I always consider it a privilege to be invited into someone's home to help with their dog. During our initial conversation, I try to get as much information as possible, about the person or family, the dog, the problem(s) they are having, what they have tried so far and any training, class or private, they have done. I have found ta\hat most people give pretty good information, within the scope of their knowledge. I always have some basic ideas of how I plan to approach the situation; I am also prepared to throw them out and start over when I assess the situation, if necessary. I always assume that people who take the time to call and set up an appointment and pay me to come really want to solve a problem or problems.
Recently I worked with a family who had a 3-4 year old dog, medium sized, of a breed with which I was not familiar. When we spoke on the phone, the woman told me that if she couldn't get the dog under control, she would be finding it a new home, even though the thought made her sad.
We had a good lesson. The whole family took turns, one at a time, working on the "come" command as well as walking on a leash without pulling. I did not see the extreme energy level that she spoke of on the phone. She took a few notes and got the family's buy-in on working daily with the dog.
When we spoke in my follow-up call, she said they were doing well.
A few weeks later she called to talk about the dog. She said the dog was still too hyper for her, and that she didn't have the time to run the dog several miles every morning, and was thinking she needed to give the dog to the breeder...what did I think? I told her that if the dog was not a good fit for her and her family, that was the best option, and certainly better than a shelter. She seemed very pleased with my answer, and wanted it affirmed several more times. At the end, she thanked me so much for all of my help!
Hindsight being what it is, I can't help but wonder if this was not what she wanted to do all along. Perhaps she didn't realize it, but she needed to work through a process to feel that she had done all that she could...I have no problem with that. In this case, that is what they needed from a dog trainer.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Terry Hawkins and Her Mixed Breed Stars!
When I sent out an email on the article I had just posted - Basketball vs Dog Training, I received the following comment back from my friend Terry Hawkins. She competes...VERY SUCCESSFULLY, in CPE Agility with her 2 mixed breed dogs, Lucky (now retired) and Chewie. Lucky has also earned her Mixed Breed Utility Dog Title (Obedience)
"I love this comparison. It's funny when you go back to foundation work with
a new dog how much of it becomes a type of dance with moves that feel
natural especially when you watch the newbies who are struggling to
understand how to do a front cross. I would have to say none of my dogs
would be considered "sexy" and Sharon can attest she did not expect a lot
out of my first agility dog Lucky but lots of practice and praise and she
retires a well titled canine with a lot of attitude. That repetition in
practice so it comes naturally under pressure is what it is all about. "
Several years ago, Terry and her dogs were featured in Clean Run Magazine. Here is a link to the article-click on Preview.
View the digital version here:
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cleanrun/1108/index.php?startpage=82
<http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cleanrun/1108/index.php?startpage=82&drml=g081103690775&drmp=ce7d4cd9>
Chewie and Lucky and Terry
Titles and Ribbons:
TACh C-ATE2 CT-ATE C-ATCH Chewie ExSN ExST ExWC ExJU ExFH ExCL EXJP TExST TExWC
MB-CD CGC MB-RAE2 MB-VX6, TAM, TMAG
C-ATE CT-ATE CS-ATE C-ATCH CT-ATCH CS-ATCH Lucky ExSN ExJP ExFH ExWC ExCL ExJU TExST
TExWC TExJU MB-UD CGC MB-RAE3 MB-VX6, TBAD, TG2
"I love this comparison. It's funny when you go back to foundation work with
a new dog how much of it becomes a type of dance with moves that feel
natural especially when you watch the newbies who are struggling to
understand how to do a front cross. I would have to say none of my dogs
would be considered "sexy" and Sharon can attest she did not expect a lot
out of my first agility dog Lucky but lots of practice and praise and she
retires a well titled canine with a lot of attitude. That repetition in
practice so it comes naturally under pressure is what it is all about. "
Several years ago, Terry and her dogs were featured in Clean Run Magazine. Here is a link to the article-click on Preview.
View the digital version here:
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cleanrun/1108/index.php?startpage=82
<http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cleanrun/1108/index.php?startpage=82&drml=g081103690775&drmp=ce7d4cd9>
Chewie and Lucky and Terry
Titles and Ribbons:
MB-CD CGC MB-RAE2 MB-VX6, TAM, TMAG
C-ATE CT-ATE CS-ATE C-ATCH CT-ATCH CS-ATCH Lucky ExSN ExJP ExFH ExWC ExCL ExJU TExST
TExWC TExJU MB-UD CGC MB-RAE3 MB-VX6, TBAD, TG2
Friday, March 29, 2013
Basketball and Dog Training-What Do They have In Common
Below is an article I found today. I am not really a big basketball fan. I didn't watch this game. I have never even seen a photo of the coach. So why did I print this in my blog? Because the concepts embraced by this coach are the same ones that apply to agility or obedience training and competition. Many times people think they must have a specific breed of dog or special skills or be a super athelete to be successful. While some of these dogs are showy (or, maybe as the basketball article states, "sexy"), it is not a guarentee for success. What will make you successful in the dog sport of your choice is working with your dog, practicing skills, like front and rear crosses and weave poles and contacts for agility, or straight fronts and finishes and polished heeling and handling for
obedience and rally. I have had students who didn't have expensive dogs...most of my students have rescue dogs...and they have gone on to be successful, in part because of their hard work, but also because I told them they could do it! It just takes showing up every day and ringing the bell!
