Ascension Canine Training

https://youtu.be/ZRL3sobKP9w

Tara and Vino have recently started their online training module with me and are rocking it. I am looking forward to watching this team grow into tracking machines 🐕‍🦺

Already in just a handful of sessions Vino is tracking off leash over 200m with corners. Dogs are born able to do this.

GAK9 Australia - Vino - Modified Fire Trail - 04 Aug 24 Vino is handled by Tara and are going through my online training module.We have done some in person training during a recent workshop, and this video is the ...

Working spot available at the GAK9 tracking workshop in Bendigo, run over 9-12 August.

The working spot is for a handler and their dog and can be of any level of experience. I limit my workshops to six of these positions to ensure handlers get maximum time with their dog working. There is hardly a moment that goes by without a dog in action on my workshops.

DM me to secure this rare opportunity - this is my only workshop in VIC for 2024.

The GAK9 system is a natural training method using a dog's innate scent tracking skills.

Every dog uses their nose from the moment they are born and do so initially to find their mother’s teat for milk. These are skills that are ingrained in dogs at birth and cannot be reproduced by humans.

The philosophy of GAK9 is that we cannot train a dog to track because they already have this ability from the moment they crawl, shortly after birth.

On the contrary, human interpretation of this ability is often biased and many training styles are often contradictory to the tracking instinct of Canines.

Our job as a dog handler is to harness this natural ability and teach the dog to track in a variety of environments and stay focused on one target at a time; olfactory discrimination.

These fundamental ideas lead us to training styles where we ‘teach without teaching’ and enable the dog to learn through self-discovery.

There are no articles for the purpose of offering reinforcement along the way or dropped toys lying in wait at the end of a track.

In the GAK9 system we train with a human always at the end of the track (unless it's a car pick up), and in this way, we build up a dog to be fully capable of finding people in the real world in the most efficient way possible.

We talk about tracking development in days, not months, and the double blind testing criteria GAK9 certifications use proves it works.

📷 &J Wikner Photography

Gaston's first time in the snow ❄️

I think it's fair to say he loved it!

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

The four day GAK9 tracking workshop in Canberra is complete!

This was a really fun workshop with fantastic people, and a diverse array of dogs which displayed all the ways dogs learn at various stages of development in the art of tracking humans for real.

Thank you to all he participants for giving it their all and working hard over the four days to knock out 126 individual fire trails, modified fire trails and full on tracks aged of up to an hour, across different environments. It was a fast paced and energetic workshop with fantastic results across the board.

Thank you as well to Jay for coming out and laying tracks; you're help and presence makes these workshops even better.

Finally, there were more people in attendance, but they were a little camera shy.

📷 &J Wikner Photography

GAK9 Australia workshop in Canberra day 1 done!

My daughter tagged along and was an absolute legend who was just happy to hang with me and squeal at all the cute dogs running around.

Thanks as usual to Jay for being a legend and great friend for being there and laying tracks (and getting me my lunch while I was doing a site recce for another tracking location).

Today we managed to fit in a mix of fire trails, modified fire trails, and some proper tracks. All tolled - 48 individual hit outs. Not bad for a single day's worth of tracking.

I recently conducted a GAK9 workshop in Dubbo which had fantastic teams in attendance.

There was a wide range of dogs, from a wonderful hound who was born to track, through to a crazy Springer Spaniel that had more go in it than most Belgian Malinois, and everything in between.

Some of the dogs had prior training using article methods, which was fun as adding a human at the end of track generated some interesting behaviours when dogs hit the odour pool at the end. This highlighted the need for when training dogs to find people for real - you need to actually track and find people not just articles.

There were also some interesting technical skills worked on like back tracks, deliberately contaminated starts, and how to train starting a track from fixed items like fences.

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

Odour pools encountered by dogs trained without the use of a human at the end of a track (such as washer method etc) are always interesting.

In this video, you'll see the track layer at the end, but Wilfred (who's just learning to work odour pools) works the entire edge of the pool before finding his way in.

The overlay really shows how significant even a 20 minute old odour pool can be. Imagine what a few hours looks like and the skill a dog would need....

GAK9 Australia - Wilfred - Mantrailing - 07 Jul 24 Dog handler Stewart and K9 WilfredRunner - Jay QuinnTrack Length - 260mTrack Age - 20minTrail Time - 3min 57secGAK9 Trainer - Jeremy WiknerDate - 14 Jul 24Lo...

GAK9 Australia workshops are fun!

