spiritlane gundogs
Introduction
About me
My name is Csaba Karai, and I have been working with retrievers for almost 20 years. I have spent over 15 years competing and now I am trying to share on this knowledge both locally and internationally. For years, I have been providing weekend seminars across Europe, and here at home, I provide individual and group training sessions for my own training group and enthusiasts.
In addition to training retrievers, I have also completed various levels of courses in traditional dog schools and obtained an official certification as a dog trainer.
In addition to dog training, I consider the health of dogs and their owners to be of paramount importance. Therefore, I work as a natural therapist, offering services such as acupressure, bioenergetics, Touch for Health kinesiology, and human and therapeutic dog massage to help both people and dogs.
beginnings
Adu and the competitions
In 2005, Adu (Blackthorn Achenar) came into my life because I recognized that I could improve with a well-bred working dog.
With Adu, we were already successful at our first competition in Austria, which inspired us to participate in more and more competitions. It gave me great confidence that he was an incredibly reliable dog that I could count on in every competition, even on days when I was not at my best. I believe he was probably my teacher, and I learned a lot from him, we gained a lot of experience together. Perhaps many of you are familiar with the book “The true story of the best dog I ever had” by Rick Bass. I think our story is somewhat similar to that. I often think that I will probably never have a better dog than him, which is hard to say, but maybe I’m not far off from the truth.
In the meantime, Adu has been getting more and more successful in competitions, we have finished countless Working Tests with victories, we won three International Field Trial in 2009, which made him International Field Trial Champion.
In 2010 we competed in the Individual Challenge Cup in Germany, which is the most important individual competition on the continent, in fact the European Field Trial Championship where we competed against the best dogs and handlers in Europe. We won one of the semi-finals of the competition and won a CACIT title, which was one of the biggest successes of our career. And then in the final the next day we came 3rd with an excellent qualification. That year we also won the annual Working Test Cup in Austria, which we earned with our performance throughout the year.
In 2008, we also competed in the Skinner’s Retriever World Cup team competition in Highclere, England, where a Hungarian team represented the country for the first time. We finished fifth as a team, while Adu was only 2 points behind Top Dog recognition. In the following years we represented the country with excellent performances. We competed multiple times in the International Working Test, achieving fifth place in both 2008 and 2011. Then, in 2012, we made history as the first Hungarian team to win the competition in Switzerland, and we successfully defended the title in Germany in 2013. I believe we made a small piece of history with that achievement.
development
trainings, seminars
Thanks to our successes, I have been invited to share my experiences in more and more places, so I have held retriever seminars across Europe (Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Norway, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia).
In my home country, I have been training dogs as a self-employed person since 2014. Therefore, I warmly welcome anyone interested to join my individual and group training sessions. I regularly organize 2-3 day dog camps, seminars, and even half-day trips and demonstrations for my training group.
I consider building a strong relationship with the dog as an essential part of the sessions, as I think it will be beneficial in all aspects of life (daily interactions, urban behavior, dog sports, etc.). I firmly believe that training based on the instincts of retrievers is useful in everyday life, and I recommend these training programs to anyone, regardless of their participation in competitions or hunting activities.
I have created a closed training group for owners who attend regular training, where I announce current training schedules, group outings, and provide training tips. Members of the group also share their reports, experiences, and photos. Last but not least, great friendships can be formed among people with similar interests. The only requirement for joining the group is to attend at least a 5-session training program and come to improve yourself and your dog.
In recent years, I have introduced this sport to numerous dog owners, and many of them now participate in serious competitions with working dogs. Trust me, it is very easy to fall in love with the retriever sport.
everyday life
The pack
I have two dogs in my team at the moment:
Peru also got the retriever training, we won M class in Austria with him. He completed an Open competition as well and later became a therapy dog, helping children and patients in their development.
Yoda is a regular participant in my training sessions. I ran him in some competitions and he has completed the Open class too. He is a true bundle of energy.
No more puppies are expected in my kennel recently.
Unfortunately, Adu and Bora are no longer with us, but you can read about them on their own page and in the older reports and blog posts.
Everyone changes, competing is no longer my first priority. As a result, we rarely meet at such events. It used to be a crucial part of my life in the past, traveling to different competitions across Europe week after week, but not anymore.
Of course, success can be highly motivating and it’s not easy to maintain that for years . I made a decision years ago that wasn’t simple, as I train hunting dogs. From the beginning, I participated in hunting events because it is the basic of the whole sport. However, I had to admit that this was not my world, despite my success. I found myself unable to actively engage in it. Nevertheless, for those who areinterested, I am happy to share my experiences in this field, the training courses will also help you to have an active hunting dog.
I continuously strive to improve myself, not only in dog training but also in natural healing methods and therapies. In all my activities, I put a lot of emphasis on the energetics and dynamics of the dog-owner pair, and I try to incorporate this into my training and treatments.
Csaba Karai