EDUCAN Sports Club

Agility

What is Agility?

Agility is the speed sport par excellence. Led by their respective handlers and staying connected with them dogs must go through an obstacle course in a race for both time and accuracy.

What are the benefits of Agility?

Agility improves physical form and coordination in dogs and handlers alike, thereby improving their rapport and affective relationship.

It is the best option to learn to interpret dog language and to teach your dog to understand yours.

In addition, Agility is a self-reinforcing activity for dogs if practiced well. Thus you will no longer need to resort to treats, letting dogs run and jump will suffice to make them happy.

Who can practice it?

Any person with any dog, both in good health, can enjoy the practice of Agility, provided that the physical demands and the progression rate are appropriately adapted to the individual morphological and temperamental traits of the dog. At EDUCAN we teach you how to do it.

Why at EDUCAN?

Agility can be exciting and amusing but its practice may also potentially create stress. Therefore, it is crucial to train in a way that takes the good part while leaving out the bad moves.

At EDUCAN we are specialists with regard to emotional management and through Agility we can help dogs improve their self-control, their ability to generate calmed emotional states, their self confidence, as well as their trust in their respective handler as the social reference that assists them in succeeding.

We will help you out so that your dog becomes an athlete who teams up with you also while working.

French Ring Dog Protection

What is French Ring?

French ring is probably the most complex canine protection sport, judging such complexity from tactical and strategic considerations. It is also the canine sport featuring the most difficult jumps for dogs like the so-called “stake”. Led by their human companions dogs perform obedience, jumps and bite-work with helpers wearing a full body protection suit.

What are the benefits of practicing French Ring?

French ring is composed of widely different exercises and the benefits of its practice bear a connection with the nature of each one of these activities:

• The Protection work: Dogs learn to connect and to use their cognitive abilities in extremely difficult conditions and subject to very intense emotions, thus improving their emotional intelligence and learning to keep connected with you in situations of extreme arousal. It will also improve the dog’s self control.
• The obedience: It is a very natural type of obedience, similar to that required for regular handling what will allow you to get the two-for-one special. You will thus easily transfer these exercises to daily life situations.
• The jumps: There are important propioceptive improvements, better balance and in general increases with regard to all of the dog’s physical abilities under the condition of designing a thoughtful training program. You must be careful because otherwise training will be fraught with dangers. Injuries may be around the corner for those trying to go too fast or who apply training criteria too strictly!

Who can practice it?

French ring is a demanding sport both physically and emotionally. Therefore, dogs need to show certain abilities if we want them to enjoy its practice and to take the most out of the programmed exercises. Overall, it is necessary to carefully assess each dog before considering its practice.

Why at EDUCAN

Revolving around French ring there are still very traditional training approaches that rely on harsh techniques, only endorsed by their results in tournaments, together with more modern approaches that attempt to balance practical results with paying due consideration to the welfare of dogs.

At EDUCAN we start out from the principle that dogs must not only enjoy the practice of any given sport, but that such practice should be emotionally, cognitively, socially and physically enriching for them. If you come to train with us the sport will be at the service of your dog, and not the other way around. That is precisely what you should be looking for when choosing a training center.

IPO

What is IPO?

IPO stands for the German expression Internationale Prüfungs-Ordnung which means International Trial Rules. In IPO handlers successively guide their dogs through obedience, protection and tracking exercises.

IPO is tantamount to precision and attitude- In this regard, it values the maximum precision in the performance of the exercise but taking into account that dogs always remain available and enthusiastic.

What are the benefits of practicing IPO?

IPO is a very comprehensive sport that will enable you to obtain the benefits associated to each of the disciplines it comprises:

• The tracking: Scent is the sense of happiness for dogs. By teaching dogs to use their noses you will open the gates to higher levels of happiness and welfare for them. In addition, the tracking exercise within IPO requires training self control. Hence it is an optimal tool to help your dog to achieve emotional stability, relaxed concentration and fluent learning
• The obedience: Since it focuses on the precision of the behaviors at stake, obedience within IPO will contribute to streamline your dog’s ability for learning, helping both of you to fine-tune your communication skills, ultimately improving the affective relationship through training.
• The protection work: For a dog who has the right innate abilities nothing beats protection training in terms of fun and health. Wisely carried out protection training improves dogs’ self control as well as their abilities to manage emotions, ultimately contributing to develop self confident dogs who establish balanced relationships with others. In addition, it also allows dogs to develop their innate abilities while having fun in the process. Leading dogs while they perform protection training will teach you to empathize and promote coordination with them when they are at emotional peaks, something that transfers well in the sense of improving communication in other situations of high emotionality.

