The premium is available now and entries open on Monday, January 4. This event is limited to 30 entries per trial, so don’t delay !

Virtual AKC Novice Trick Training and Testing
With Rachel Lachow

Tricks are a great way to build a relationship and have fun with your dog, and why not earn an AKC title while doing it? Rachel Lachow will be presenting a 5 week virtual AKC Novice Trick Training and Testing Class.  You will teach your dogs all they need to know to earn the AKC Trick Dog Novice title (TKN). The classes will be held on Zoom with support in a private Facebook group. Testing will be through video or Zoom. All classes will be taped and available for one week after the session. This is a reward-based class and will be teaching the use of clickers. There is a minimum of 4 to hold the class. This class is for dogs 4 months and older.

Class Limit: 10
Start Date: Jan 11
Day/Time: Mondays 2 to 3pm
Fee: Non-Members – $60, Members – $45, Contributing Members – $37.5

Click here to register: [OB106]  AKC Novice Trick Training and Testing – Live Online

More virtual classes starting this Winter are listed below. Auditing is also available.

[AG055] Foundations for Dog Sports: Clicker FUNdamentals. – Live Online. Instructors: Rose Kane, Kat Edrington, Ashley Musser. 6 weeks. This will be an online virtual learning interactive course with live lessons offered Thursday evenings.  This class is for dogs aged 3 months & up. Handlers will be introduced to clicker training and fundamentals of shaping behaviors. Dogs will be introduced to the basic relationship building and foundation skills needed to be competitive in timed, physically active dog sports such as agility, flyball, rally, and disc dog.  Foundation training includes target training; building coordination and precision; canine fitness training; impulse control games; drive games with recalls and sends; emphasizing tugging as a reward; and rear-end awareness. Dogs can and should be entered in this class at a young age (although it is reasonable to expect very young dogs to rotate through it twice to expose them to each foundation exercise twice during their “puppy brain” stage). This class is primarily taught using a clicker to shape behaviors. If you do not own a clicker, it is requested that you purchase one prior to the first class. Graduation criteria: (1) trainer ability to build small incremental criteria in order to train a more complex behavior (2) dog exhibits ability to learn by shaping (3) dog exhibits body control coordination through demonstration of class exercises (4) dog stays focused and engaged with handler (5) student exhibits sound coordination and timing for effective clicker training.  Students planning to move ahead to Foundations of Dog Training: Skills for Success have the additional criteria of (1) actively engaging with a toy and (2) dog assumes and maintains a 2 on 2 off position using a target plate and travel board.  Note: You can still have a working sport if you are unable to “attend” the live lessons on Thursday. Via Zoom Lives and a Private Facebook Group “Working Spot” Students are invited to submit 1-3 weekly videos and receive feedback to work through roadblocks, progress to complex versions of behavior, and improve timing and marking. If you don’t have a Facebook account, all you need is an email address to create one at facebook.com.

[AG056] Foundations for Dog Sports: Skills for Success – Live Online. Instructors: Rose Kane,  Kat Edrington, Ashley Musser. 6 weeks.  This will be an online virtual learning interactive course with live lessons offered Thursday evenings.  Dogs and handler teams will be introduced to the relationship building and foundation skills needed to be competitive in timed, physically active dog sports such as agility, flyball, rally, and disc dog.  Foundation training includes travel board & nose target training; fitness training; impulse control games; drive games with recalls and sends; emphasizing tugging as a reward; rear-end awareness and body coordination exercises. Dogs can and should be entered in this class at a young age (although it is reasonable to expect very young dogs to rotate through it twice to expose them to each foundation exercise twice during their “puppy brain” stage). This class is primarily taught using a clicker to shape behaviors. Students will be exposed to a variety of “proofing” techniques to improve their dog’s performance. Prerequisite: This class is for dogs aged 6 months & up who have graduated from Foundations: Fundamentals or completed a clicker based Basic Obedience or Puppy Kindergarten class. This class presumes a handler has sound understanding of shaping principles and good clicker coordination and timing. If you do not meet this criteria, AG053 is for you! Graduation criteria: (1) ability to hold a “stay” position with handler at least 10′ away; (2) dog exhibits body control coordination through demonstration of class exercises (3) dog can stay focused on handler while working (4) dog sends around an object from at least 5′ away (5) student exhibits understanding of training principles. Students planning to move ahead to Agility 1 have the additional criteria of (1) actively engaging with a toy and (2) dog assumes and maintains a 2 on 2 off position using a target plate and travel board.  Note:  You can still have a working sport if you are unable to “attend” the live lessons on Thursday. Via Zoom Lives and a Private Facebook Group “Working Spot” Students are invited to submit 1-3 weekly videos and receive feedback to work through roadblocks, progress to complex versions of behavior, and improve timing and marking. If you don’t have a facebook account, all you need is an email address to create one at  facebook.com.