Enjoy.
The perception making the rounds lately is that college basketball needs more sexy. The game’s too boring; the coaches are too controlling; the best players never hang around for more than a year or two.
In this view, a team like Florida Gulf Coast, with its Dunk City meme and its historic Sweet 16 run, is the antidote to un-sexy basketball. So is a team like Indiana (the resurgence of a blueblood, the emergence of a charismatic and athletic star like Victor Oladipo). So is a team like Michigan (another blueblood’s resurgence, and the emergence of a preternaturally mature point guard in Trey Burke). And so is a team like Miami (the South Beach allure, the toss-it-off-the-glass alley oop, the sighting of LeBron and D-Wade in the stands).
At least, so was a team like Miami, until Thursday night, when the sexy Hurricanes fell flat on their faces in the school’s second-ever Sweet 16 appearance, falling to Marquette 71-61.
Buzz Williams is not sexy. The Marquette coach might be the exact opposite of sexy. Look up “sexy” in the dictionary and there’s an excellent chance, right next to where it says “antonym of sexy,” you’ll see Williams’ pasty, round mug and shaved head.
Buzz Williams has been known to coach games wearing plaid blazers that look as if they were sheared off your grandmother’s couch. Buzz Williams dips pouches of chewing tobacco in a sport that, unlike baseball, doesn’t exactly have a dipping culture. Buzz Williams looks as if he’s more fit to play Curly Howard in a “Three Stooges” remake than play the suave coaching genius. A video of Buzz Williams dancing near the bench after a dunk by his team was seen by 1.8 million people when it was posted on YouTube. This was not because Buzz Williams knows how to dance — not in any way, shape or form.
Buzz Williams’ teams do not play sexy basketball. Instead, they grind. They shove. They out-tough. They work hard for a layup in the paint instead of launching the 3 with 20 seconds left on the shot clock.
They also happen to win.
The utter lack of sexy basketball that Williams preaches was on display Thursday night, when his team took on the heretofore sexy and exciting Hurricanes and beat all the sexy out of them for 40 minutes straight. Marquette had four players in double-digits but no one with more than 16 points. Marquette shot a total of six 3-pointers all game, which is no surprise, since Marquette ranks 333rd of Division I’s 347 teams in percentage of points that comes from 3-pointers. Miami, on the other hand, shot 26 3-pointers, and its eight makes were the only reason the final score was close in a game that was never anywhere near that close.
“All the things we wanted to do — keep them out of the paint with their drives, keep them off the offensive boards, find the open man on our end and make some 3’s — we weren’t able to do any of those things,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said after the game. “You ever have days where you’re just out of sync? Where things don’t run along smoothly? Almost like our trip over here. Our hotel is a mile and a half away; it took us 45 minutes to get here. We had to go on nine different streets, weaving our way in and out, traffic and everything. That’s kind of how it seemed on the court. We were trying to find our way and never could.”
You could listen to Larranaga’s explanation and think, hey, Miami just didn’t have it tonight. The ’Canes kept taking good shots that nearly went in before popping back out. They were missing their leading rebounder, Reggie Johnson, their mountain of a center. Their point guard, Shane Larkin, had been throwing up the night before with an illness.
Or you could look at what really happened on the court: Marquette imposed its toughness upon a more talented, more hyped, more sexy team. This has been Marquette all season. The Golden Eagles haven’t done anything particularly well. They’re not the best shooting team, not the best defensive team, not the best team at penetrating the defense. They are pretty good at offensive rebounding, the ultimate statistic of toughness.
No, the only thing this team has done especially well is win.
“Toughness means to us getting up and showing up every day,” said forward Jamil Wilson, who had a team-high 16 points and eight rebounds. “Buzz’s favorite quote is, ‘Get up and ring the bell every day.’ We build toughness by going every day into practice and practicing hard. Trying not to give a day away, a shot away, a rep away. Because in the end of the day you’re gonna need that rep.”
They didn’t really need that rep on Thursday, because this game was won by halftime. It was won in the image of their short, sort-of pudgy, occasionally irascible, never-sexy coach. They didn’t look the part of an Elite Eight team in any way except their grit and grind, but through that grit and grind, they became an Elite Eight team.
The character of this team was formed before a game was played this season; not because it signed a bevy of five-star recruits, but instead because of something Williams calls his boot camp.
Click here to check on the status of your bracket.
