thank you very much for your help on trainings.

Sadly search and rescue isn’t just another sport, it is a way of life and in the moment I don’t really plan to change mine, but who knows what the future holds…