Introducing Spirit Ridge's K9 Crew

Spirit Ridge K9 Training & Rescue

PO Box 70,
Hillsburgh, Ontario, N0B 1Z0

E-mail: jim@spiritridge.net

"...... because sit happens"

The Spirit Ridge K9 Crew!

At Spirit Ridge K9 Training & Rescue, we use our own dogs to demonstrate to clients how pets can double both as companions as well as working dogs. In fact, we consider these two aspects of a dog's life to be complementary as well as necessary for a dog to be 'happy' (we prefer the word "fulfilled") in its life

The picture above shows our K9 crew as of March 21, 2012.

The K9 staff above (depicted from Left to Right along with the titles earned to date) are:

Spirit Ridge's "Zorro" CGN, RNMCL & RNT (CARO), Literacy Assistance Dog - trained in Sport Protection (Schutzhund), Tracking, Obedience and Rally Obedience (rescued in 2002) - 12 years old. Zorro who is now retired, can be seen helping in our Beginner & Intermediate Group Obedience classes and our Rally Obedience classes. In the past, Zorro was also our Tracking 'expert'. His unique temperament and high level obedience also allowed us to use him in situations where we needed to assess clients' dogs who suffered from dog aggression or dominance. In spite being in retirement, the "Z" as we are fond of calling him, still has a high work ethic and enthusiasm when called upon, is a crowd favourite and many still marvel at his youthful enthusiasm and leaping ability when executing a 'left finish' command! As of the summer of 2010, "Zorro" added yet another job in his retirement years. He has also taken up helping out our "Jesse" girl as a Literacy Assistance Dog in our "Paws for Literacy"^® programme as well as passing on his own unique talents to our youngest member of our pack, "Ochi" (in the foreground in this picture).

Spirit Ridge's 'Jesse' (RNMCL, RAMCL, RXMCL, RNT (CARO), ExS Bronze, ExJ Bronze, ExSt Bronze, ExSc Bronze, VBA, MADC, MSDC, MJDC, MSCDC, MRTDC, AADC, ADC, AGDC, SGDC (AAC), AGIJ, AGN, AGNJ, RN - H.I.T. (CKC), HIC, Literacy Assistance Dog): Our "Jesse" girl is the 'throwaway' dog that no one wanted. Found wandering the streets of Uxbridge by Animal Control Services back in 2006, we rescued her and immediately fell in love with her work ethic. At an estimated 1 year of age at the time, she quickly bonded with our K9 pack and within a few weeks, we had made the decision to keep her. That proved to be one of the wisest choices we had ever made. Jesse not only showed an aptitude in Obedience but also gradually eased her way into agility training. Jesse has since earned numerous competition titles (in both Agility & Rally Obedience) and is now our Agility K9 'expert' who helps us out in our agility classes. Her rock solid temperament has also made her a crowd favourite at agility trials where many handlers ask to use her as a dog distraction when working their own dogs in obedience around her. In addition to being a valued member of our K9 pack, Jesse likes to spend time playing and competing in agility trials with her border collie buddy "Cooper". Not to mention that she is the 'mother' of our pack and brought along 'Sonic' from the day he arrived here at 8 weeks of age and is now "training" our youngest "Ochi" in doggy etiquette rules. "Jesse" also helps out (along with Zorro) as a Literacy Assistance Dog in our "Paws for Literacy"^® programme.

N' Sonic Boom Van Arek: RNMCL, RNT, RAMCL, RAT, RXMCL, CRB, CRS (CARO), CD, AGN, RN, RA, RE (CKC), HT (AKC), HIC: 'Sonic' (Boom) is the youngest of our K9 crew and the most 'enthusiastic'. It is said that he is unfamiliar with the word 'slow' - hence his name which was aptly given to him. At 4 years of age in January 2012, he is the youngest of our crew and has taken over the duties from our beloved 'Zorro' who officially retired at the age of 12. He is used regularly in all our Obedience, Rally Obedience classes, has shown his prowess in the Rally Obedience competition ring achieving perfect 200/200 scores in two runs one at the Excellent level. In June 2011 and with minimal practice, Sonic also earned his first Novice standard CKC Agility title (AGN). Being the versatile dog that he is, Sonic also made his debut in the sheep herding arena earning his first AKC HT certificate on July 24, 2011 and also assists us in training clients' dogs in our indoor search/scent work classes. He is only the second purchased puppy by us in the last 12 years as we normally keep rescued dogs that we think can help us with our sanctuary and classes. Sonic's unique talent is that he is exceptional in helping us assess clients' dogs behavioural problems as he will totally ignore another dog's aggressive tendencies when he is 'on the job'.

Spirit Ridge's 'Ochi': RNMCL, RNT (CARO) (born October 1, 2011 - rescued and adopted Dec 20, 2011 from S. Carolina): "Ochi" is our most recent arrival @ Spirit Ridge and our puppy-in-training. For more background info on 'Ochi' please follow this link.

Pictures of the Spirit Ridge crew can be found here .....

For competition, training and fun videos / slideshows for our K9 "crew" click here.....