Kids 'N Critters in the News

Laura Langemo from Fox 6 News in Milwaukee was kind enough to feature HAWS Kids 'N Critters Camps in the interview portion of the Fox 6 WakeUp yesterday morning.  We knew she was coming and that the segments would all air between 7:15 and 8:45am, which is before the 9am start time of camp.  Because she was going to profile our Camp Gone to the Dogs kids, I e-mailed the parents requesting that if possible they bring their kids to HAWS at 7:30am.  I figured that we'd maybe get 4 or 5 kids from that request.  To my surprise all 16 kids were able to attend! 

The whole morning was wonderful.  The first segment was of HAWS Public Relations extraordinaire -  Jennifer Smieja talking about the history of HAWS camps going back to the 80's.  The kids had their dogs to work with and during my interview they did some training in the background, and the camera man even walked around and got shots of the kids training their dogs.  Laura was kind enough to make the third segment about the kids -- she walked around and talked to the kids and the campers showed a trick that they were working on with their dog.  It made me pretty proud to hear one of the campers talk about "putting the trick on cue". 

The last segment was an interview with me while I talked about the final activity of camp, which is Mystic's performance.  My interview was followed by showing off Mystic's "kid agility" course using the kids.  Laura even got into the act by standing in as two of the weave poles.  The video of that last segment is embedded below. 

I'm very proud of HAWS camps, and it's wonderful to get the word out about what we're doing here.  And I'm very grateful to Jennifer Smieja for working so hard to promote HAWS, and especially for helping to promote our education programs.  I'm also grateful that Laura Langemo saw this as a really great addition to Fox 6 WakeUp and was willing to profile us. 

All 4 of the segments can be seen the Fox 6 website. 

Kids Thinking Pawsitive at Agility

Each week-long session of HAWS Kids 'N Critters Day Camp goes on an animal related field trip. Last week's session of Camp Gone to the Dogs had a fantastic opportunity to visit Think Pawsitive Dog Training in Oconomowoc.

Think Pawsitive, owned by Katie Oilschlager, specializes in the canine sport of Agility. Agility is a fast moving sport consisting of an obstacle course and requiring teamwork on the part of the dog and it's handler.

It takes some time, training and practice before a dog and it's handler are ready to do many of the obstacles properly. In order to give the campers a true sense of what Agility is, the kids used dogs who have been trained in the sport. Katie's dog Rella volunteered for duty, along with Dixie (who belongs to HAWS employee Cassie Gugin), and Mystic.

Katie did an excellent job explaining what agility is, and had the kids practice doing obstacles without the dogs. One of the more difficult obstacles is the weave poles -- the dog always enters the poles with the first pole on his left. Katie had the kids go through the poles themselves.

Then they got to work with the dogs. Fortunately the kids had worked with adoptable HAWS dogs for four days before they did agility because they had already learned how to be motivating and patient with dogs. Those skills came in handy -- although the dogs were good at agility they were working with complete strangers and so needed a little extra effort.

The campers had a fantastic time. Many of them have attended HAWS camps in the past, and they told me doing agility was the best field trip they'd been on. And Katie, Cassie and I were grateful that they tired our dogs out.

Below is video from that day - enjoy!

Mystic and the Campers

Because Mystic comes to work with me, and because my office is right off of the room where camp is held, the children attending camp have dubbed him the "Camp Mascot".

It's not unusual for me to have to shoo children away from the baby gate across my office door in order for me to get in and out of my office. Mystic really knows how to play his adoring fans. At the first sound of a childish sing song voice calling out "Myyyyystic!" he comes strolling out of his crate and acknowledges the kids with a sniff, before turning sideways and leaning against the gate so as to make it more convenient for them to pet the entire length of his back. And with 3 or 4 kids squeezed into my office doorway there's plenty of hands to give him a nice massage.

Many of the kids have attended camp in previous years, and so they know that Mystic knows many tricks and that I usually show them off before the end of the camp session. Word spreads to the newcomers, and all week long I get asked when they'll get to see Mystic do his tricks.

Yesterday I was appalled when guest speaker Ginny Marchel, who is a HAWS dog trainer, brought in her American Eskimo Seika and showed off all of her tricks. Seika not only knew all the tricks Mystic knows, but she knew a few more. How could I follow that act?

One of the things Mystic does do, that Seika does not, is Agility. In the past I've used the kids as obstacles -- they've made jumps out of their arms, weave poles out of their legs, and tunnels as a group. Mystic has gone through kid made obstacles one at a time, and at Winter Camp we paired kid weave poles with a kid tunnel. But I decided to try to expand on it.

In the video you'll see 3 jumps, a set of 6 weave poles and a tunnel. Mystic had a beautiful run this afternoon!