I'm not sure what happened here, and why. I transferred Reka's ownership to
co-ownership status last fall to someone who had a mixed breed, and wanted
to be a tracking judge.

She needed a purebred to do this, and I knew Reka could easily perform the
task. I figured her finding another purebred in 6 years was not
unreasonable, but having to acquire extra dogs just to attain her goal was
not reasonable. The deal, she works and trains Reka and does the titling
herself.

She got Reka's AKC tracking certification with no problem. She feels
empowered, because she has no trouble making Reka do what Reka is asked to
do. This person also has the world's rudest dog. I continually try to
help her fix that, and yet, with me, those behaviors do not express
themselves, simply because i do not allow them.

So this person has decided to enter Reka in obedience classes. Reka never
completed her initial puppy class, simply because I had other things to do,
and just never felt the need to take Reka to class. She was well mannered,
had excellent obedience, LOVED obedience, but when Reka's classes were in
session, I was TEACHING classes. I play a lot with Reka in obedience at
home. She loves it.

But i never intended to title Reka. I was happy with her just the way she
was, and I was busy paying off Danny's vet bills.

So Reka's new co-owner decided Reka was a cut Gem that was never put in a
setting, would she mind if she titled Reka in obedience. I didn't mind.
Reka is very compliant, and merely needs to complete the obligatory legs.
I just didn't want to spend the gas and entry fees to attain what i already
knew.

So Reka has now gotten her CD. And she's certified to take her TD, if we
ever get her in a test.

Yet this owner STILL has the world's rudest dog. She can't get her to
walk on leash without pulling like a freight train. The dog counter sirfs.
In fact, the dog has just about every bad habit I can think of.. except she
IS housebroken.
Yesterday, she emailed me, and says she wants to be a dog trainer, and
start a business.

WHAT?
Holy Moley Shades of LEAH!

I wrote her back asking what she was thinking. She doesn't have a handle on
HER dog yet, and she wants to train other people's dogs!?!?!?!?!

Success with Reka does NOT count!


What's wrong with people?

In article , diddy none
wrote:


What's wrong with people?

I can top that. I know dog trainers who don't HAVE dogs at all! Now,
I don't think everyone who is a good trainer has to have first hand
living experience with multiple and varied breeds and venues, but owning
*A* dog and doing SOMETHING with the dog, would seem to be a good idea!

How can one advise on living with a dog if they haven't? Principles of
training are great, but unless they've actually been put into
practice....

I don't get it either. And you're right - Reka does not count. Your
friend may be a good handler. Give her a trained dog and she has the
skills to work with that dog to achieve a task. A lot of people can't
do that. But to not train one's own dog? Weird.

I certainly consider all of my dogs a work in progress. Like anyone, I
have training challenges with my own dogs and while I adore them, they
aren't robotic or perfect. I'm a fairly lazy dog trainer, much like the
general population. I think that gives me good insight, or at least
it's a good excuse!

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

Janet Boss spoke these words of wisdom
in :

In article , diddy none
wrote:


What's wrong with people?

I can top that. I know dog trainers who don't HAVE dogs at all! Now,
I don't think everyone who is a good trainer has to have first hand
living experience with multiple and varied breeds and venues, but owning
*A* dog and doing SOMETHING with the dog, would seem to be a good idea!

How can one advise on living with a dog if they haven't? Principles of
training are great, but unless they've actually been put into
practice....

I don't get it either. And you're right - Reka does not count. Your
friend may be a good handler. Give her a trained dog and she has the
skills to work with that dog to achieve a task. A lot of people can't
do that. But to not train one's own dog? Weird.
The fact that I'm always intervening when she's about to do something
stupid is very telling. She has tons of ideas, but when it comes to
principles of training, I tell her why they are bad ideas, and I can see
how her dog has becomes such a huge bucket of misbehaviors.

Last night she emailed me how to train something, and I told her how to
train it, but asked her WHY, within a week, she'd be writing me asking how
to STOP IT!

Teaching bad habits is a very bad idea.

Last month, she told me how boring obedience was. We played some games, and
I introduced her to play training a dog. She's become an obedience play
monster... with MY dogs, because she has success.
She's constantly coming up with ideas she wants to teach my dogs. And
teaching my dogs is easy. You show them something once, and they have it.

