Canine activities - Holiday rentals La Belle Vilaine South Brittany

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Enjoy activities with your dog on-site - 🎁 free 1-hour session*

Elaine offers her talents exclusively to our vacationing guests. NO CLASSES FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC

You can choose a 1-hour session of one of the activities below with the famous Elaine Clark… a video and description of each discipline are provided below.

Scent Detection
ManTrailing
Hoopers
Dog Dancing
Treibball

This session is reserved for the dogs of your family or group of friends staying at La Belle Vilaine.

During her long career, Elaine—now partially retired—has helped hundreds of dog-handler teams and trained many instructors from dog clubs and professional dog trainers across France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and even internationally. Starting in 2026, she will offer classes exclusively to vacationers at La Belle Vilaine.

For those who want to make the most of it, Elaine also offers additional individual sessions (for a fee) in any of the activities above. These classes remain exclusively for dogs staying here. Contact us for more information.

To discover the activities available, we invite you to follow the links below.

For any bookings of 3 nights or more

Scentwork

🐾 Discover our guests’ favorite activity: scent tracking!
Did you know your dog’s sense of smell is up to 100,000 times more powerful than yours? What if you could turn this natural superpower into a fun, rewarding, and incredibly effective activity?

Elaine, trained by the renowned Nando Brown and certified by the World Scent Dog Association, offers an introduction to scent work—the same discipline used by police, customs, and military dogs.
In just one hour, your dog will learn to use its nose to find an object carrying a specific scent (non-toxic!)—and you’ll also uncover the secrets behind that scent during the session 😉

This activity is the most popular among our guests—and for good reason.
Scent work channels your dog’s energy, improves focus, and strengthens the bond between you.
✨ Just 15 minutes of tracking is equivalent to an hour-long walk!
Your dog will feel relaxed, proud, and deeply fulfilled.

At the end of the session, you’ll leave with all the knowledge needed to continue this activity at home, giving your dog true mental stimulation wherever you are.

📩 Book your session during your stay and give your dog an unforgettable experience!

Hoopers

👋 Hi friends, I’m Joy!
And believe me, my name suits me perfectly: I’m probably the happiest dog in the world 🐾✨

🎯 What do I love most of all?
Running, running some more… and running even more!
I run so much that my mom affectionately calls me her “Forrest Gump” 😂
So when I discovered Hoopers, it was obvious: this sport was made for me.

🌟 An extraordinary opportunity
I’m incredibly lucky because my mom isn’t just any trainer.
She’s one of the most recognized Hoopers experts in France and Belgium.
Throughout her long career, she’s trained hundreds of instructors and dog trainers in clubs.

Today, even though she’s enjoying a well-earned partial retirement, she has chosen to share her precious and highly sought-after expertise exclusively with our vacationing guests.

🎥 What you see in the video
Here, you’re watching me on a course set up on our field.
I follow my mom’s verbal and hand signals carefully—even from more than 20 meters away… and always with enthusiasm!

During your introductory session, don’t worry, you’ll guide your dog on a smaller, accessible course designed for fun and success.

🚀 And if you want to go further…
Mom also offers optional additional sessions:
to progress at your own pace, or to refine your skills if you already practice Hoopers.

🐕💛 One thing is for sure
I love sharing these moments, doing demonstrations for our visitors…
and most of all, seeing dogs and their humans leave with stars in their eyes ✨

👉 Could it be your turn to experience this unique adventure with your companion?

ManTrailing

🐾 Discover Mantrailing: follow a scent, an adventure at every step

Mantrailing is an exciting activity that fully engages your dog’s sense of smell.
Unlike scent detection, here your dog learns to follow a specific human scent, which changes with each session. Every person leaves a unique scent… and every search becomes a brand-new adventure!

It’s a fun, stimulating activity perfectly suited to the natural abilities of our four-legged friends: using their nose to understand the world and solve olfactory “puzzles.”

🐕‍🦺 During the introductory session, you’ll learn more about this incredible sense of smell and how to:

lay a trail,
guide your dog,
and teach them to follow it with confidence.

The work is done on a long leash, at your own pace…
🏃‍♀️ running is optional 😉

Strictly Dog Dancing 😉

Obérythmée is a very playful activity—it involves teaching your dog tricks and then perfecting them (using subtle verbal or hand signals).
Next, the tricks are combined into a choreography, and you dance alongside your dog.

For two years (2010 to 2012), Elaine was an instructor at the Vannes dog club, where she created the first group for this discipline at a time when it was almost unknown in France.
Her group included several dogs—even one that was deaf!!!!—who were initially very easily distracted.
But in the end, they succeeded and performed a group dance demonstration for the club members!

In the video, you can see Elaine with her dog, Gracie (who sadly passed away a few years ago), during a demonstration in 2009.

Treibball

Treibball is a dog sport that originated in Germany in the early 2000s. It was developed as an alternative to herding work, allowing dogs without access to livestock to express their natural herding instincts. In Treibball, the dog learns to move large balls from a distance, under the direction of its handler, to guide them into a goal. This activity emphasizes cooperation, focus, and communication between dog and human.

Please feel free to get in touch.