AKC Virtual Novice Rally Trial

DATE:            Sunday, Dec 20, 2020

TIME:             8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.  (teams will be scheduled on the hour and half hour; 20 minutes will be allotted for the walk-thru and run; the additional 10 minutes will allow for sanitizing the building)

COST:             $10.00 per run (only one run per dog)

WHAT: One of the five approved AKC Novice Virtual Rally courses will be available to those who wish to earn a Rally Novice leg while trials are still few and far between.  A Club member will be available to videotape your run on your own phone/video camera to submit to AKC.  If you feel more comfortable, you may bring a tripod to hold the device instead.  Exhibitors are responsible for submitting their entry form and fee to AKC, along with a link to their video (after uploading to YouTube).

Registration Opens:          Tuesday, December 8
Registration Closes:          Thursday, December 17

This weekend, Dec 4-6 2020, the Oriole Dog Training Club is having an AKC agility trial. Normally we hold this trial elsewhere where we can have hundreds of dogs and exhibitors in 2 rings . But this year, we needed to carefully guard the club’s stressed finances and scale the trial down to 1 ring to reduce the number of exhibitors present. So we moved this trial (and our January trial as well) to our club building.

The trial committee – chaired by Oriole member Tricia Dunseith and our Trial Secretary, Clantyre Show Secretary Services – spent quite a bit of time on determining safeguards to put in place. In addition to following best practices recommended by the CDC and AKC, the club has been monitoring the quality of the ventilation throughout the building for several months now so that we have a well-informed knowledge of how to ensure the air quality is such that the risk of contamination via viral aerosol is reduced to a very low level.

Sorry – but this is one trial where you can’t spectate. The key to keeping everyone safe is to ensure that few people are in the building at any given point. For this trial we have the Oriole Rule of Five: You can be in the building for exactly 5 reasons:

1. Walk your course
2. Run your dog
3. Volunteer
4. Use the restroom
5. Pick up your ribbon

Masking of course is required at all times while on site including while running your dog. Here are some of the other policies put in place:

Check-in and worker coordination: Stations for these are set up outside of the building.

Traffic Flow: There is a specific one-way traffic flow in and out of the building. The main hallway is used for entry and the middle hallway is used to exit. Quality ventilation in this area is ensured by keeping the front doors open as well as use of an air purifier with a UV filter.

Cookie-Toy Table: A table is provided between the ring entrance and exit for exhibitors to store their coat/cookie/toys before the run.

Technological tools: Exhibitors with smartphones and car radios can track the progress of the class. (We are trying – with indifferent success – to stream the trial on Facebook as well, but are running into issues with bandwidth on the club WiFi network).

Results: These are posted in the building near the station where an exhibitor may enter to pick up their ribbon or they may be viewed in real-time outside on a monitor placed next to a window.

We are glad we are able to have a limited trial under all of these precautions and are appreciative that our exhibitors are being supportive to help keep everyone safe.

We know that both you and we all look forward to the day when things can go back to normal. Until then – Stay Safe & Stay Healthy!

Maybe you’ve heard about Barn Hunt and would like to learn more and even try it out?  Oriole (and the Oriole Rats!) are supporting an Intro workshop given by BHA judge and Oriole club member Colin Ratcliffe to be held at Branchwater Farm on Saturday, Dec 12.  Check it out here!  After this workshop, you and your dog will be well prepared for the Rat Instinct Test at the new December trial the following weekend (discounts offered for those that take the Workshop!)

And speaking of that December trial, entries are open until Wednesday, December 9. Note that we do expect to be using the outside rings (under cover) so that maximum safety can be observed during the pandemic.

See our Barn Hunt Trial Information page for links and more information on our Dec 19-20 Barn Hunt trial at Branchwater or visit barnhunt.com.

Don’t forget to come dressed for the occasion. We will be judging 😉

Late and Day of Entries are still available for this trial as well:

Nov 7-8 at SuperPup: This is our normal November fall trial.

The premium is now available for our ORT (birch, anise and clove) being held on Dec 13, 2020. Entries open on Monday, November 2, 2020 at 5pm and close on Wednesday, December 2, 2020 (or when entry limits have been reached. You can find the premium here: https://orioledogclub.org/nacsw-test-information-page/

The premium is available now and entries open on Monday, October 5. This event is limited to 30 entries per trial, so don’t delay !

Dec 4-6, 2020
at the Oriole Dog Training Club in Halethorpe, MD

This trial has been moved for this year for COVID-19 reasons to our training building.

Entries Open: Friday, Oct 2, 2020 (Method is First Received)
Entries Close: Friday, Nov 20, 2020

Friday’s trial is a “games only” evening event!
Friday evening: All levels – FAST + Time2Beat (limit 100 runs)

Saturday: All levels – STD, JWW & FAST + Time2Beat + Premier STD
Sunday: All levels – STD, JWW & FAST + Time2Beat + Premier JWW


Entries are limited to 100 runs on Friday evening
Entries are limited to 350 runs per day on Saturday & Sunday

Note that this trial has been moved offsite to outdoor rings at Branchwater Farm in Reisterstown, Maryland (near Hunt Valley, Maryland)

It being COVID times and the U.S. Mail not as functional as usual, we will be accepting entries through the weekend. Entries can be submitted via email and we do take electronic payments (PayPal and Venmo).

Links for the entry form, the test schedule, and instructions for electronic payment are below.