Kids work with canines at Seymour business

SEYMOUR — To Monica Rivera, it doesn’t matter what you are or who you are. Anybody can work with dogs.

If you have the patience and drive to teach basic obedience, tricks and agility, the dog will figure it out because dogs are very intuitive, she said.

For the third year, the owner of Dog Training with Monica in Seymour recently hosted the weeklong Kids and Canines Summer Camp.

She also is in the third of a new four-week dog training group class, iCan Train My Dog, that’s for individuals with autism.

For the camp, the first day consisted of the obedience commands, including sit, down, heel and stay.

The second day was all about teaching tricks. Rivera gave them 10, including roll over, crawl and unroll a towel to find treats, but she didn’t expect the dogs to do all of them.

“The first thing I always tell the kids is that your dogs are not going to be good at everything, so that’s why we do so many tricks,” she said. “I always compare it to the kids are not going to be good at every single subject in school, and dogs do not do every single trick. We just do at least 10 of them, and whichever ones the dogs are good at, they pick up on, those are what they stick with.”

So what’s the trick to getting a dog to do a trick? Breaking it up in really small parts and rewarding the dog with a treat along the way, she said.

The third day was focused on agility, including going through a tunnel and hoops, jumping up onto a platform and walking along a board.

Scent work was the focus on the fourth day, and parents were invited to camp on the final day to see their children and dogs show off what they learned.

“I have found that kids actually learn better than most of the adults. They are more patient, and they are better at reading the dog’s body language,” Rivera said. “If they start when they are young, they will already have those skills to do it when they are an adult and they have their own dog.”

For Rivera, it’s rewarding to see the kids and dogs interact.

“The kids get really excited and enjoy it when their dogs get something right, when it finally clicks,” she said.

Brinley Schepman, 11, of Seymour was among the 11 participants in the Kids and Canines Summer Camp. She and her dog, Knox, had previously trained with Rivera.

“It was just something to do in the summer, and he needs to behave,” she said of why she wanted to attend the camp.

She liked seeing Knox’s progress, from being able to sit and wait for a command to waving his paw.

“He is a lot more confident with what he does. He just acts better,” Schepman said. “I like to hang out with him. He’s just a good dog.”

Brothers Rowan Honeas, 9, and Sully Honeas, 6, of Columbus attended camp for the first time.

Their dog, Remington, was having issues with chewing up leashes, so they wanted to fix that problem and also teach him obedience.

The siblings said Remington picked up on crawling and unrolling the towel to earn treats the fastest.

“He’s doing a lot better. His chewing is getting a little better,” Rowan said three days into the camp. “I like how I get to be with Remington all day.”

The camp was educational for the brothers, too.

“You’re learning stuff about your dog. You can bond a lot with your dog,” Sully said.

Again this year, Kids and Canines filled up fast, so Rivera is considering expanding it next summer.

“Next year, I may actually need two sessions, either two time slots or two different weeks, because after this one sold out, I could have filled another class,” she said. “I had that many parents asking.”

The iCan Train My Dog class came about after Heather Baker, co-founder of the nonprofit organization Columbus Autism Network, saw Rivera’s Facebook advertisement about Kids and Canines.

“We knew that would be too much, but so many of our kids just thrive with animals,” Baker said.

Making it an hourlong class once a week for four weeks with only a handful of attendees was a good alternative.

Rivera was assisted by Shannon Neal so they could have more one-on-one time with the individuals and their dogs.

They came up with short phrases the individuals could remember, and hand signals were incorporated for those who aren’t very verbal, Rivera said.

“Things that might click so they can remember them when they are trying to do it on their own instead of all of the extra information,” she said.

Like the summer camp, Rivera said it was rewarding to see the individuals with autism and their dogs interact.

“Even shy kids, dogs give them confidence because they are patient,” Rivera said. “They’ll wait until a child figures it out until they understand it. They are not going to bark at them or get mad at them. The dogs are extremely patient, and I think that helps the kids build confidence in working with a lot of that stuff.”

Ryan Farrell said his dog, Max, had issues with whining, so he was glad Rivera could help with that.

“I give him a treat and it will calm him down,” Farrell said.

He also has taught Max how to spin, crawl and do other tricks.

“I know some stuff I never knew about,” Farrell said.

Baker said her volunteer organization conducts fundraisers to provide activities for families for free or splitting the cost.

“We try to do things where it’s autism-friendly for them, where there’s a judgment-free zone,” she said. “We try to make it as friendly as possible so that they can experience things that maybe their typical peers would get to experience. We’re grateful that we can do this and give our kids something to work on. … We try everything we can to expose them to as many opportunities as possible to give them a leg up.”

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Dog Training with Monica is at 357 Tanger Blvd., Suite 204, at Shops at Seymour.

For information, call 812-565-9311 or visit dogtrainingwithmonica.com or facebook.com/dogtrainingwithmonica.

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