Do you have a dog who might need a little extra training? What about working to get them certified as a therapy dog? Instructor, Jo Downing, offers it all! Want to know a little more about Jo?
Jo developed a love of animals at a young age, growing up with dogs, horses and a variety of other farm animals. In recent years, building on the experience and training with her dogs, she has trained/competed/titled multiple dogs in multiple venues, in Rally Obedience, Agility, Obedience, Fast Cat, Rally FrEe, Barn Hunt, Herding and doing Therapy Dog work. Her commitment to educating dog owners has led her passion on K9Fitness and Conditioning work.
Jo has been teaching a variety of basic manners, CGC/Therapy Dog, Agility, Rally, Tricks and K9 Fitness classes for over 10 years. She believes very much in "training the dog in front of you" and loves to troubleshoot skills and training needs of the teams she works with. In addition to helping individual pet owners with their training needs, Jo also works with Goochland Pet Lovers, providing training and guidance to the staff and volunteers of the Goochland Animal Shelter. The goal of this training is to allow the shelter dogs to be able to learn some usable skills, in turn making them more adoptable and more successful in their expected new homes.
When Jo is not helping others with their training needs or training her own dogs, she's busy working on her farm, that houses sheep, a mini-hereford steer named Sebastian and her flock of chickens. She shares the farm with her 4 Australian Shepherds: Houdini (12), Choo (9), Orion (4) and Khord (18 months).
Jo’s certifications include: UT-CCFT (Certified Canine Fitness Trainer), AKC CGC Evaluator, AKC Tricks Evaluator, ATD Tester/Observer, DMWYD Certified Trick Dog Instructor/evaluator and AKC Farm Dog Judge.
CGC/Therapy Dog Prep Class
This class will guide experienced teams through the exercises of the AKC CGC test and exercises of the Alliance of Therapy Dog test. Teams should be well established in training for this class, and have an understanding of the skills required for the CGC and Therapy Dog tests. Discussion and practical execution of the skills will be the main focus of this class. Teams will have the option for testing for CGC and/or Therapy Dog at the end of the session.
September 14-October 20
$135
CHS Gym Classroom
HELP! My Dog Has Hit the Teenage Phase!
This class is ideal for dogs who are 10+ months of age, who have a little bit of training, but perhaps need a clean up of training skills, or help getting started, or trouble shooting new behaviors that have shown up as the puppies hit the dreaded teenager phase! Once foundations are established, teams will begin to be challenged with distractions, new settings and new skills!
September 12-October 19
CHS Gym Classroom
$135
HELP! My Dog is a Pre-Teen!
This class is geared towards dogs who are 6-10 months of age, who are beyond the puppy stage and have perhaps had a little training, but may just be starting on their training journey. Eye contact, handler focus, name recognition, recall, de-jumping, counter surfing, impulse control and leash walking will be the focus skills of this class, appropriate to the age of the dogs enrolled.
September 13-October 18
CHS Gym Classroom
$135
Help! My Dog is a Teenager III
In this class, we will take the skills learned in Teenager I and II and put them to the test. Teams will see a variety of challenges and distractions, new situations in the world and learn how to work through those more challenging scenarios.
September 12- October 17
CHS Gym Classroom
$135
K9: Intro to Canine Fitness
Did you know that keeping your dog fit and healthy can help extend your dogs life AND improve their quality of life? In this class, teams will start learning baseline fitness foundation skills, how to work a K9 fitness program and other ways to keep your pup fit and healthy!! There will be a few pieces of equipment needed for teams to acquire - details will be provided the first week of class
September 13-October 18
CHS Gym Classroom
$135
Puppy 101
This class is geared towards young puppies, approximately 4-8 months of age. During this class, we will discuss guidelines for setting your puppy up for success, begin work on foundation training components, troubleshooting puppyhood!, beginning of leash work for loose leash walking, name recognition, body handling, impulse control and much more!
September 13-October 18
CHS Gym Classroom
$135
Introductions to Tricks for Pups!
Tricks is a fantastic way to do some continued training and engaging with your pup! In this class teams will learn various training methods, used to teach a variety of tricks. Tricks learned will be from the Novice and Intermediate trick lists from either/or AKC or Do More With Your Dog. Trick titles may be tested for and earned at the end of the 6 week session!!
September 15-October 20
CHS Gym Classroom
$135