Who can practice it?

To enjoy IPO training it is necessary that the dog exhibits certain natural tendencies required for this sport. Hence it is necessary to assess each individual dog before considering enrollment.

Why at EDUCAN?

IPO is ruled by a set of very ancient and competitive laws, what has promoted that some trainers continue relying on techniques which are effective to get results but work to the detriment of dogs’ welfare and happiness.

At EDUCAN we are specialists in taking advantage of the social abilities of dogs for teamwork, that is, in treating them as mates. We understand IPO as a perfect sport for dogs. It enables them to have fun while improving their emotional skills and deepening their relationship with their owners. Our principles are the best guarantee for your dog’s well-being.

OCI

What is OCI?

OCI stands for Obedience Class International. It consists of a program comprising complex obedience exercises that must be performed with the handler and the dog perfectly coordinated. Both the accuracy and the emotional state of the dog are taken into account. Overall, OCI proposes a set of rules aimed at promoting the dog’s ability to learn and the coordination between dog and handler.

What are the benefits of practicing OCI?

Communication, coordination and teamwork are the most obvious benefits, but it is equally important the handler’s ability to promote sound emotional states in the dog, the dog’s capacity to manage motivational states and to sustain them steadily through time, as well as the capacity to fine-tune the learning abilities of the dog.

Who can practice it?

Everybody can practice OCI, provided that the training level is duly adjusted and the expected results are consistent with the abilities of the dog in question.

Why at EDUCAN?

Very often sport training is based on the use of individual reinforcers with the aim of achieving interest, speed and confidence in the target exercises. There are two flaws to this approach. First, the affective relationship between the handler and the dog may become subsidiary by favoring the dog’s selfish motivation to work. Second, the dog can get addicted to the toy which is used as a reinforcer, something which is detrimental to the dog’s welfare in the long run.

At EDUCAN we know how to train relying on affection as the drive. In this way dogs understand that the work is something that they do in tandem with their best human friends. This approach prevents the development of an excessive dependence from toys and avoids polluting the dog’s view of training with the idea that it is solely the place where individual reinforcers are obtained. Our ultimate goal is to guarantee your dog’s emotional health and the promotion of camaraderie between you and your dog.

Mantrailing

What is Mantrailing?

Mantrailing stems out of the work of bloodhounds who followed escaped prisoners. Thus Mantrailing is a sport whose goal is looking for, following and identifying a given person through its scent.

What are the benefits of Mantrailing?

Notwithstanding dogs love to use their nose to find things, we normally do not provide any sort of training to streamline this ability. By introducing dogs to mantrailing we will attain physical, mental, cognitive and social benefits, improve their ability for self control, promote calmer behavior at home and the elimination of stored stress, as well as the improvement in coping skills. In addition, the dog will learn that working with us is rewarding.

Who can practice it?

Any dog and any handler can enjoy this activity provided they are in good health.

Why at EDUCAN?

EDUCAN knows scent work in depth, not in vain we have designed special protocols for searching drugs and corpses for security forces. We have taught courses to search and rescue groups, and we are pioneers in the therapeutic use of scent work as a substitute for pharmaceutical treatments (e.g., ansiolitics and antidepressants). We offer special courses for those interested in nosework.

So for us mantrailing is not only about finding a person, it is mainly about improving your dog’s emotional health.

Treibball

What is Treibball?

Treibball proposes dogs and their handlers exercises analogue to shepherding but with balls! In a sense it is an extra large pool game or a soccer game where dogs move the balls striving to score goals while following the indications given by handlers from a distance.

What are the benefits of Treibball?

The need to control dogs at a distance and the self control that dogs need to show by restraining from moving many other amusing balls will pay off by improving communication skills, self control, proactivity and span of attention to the handler. And you will have a great time as well.

Who can practice it?

All dogs can practice Treiball and enjoy its benefits provided they are in good health.

Why at EDUCAN?

EDUCAN is one of the first training companies in Spain which has started relying on this sport not only as a game but also as a tool to rehabilitate dogs and help them overcome social and emotional issues. Thus we know that having a great time is just the beginning of what you can get by practicing Treiball.