In fact, I had the little boy with selective mutism (won't talk) teaching
Tuck a new trick in school yesterday. He felt wildly successful. Even
though he didn't talk, he breached the communications gap and could tell a
dog what to do. We are hoping his success with the dog will develop into
communicating with people.
Tuck is perfect for this project, because he's learned how to learn and is
very receptive. You don't need to speak english to communicate. Tuck has
never yet spoken a single word in English.

To my knowledge, when Leah quit working for Belinda and started her own
obedience classes and hung up her own shingle, Murphy still did not walk on
a leash and heel.

And I see this same sort of thing happening with this person. She thinks
I'm mad at her, because I wrote her a email last night telling her how
unqualified she is to even consider being a trainer as long as she has not
been successful in fixing the problems of her world's rudest dog!

I know the dog is receptive, because she's perfectly mannered with me, and
as long as I'm watching her!

She says she's an expert, because of her experiences with the World's
Rudest Dog ..

I told her her experiences don't count until she FIXES them. Training MY
dogs don't count!

I hurt her feelings, but I felt she needed a reality check.



I certainly consider all of my dogs a work in progress.

Of course, my dogs are a work in progress also!
Like anyone, I
have training challenges with my own dogs and while I adore them, they
aren't robotic or perfect. I'm a fairly lazy dog trainer, much like the
general population. I think that gives me good insight, or at least
it's a good excuse!

"diddy" none wrote in message
. ..
I'm not sure what happened here, and why. I transferred Reka's ownership
to
co-ownership status last fall to someone who had a mixed breed, and wanted
to be a tracking judge.
dogs!?!?!?!?!

Success with Reka does NOT count!

And now you can see why there was the requirement that she had to train a
dog to the title before becoming a judge. The same thing is true for her
having "met" the requirements to become a tracking judge. Success with Reka
does NOT count.

She found a loophole and you aided her in passing through it.

When I'm in the agility ring, my ideal judge has not only titled dogs in
agility but would have trained and titled difficult dogs. That doesn't
always happen. It also doesn't always happen that the judge is actually
actively involved in agility any longer in any capacity other than judge.
*Those* judges tend to have the worst courses. I want a judge who knows
what it takes to get a dog to that level (whether it's novice or excellent
or nationals) and understands what a fair test consists of. Being handed a
well-trained and experienced dog and finishing the title sequence should not
fulfill the requirements to be a judge.

Titles are not just an award. They are a test of how your training program
is working. Your friend had no training program and you are right - the
titles she put on Reka are meaningless on her part.

Judy

"Judy" spoke these words of wisdom in
:

"diddy" none wrote in message
. ..
I'm not sure what happened here, and why. I transferred Reka's
ownership to
co-ownership status last fall to someone who had a mixed breed, and
wanted to be a tracking judge.
dogs!?!?!?!?!

Success with Reka does NOT count!

And now you can see why there was the requirement that she had to train
a dog to the title before becoming a judge. The same thing is true for
her having "met" the requirements to become a tracking judge. Success
with Reka does NOT count.

Well, she IS training Reka and has had to overcome a great amount of
challenges in the handling change. Although Reka knew how to track, there
were many issues that needed to be overcome in her certification. (although
I do believe all the issues she had to overcome stemmed from the handler)

This has been a vast learning experience, and the person has learned vastly
much, and I really do think she learned more from tracking in the process
than the average judge even knows.

She found a loophole and you aided her in passing through it.

When I'm in the agility ring, my ideal judge has not only titled dogs in
agility but would have trained and titled difficult dogs. That doesn't
always happen. It also doesn't always happen that the judge is actually
actively involved in agility any longer in any capacity other than
judge. *Those* judges tend to have the worst courses. I want a judge
who knows what it takes to get a dog to that level (whether it's novice
or excellent or nationals) and understands what a fair test consists of.
Being handed a well-trained and experienced dog and finishing the title
sequence should not fulfill the requirements to be a judge.

Titles are not just an award. They are a test of how your training
program is working. Your friend had no training program and you are
right - the titles she put on Reka are meaningless on her part.

I do think her certification of Reka in tracking will count. You have to
understand what she's learned in the process

Judy