TRAINERS REPORT FOR DOG SPORTS ROTORUA AGM 2015
The newsletter editorial for this month is a piece I did to read at the AGM. The AGM was enormously successful and celebrated the success of Dog Sports Rotorua with a presentation of certificates and trophies.
Dog Sports now have a number of people waiting to join Agility Classes which are currently at complete capacity. There will be a new class starting in the spring on Saturday afternoon as an introduction to both Flygility and Agility. It will concentrate on teaching the equipment at speed. It will be run at three levels. Introduction to sendaway and recall, sprinting on the flat, and equipment in a 50 meter sendaway recall. People will move through the system when they are totally able at each level. I am looking for two people to help run this class starting September. This will be a Club class rather than my class. I will oversee it completely.
I think the Motto for this Club should be 'Commitment + Integrity = Excellence' and we have this committee lead by Debbie Trimbach to thank for the last 12 months of prosperity. My life as Club Trainer is inevitably easier when the nuts and bolts of the Club are all working as they should.
My personal thanks and gratitude for the positive attitude and the can do ability of all those who assisted the Committee this year. The people who baked the cakes (don't know who this is do you?) and worked in the kitchen and cleaned the building and mowed the lawns and gave us a lawnmower and built renovated and restored our Agility equipment, painted the sheds, worked as judges and box loaders at tournaments. All of the jobs that clubs need to do to survive and that have to be shared to make it possible to be a Club with a future. This Club is going places and believe me after twelve years of input by me I was beginning to wonder. Now this club truly isn't 'me' it is all of you and that is so so good.
Trainers Report 2015
This time next year we will hopefully be looking at dates to celebrate the 10th birthday of the Club. I think we should celebrate because this is the club that everyone said could not exist.
I believe now as I did right at the beginning that the most a club training people and dogs can do is to at least get its members understanding that their dogs must behave themselves. We have had mixed results over the last ten years. But at least this time has confirmed to me that it is not the dog's fault that he is edgy and jumps at people and other dogs and animals. The answer lies in the management of the dog by its handler.
How does this work? We used to say years ago, if you are in a bad mood don't train your dog. I think this also goes for; if you are feeling insecure and unhappy don't train your dog. If you are in a forgetful and distracted mood don't train your dog either. There are probably a lot more reasons why some of our moods should not be forced onto the poor dog of the household. If your personality is generally unhappy and insecure then your dog will know there is something wrong. Dogs are incredibly sensitive to mood. You can't just pretend that everything is alright - the dog will know you are telling fibs. It is a known fact that dogs can sense cancer in their handler's bodies; they know when their handler is going to have an epileptic seizure. One fascinating thing though is that if you are deeply sad for any reason and you are not usually deeply sad, your dog will do the best he can to cheer you up. So it looks like the best thing to do if you are 'not in the right mood' is to lie down in a quiet place with your dog and let him charm away the worries of the world. If however, you decide you are going to Agility Training or any other training that you do with him when you are in that mood, you will find that he doesn't do what you want, may respond negatively to other dogs and/or people, because you are 'odd' to him.
You need to be in a calm and receptive space to train your dog. You need to be able to keep your concentration on your dog and not let your head go to the place that says 'darn I would have hung the wash if I had known it was going to be this fine', or ‘Gee I hope this will be over soon because I want to take the kids to the lake for a barbie'. If you can train yourself to keep your mind working with your dog for an hour every day, then you may also find that some of your anxiety and stress fades a little bit. At least for the time that you are utterly concentrating on your dog.
When we are doing any training with the dogs I can see people get in tune with their dog for five/ ten seconds and then lose it and have to rekindle it again. That is what it is like when you start to learn to focus on just one thing. I always know when my dog and I are in the same place and both know exactly what we are doing and it takes a while to build it up. I reckon three good years. Some people might do it in less but I doubt it. It is normal to take a few years to build that bond of togetherness with your dog. When a dog dies and it's handler is grieving it is because the handler feels they have lost an integral part of their lives, not just a live cuddly toy or something that was a daily habit, but a living breathing thinking sharing caring part of their lives has gone. Truly that will never happen again in the same way because every dog is so different. But another dog will eventually do amazing things with your mind as well.
If you are standing next to your dog and yacking on to some other person, your dog knows you are not interested in them so you need to go to a place that says, sorry dog I have to yack at this person right now so you have to lie between my feet quietly and I will get back to you real soon. If your dog is just doing its own thing during this yack time, he will lurch on the lead jump at you bark at you or groan loudly because you have not given him a message that says I still love you most just wait and we will do things together again. So having a piece of learned activity such as lying between your feet is a comfort to him right now. When you are working with your dog, don't worry about mistakes, talk nicely to your dog get him moving exactly as you want him to. Look at him in the eye, drop little bits of special food in his mouth, be consistent in your voice and body commands and your dog will start to respond. If ten seconds concentration is all the two of you can cope with at the moment, see if you can get it up to 12 seconds by next week. When you are working with your dog work exclusively with you dog, don't cheat him, by doing it half pai.
Be excited with him when he gets stuff right and play ball and tug as much as you can even if it bores you to tears. Once your dog is focused on you and your commands alone, then there is no distraction. I was over the moon at training recently when Chip was standing beside me and he is only 10 months old, and a couple of dogs decided to have a wrangle, because they had got into each other's space. Chip never flinched or looked at the other dogs or wanted to go there. He was only five meters from the action. I told him good boy. He knew he had got it right. To me that was better than him knowing how to go through a tunnel or how to stand on a contact. He will do all the other stuff because I will ask him to and he will say yep if that's what mum wants that's what she gets.
That is bonding, that is Good Dog Training. The games we play do form a good distraction for some dogs to get their minds off other things. While they are hurdling they do not want to go and wolf someone else. Concentrating on hitting the fly box narrows their focus and helps them to be good, but by and large, you need to have your dog worshipping you before you go there, otherwise a whole raft of bad habits slip in and most times there is no undoing them.
I hope you will all stay with Dog Training and help me to turn around the perception of the public that dogs are a nuisance in society. They have been with us since the beginning of time; they are an important link in our human lives. Look your dog in the eye and tell him how much you need him in your life and he will be there for you.
Thank you for your hard year's training. The Awards handed out tonight show the excellence that can be achieved by those who put their minds to it.
Dogs forever - Raewyn
