The public is invited to check out the NASDA Trials hosted by the Nose2Nose Canine Sports Club set to run March 30-31 at Wetaskiwin’s Parkdale School.
Both days kick off at 8:45 a.m. and will feature a range of canine sports competitions.
“People are welcome to come out and watch,” said Maree Okabe, owner of the AusCan Ranch’s Go Walkies & Training Centre in Gwynne, which is located east of Wetaskiwin.
Okabe said that so far, they have about 260 dogs set to take part in the weekend’s competitions.
“We just ask that they don’t bring their pet dogs as it could interfere with some of the dogs during the hunting events.”
As to the event, Okabe said there will certainly be much to enjoy.
“Some people tend to associate canine sport with agility, and the kinds of things you see on TV. But there are a whole bunch of other sports out there people compete in every week with their dogs,” she said.
“The event that we are having over the Easter weekend is called a NASDA (North American Dog Sport Association) event. There are four components to NASDA, and the dogs will be competing in one of those components, or all four. It’s up to the handler as to what they are trying to achieve.
“In the first component, the dogs are searching a 1,000 square-foot area for lost articles that belong to their owners. So it might be that they are looking for their owner’s car keys or gloves, for example.”
The dogs have just two minutes to find the item.
“As the dogs move up into higher levels of this, they aren’t just searching for their owners’ lost items, but someone else’s lost items,” said Okabe.
It all goes back to the fundamentals of man-tracking, and the locating of lost people.
“I’m involved with training the police dog squad, and this is how they start in search and rescue because they are looking for those items that would belong to a human.”
Okabe said the second component of the event — urban locating — involves the searching of buildings including barns, garden sheds, or playgrounds, for example.
In this case, the dogs are on the lookout for gerbils.
“Traditionally, it’s a rat-hunting sport, and this stems back to early in the last century predominantly in New York or England.
“They used to employ people to hunt vermin in warehouses and such, and the people would get paid for the number of vermin they could bring back, so that’s where it goes back to.”
No need to worry about the gerbils being harmed, as they will be in fully protected boxes.
“The dogs absolutely love it, and the gerbils don’t mind it either,” she said.
“They sit up at the front of the box, and they are just waiting for the dogs to come to them. Our gerbils are familiarized with dogs right from birth, so they don’t get scared.”
The third component of the weekend’s events involves having dogs venture out into a large field, where they have to find antlers that have been shed from deer and elk.
And finally, the fourth component of the weekend is that of trail locating.
A particular trail will be sprayed with water mixed with gerbil litter.
The trail itself can wind through areas of bush and trees; it can have dead ends, or it can be crisscrossed with other trails.
The ultimate idea is to have the dogs stick to that original trail, where they will eventually locate a box of gerbils. They have just three minutes to accomplish this task.
Overall, it’s just great to see more dogs taking part in canine sports, she noted.
“It’s growing phenomenally across Canada, and it’s a lot of fun because it gives non-hunting breeds other than scent hounds a chance to participate,” said Okabe.
“We have people doing this with chihuahuas, poodles, Great Danes — virtually any dog of any breed, and we also have a lot of mixed breeds. It’s good because a lot of canine sports won’t allow mixed breeds to participate.”
For Okabe, her passion for dog training was sparked early on.
“I get a kick out of getting the average pet parent into these canine sports because a lot of people think that canine sports are just for show bred dogs. Or that they are just for owners who are breeders.
“But a lot of the people who have come to my facility for training have started participating in these sports, and they love it. It’s like putting your kid into hockey or baseball. A lot of people are now putting their dogs into sports!
“What I also love about canine sport is that anyone can participate. It doesn’t matter if you have no idea what breed your dog is, it’s all about just getting out and having fun with your dog,” she said.
“That is my passion — getting people involved in enriching their dogs’ lives. Once they get into it, there are a whole bunch of people who are real canine sports enthusiasts. It’s a great bunch of people to be involved with, too. It’s a lot of fun.”
Find AusCan Ranch’s Go Walkies & Training Centre on Facebook.