A couple of comments recently made me take time to think about what I want as a trainer.
Our club members are a great bunch and weekly training is always fun. The fun is not a distraction from any focus on the exercises we're working on more an addition to them. Likewise at shows there is a lovely atmosphere and on more than one occasion people have commented to Mark or I that our club members are the nicest people :)
We are very lucky to be able to train these people and each new person seems to be taken on board and develop the same attitude.
Their attitude reflects on the dogs and so the dogs develop very well without any stresses or worries. Results at shows are certainly reflecting their successes.
As you know in my opinion Agility is our game and the dogs grow to love it because of how we train it so if the dog is struggling to deal with something we ask at agility I think it is up to us to work out a way to enable our dogs to achieve what we want in a different way or accept that maybe our dog will not achieve what we want them to.
As a trainer I want the dogs to be able to do the best they can and the handlers to understand their dogs limitations and work to get the best they can. Sometimes we have to use our imagination and knowledge of what our dog likes best to try to help with improvements.
So overall the things that I strive for is to help the handlers train their dogs to be the best they can be, giving them as much information as I can so that not only do they get the best out of their dog they also have the understanding and pride in what they have both achieved.
It will be great to train the next Olympia or Crufts winner but it is equally important to train everyone to enjoy reaching their own potential.
The picture above is Fifo and Meg who have achieved much more than we ever would have thought when we first met Meg. I also think is shows how well Fifo has taken on board the running exercises we're doing on Thursdays :)
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