It is a real rush when your dog hunts down and finds the track layer; the sense of accomplishment both human and dog alike get from this is incredible.

I love putting these workshops on and am always so pleased with the amazing people from all walks of life who come attend. From Police and SAR dog handlers through to retirees and fellow dog trainers.

I enjoy the variety of people and the variety of dogs. If all dogs and humans were the same it'd get pretty borong really fast!

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

Working spot now available at the upcoming Canberra GAK9 workshop running 26-29 July.

To secure this spot, slide on into my DMs. This will be a great workshop with a really interesting mix of dogs in attendance.

🎶Drop it like it's hot 🎶

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

The GAK9 workshop in New Zealand is done!

Four days of tracking. SIx dogs. 97 tracks. Two certifications. Tracks aged between 5 minutes and 2 hours. Terrain varied from bushland through to suburbia.

I love coming to New Zealand and delivering these GAK9 workshops. The people are great, dogs even better, and the terrain is beyond stunning.

Thank you to Josh McDuff and Jay Quinn for coming over with me and spending most of their time sitting in the bush waiting for the dogs to hunt them down. Thank you as well to Ezra King for chaufering us around NZ and to and from the workshop locations.

I look forward to returning in 2025. I am already planning workshops next year in some challenging locations. Make sure you are on the wait list to ensure you you have a chance at getting on a workshop.

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

Day 3 of the GAK9 Workshop in New Zealand.

Today saw a Field Specialist Certification achieved. All the dogs are doing incedibly well overall; they vary in age and breed, yet the level of intellect and drive is remarkably even and impressive.

Tracking in suburban areas, advancing to cold start tracks for the new dogs, and pushing track ages out were all covered today with great results across for all.

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

The second day of GAK9 workshop in New Zealand is done, with two more to go.

The dogs are loving the experience, the handlers are tired, and I am incredibly pleased with the progress being made by all. It is a pretty fantastic cohort of dogs in attendance, all are highly intelligent and capable.

I am also lucky to have two great fellow Aussies alongside me laying the hardest and oldest tracks; Jay and Josh. Without these two we wouldn't be quite as far as we are.

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

Day 1 of the GAK9 Tracking workshop in New Zealand 🇳🇿

I'm back for the second time this year, and it's great to see some old faces as well as new ones.

Today has been about identifying how the dogs are performing after the last workshop, as well as imprinting the brand new additions to this fun work.

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

All dogs can track - even Pugs (or in this case, a 'Jug').

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

Andy and Omar

The first team to officially achieve the GAK9 Field Expert certification in Australia. The Field Expert track is aged two hours, and conducted under double blind conditions (no one, not even the assessor knows where the track is). These two are an exceptional team.

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

Gaston 🐕‍🦺

At the recent Sunshine Coast workshop I brought Gaston with me so he could get some sustained work in during the workshop breaks. In doing so he managed to get his Field Specialist certification as well as do some other great tracks.

He is a great example of what this system produces. He solved his first stairway to heaven track with great skill, and he cut a night track in half by detecting the track layer's odour pool - exactly what you want when tracking people for real.

Also worth mentioning that there were fresh kangaroo cross tracks over most of these tracks we did. Gaston only had an issue on track 1 then was clean for the rest.

Did you know you can start tracking at eight weeks old?

As the GAK9 system is based on working with the dogs' natural abilities and doesn't use any adversive techniques to force the dog to do anything, it actually helps create a well balanced and confident dog.

Ellis, photographed at my recent workshop on the Sunshine Coast, became a very bold little puppy after a few days training with me. Not bad for just 8 weeks of age!

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

The first working dog I raised, Dirk, is still serving in the Australian Army. I couldn't be prouder of him 🐕‍🦺

Gaston and Wren 🥰

These two are fast becoming best friends. Wren is extremely resilient to his barking and wrestling; she just giggles. Gaston equally copes very well with Wren's lack of awareness of what is appropriate in terms of patting a dog.

She's a lucky girl to have a dog who's well trained in apprehension, muzzle fighting, obedience and tracking.

📷 O&J Wikner Photography

Stairway to heaven 🪽

Gaston recently conducted a simple track with a complex problem in the middle - a spiral pattern created by the track layer as a deliberate way to try and confuse the dog on the track.

Gaston had never done a track like this before and solved the problem with fantastic accuracy.

GAK9 Australia - Gaston - Mantrailing - Stairway to heaven Stairway to heaven track.This is one of several lessons the dog needs to learn to be able to effectively hunt an individual employing counter tracking techni...