Manners!

Well we had a great day's training today despite the bad manners displayed by a breed specific rescue who were having a get-together in the same fields.

It is an unwritten rule in dog circles that when you see someone training their dog, you try to keep out of their way so they can continue their good work.  Not so it seems with this group.  We had cars parked right at our agility jumps, a dog running along the fence intimidating our dogs, and then just as one of our dogs commenced a send away they decided to walk all 14 dogs past in a row to commence a walk! That was after advising us that their dogs didn't like small furry dogs and would chase!

It's these bad manners that give responsible dog owners a 'bad name'.  It has made me think though on how we run our training session and some helpful reminders will need to be posted.

Despite these irritations, we really made progress and had fun in the process and that's what counts.

Trainers - what does good look like?

Interesting conversation yesterday on trainers in dog clubs.  What makes a good trainer?  There are trainers that remain steeped in the past unwilling or unable to change their methods despite overwhelming research and evidence to the contrary.  There are trainers who think gaining a qualification (mostly completed through distance learning) is sufficient for them to take on training classes and offer paid advice on behavioural roblems in dogs.  There are trainers who think because they have years of experience they don't need anything else.  In my opinion, it's not just academic qualifications, it's not just experience, it's a combination of both PLUS continuing professional development.

A good trainer recognises the need to keep up with academic research.  A good trainer recognises the value in years of experience working with different dogs, different breeds and different situations.  A good trainer recognises the need to keep their own skills up to date through trying different disciplines, learning from other trainers and behaviourists.  A good trainer also recognises the need for people skills as in the main it's the handlers that need training!

So what do you think?  Are you a good trainer?

New Year, New Goals

Back from a New Year break and looking forward to whatever 2011 will bring.  Main goals this year are to finish my canine behaviour degree which keeps getting put to the side whenever I am busy and to finally put in the final training needed for Hector to be ready to enter a Working Trial.

So.... some organisation is needed, which for a butterfly brain such as I am is going to take some doing! I start off well enough but get bored very quickly and I jump onto the next new shiny bright thing!  Going to try - let's see how successful I am.