Workshops

In our “Nose & Scent” course, everything revolves around the detection of various specific scents. Your dog learns to find a specific scent, regardless of whether it is hidden in a wide variety of containers, from cans to suitcases, in a meadow or in vehicles. Improving the use of a dog’s nose and detection of various scents is a great skill for your dog to learn and stimulates intellectual development as well as fostering good communication between dog and owner.

Our own body language as dog owers is often unclear or even contradicting. When communicationg (not only) with our dogs, this often leads to misunderstandings. Therefore, this course focuses on body language and timing aspects of communication. Body Language Circle Training is good mental and physical stimulation for your dog and enhances the bond between you both.

Many dogs have difficulty controlling themselves. This mini workshop is designed for these dogs. In various steps, the dogs will learn to control themselves better. The participating human-dog teams will start to learn together how to stay calm!

This mini Workshop is about having fun and learning together. Accompanied by music, we will work on various basic tricks from a simple "slalom through the legs" to "jump into my arms". The workshop will be tailored to suit the respective participants and their skill levels. But we start with the basics. At the same time you learn to understand your dog's body language and to motivate him even when facing distractions. Learning to do tricks together will strengthen the relationship and trust between you and your dog, and at the end of the workshop, you will master a few new tricks as a team. At Martha & Friends, we only work with positive reinforcement. A clicker and small soft treats are used as training aids.

This mini workshop on Clicker Training is about rediscovering the joy of working with your dog, understanding your dog better and being a greater support to him while learning. After this workshop you will be full of ideas on how to work with your your dog and a clicker. There are many positive side effects hidden behind clicker training. The joint work, where fun is in the foreground, promotes the relationship between man and dog and contributes significantly to a better relationship. At the same time it is a great way to strengthen the attention and focus of the dog and to improve his skills. It promotes bonding and generally makes your dog generally more attentive to you.
We will use the clicker to train some new tricks!

The pandemic and working from home presents dog owners with new challenges. We all know of the zoom calls interrupted by the antics of the dog, and of the issues that so many have had to face should they have to be quarantined.
We would like to help you devise a program to keep your dog entertained despite having to stay inside and while you are working. We help you discover which activities your dog enjoys most, and discuss how your normal routines with your dog are likely to change – and how to cope with these changes.

Every dog owner would like to have an attentive dog by their side. Because if your dog is only focused on external stimuli, it is extremely difficult to communicate with him.

In this course, with a limited number of participants, we focus on improving concentration and attentiveness to you, i.e. the dog should learn to focus more on his owner or handler, and to do this willingly. You will also learn how to get back your dog’s attention when he has been distracted. This is not just about giving a command: it is about a combination of factors which you both will be working on to improve concentration and communication between you as a team.

Like us, every dog has it's own unique personality. For a close relationship and better understanding between you and your dog it's important to know more about your dog's personality. If you know who your dog is it's also much easier to find personal way how to teach and train your dog. This workshop starts with a discussion on the theory about dog personalities. Afterwards we'll learn more about the personalities from the participating dogs. We'll do some tests with them and work out how unique their characters are.

Target object search or ZOS® (in German Zielobjektsuche) is derived from the detection dog work carried out by police dogs. It is an outstanding discipline for all dogs, and the aim is for the dog to sniff out a pre-conditioned search object in a hiding place, and then to mark its location and thus show its handler where the object is. This to be done calmly and as close as possible to the hiding place.

ZOS® increases bonding between dog and handler:
• The dog's main sensory organ is its nose. Here, he can develop his olfactory skills.
• The focus is on social communication and cooperation between human and dog.
• The nervous, hyperactive dog finds a better sense of calm through focus and concentration on the task at hand.
• Insecure and anxious dogs gain more self-confidence and sense of security.
• The intense focus and concentration by the dog is a more intense exercise for the dog than with pure physical exertion. ZOS® affects a dog‘s entire organism due to the intense effort of concentrating and coordinating the brain and nasal work.
• ZOS® is easy to learn and can be practiced almost anywhere, and by all dogs. It is great fun for dogs!

THE WORKSHOP
The workshop is an introduction to the world of target object search: Theoretical foundations, practical examples, conditioning on the search object.

ABOUT SIMONE ADAM
I have lived with dogs and other animals since I was a child. In 2011, I discovered ZOS® and was immediately fascinated by this type of nose work. Shortly after that, I started competing in the discipline. Since then, I have been intensively educating myself under the guidance of the developers of ZOS®, Ina and Thomas Baumann. In 2019, I became a certified ZOS® license trainer for family dogs and a ZOS® Sport license candidate.
I speak Luxembourgish, German, French and English.

What do you need for the course
• A clicker;
• Food reward (small, soft treats, cheese cubes, pieces of sausage, ...);
• Search object (a wooden clothes peg, eraser, sturdy leather strip, ...).
Clicker and treats you can also buy in our Martha & Friends boutique.

Please note: This course is in GERMAN.