“It’s not really something you can explain in words,” Wilson said. “A whole lot of shoes squeaking, a whole lot of yelling, some guys falling out, a lot of barfing. But in the end of the day it’s well worth it. Coach says it, before boot camp starts, ‘It’s where we’re going to be made as a team. It’s where you guys are going to show your true colors.’ ”
Marquette showed its true colors on Thursday night, as did Williams. He knows his team isn’t a sexy team. He says he doesn’t want to be known as a coaching genius, doesn’t want his team known for being a tactical team, but would rather just be known as the toughest team out there. After the game, Williams talked about his rough edge. He’s not always kind to reporters. On game days, he pointed out, he’s not even kind to his family, because he’s so focused on winning that game.
He doesn’t really care if you think he’s isn’t refined enough, or question whether his team plays pretty enough.
“Regardless of the perception of me, of our team, whether we’re supposed to win, whether it’s supposed to be an ugly game — in the end none of those things matter,” Williams said after the game, having changed from his suit into a dumpy white polo. “What matters is the trust that was involved by most of those single-parent moms that said, ‘Buzz, I trust ya. Take care of my boy. ‘Cause he’s all I got.’ So regardless of my attitude toward you guys, I have to be accountable to those mothers. And in the end, that’s how I’m going to be judged.”
No, it really isn’t sexy, not at all. Instead, Buzz Williams and his Marquette team are something far more powerful, far more lasting, and far more meaningful, too.
Follow Reid Forgrave on Twitter @ReidForgrave or email him at ReidForgrave@gmail.com.
obedience and rally. I have had students who didn't have expensive dogs...most of my students have rescue dogs...and they have gone on to be successful, in part because of their hard work, but also because I told them they could do it! It just takes showing up every day and ringing the bell!
Enjoy.
The perception making the rounds lately is that college basketball needs more sexy. The game’s too boring; the coaches are too controlling; the best players never hang around for more than a year or two.
BEAT THE EXPERT
Check out FOXSports.com college basketball writer Reid Forgrave's bracket and see how yours stacks up.In this view, a team like Florida Gulf Coast, with its Dunk City meme and its historic Sweet 16 run, is the antidote to un-sexy basketball. So is a team like Indiana (the resurgence of a blueblood, the emergence of a charismatic and athletic star like Victor Oladipo). So is a team like Michigan (another blueblood’s resurgence, and the emergence of a preternaturally mature point guard in Trey Burke). And so is a team like Miami (the South Beach allure, the toss-it-off-the-glass alley oop, the sighting of LeBron and D-Wade in the stands).
At least, so was a team like Miami, until Thursday night, when the sexy Hurricanes fell flat on their faces in the school’s second-ever Sweet 16 appearance, falling to Marquette 71-61.
Buzz Williams is not sexy. The Marquette coach might be the exact opposite of sexy. Look up “sexy” in the dictionary and there’s an excellent chance, right next to where it says “antonym of sexy,” you’ll see Williams’ pasty, round mug and shaved head.
Buzz Williams has been known to coach games wearing plaid blazers that look as if they were sheared off your grandmother’s couch. Buzz Williams dips pouches of chewing tobacco in a sport that, unlike baseball, doesn’t exactly have a dipping culture. Buzz Williams looks as if he’s more fit to play Curly Howard in a “Three Stooges” remake than play the suave coaching genius. A video of Buzz Williams dancing near the bench after a dunk by his team was seen by 1.8 million people when it was posted on YouTube. This was not because Buzz Williams knows how to dance — not in any way, shape or form.
Buzz Williams’ teams do not play sexy basketball. Instead, they grind. They shove. They out-tough. They work hard for a layup in the paint instead of launching the 3 with 20 seconds left on the shot clock.
They also happen to win.
The utter lack of sexy basketball that Williams preaches was on display Thursday night, when his team took on the heretofore sexy and exciting Hurricanes and beat all the sexy out of them for 40 minutes straight. Marquette had four players in double-digits but no one with more than 16 points. Marquette shot a total of six 3-pointers all game, which is no surprise, since Marquette ranks 333rd of Division I’s 347 teams in percentage of points that comes from 3-pointers. Miami, on the other hand, shot 26 3-pointers, and its eight makes were the only reason the final score was close in a game that was never anywhere near that close.
“All the things we wanted to do — keep them out of the paint with their drives, keep them off the offensive boards, find the open man on our end and make some 3’s — we weren’t able to do any of those things,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said after the game. “You ever have days where you’re just out of sync? Where things don’t run along smoothly? Almost like our trip over here. Our hotel is a mile and a half away; it took us 45 minutes to get here. We had to go on nine different streets, weaving our way in and out, traffic and everything. That’s kind of how it seemed on the court. We were trying to find our way and never could.”
You could listen to Larranaga’s explanation and think, hey, Miami just didn’t have it tonight. The ’Canes kept taking good shots that nearly went in before popping back out. They were missing their leading rebounder, Reggie Johnson, their mountain of a center. Their point guard, Shane Larkin, had been throwing up the night before with an illness.
Or you could look at what really happened on the court: Marquette imposed its toughness upon a more talented, more hyped, more sexy team. This has been Marquette all season. The Golden Eagles haven’t done anything particularly well. They’re not the best shooting team, not the best defensive team, not the best team at penetrating the defense. They are pretty good at offensive rebounding, the ultimate statistic of toughness.
No, the only thing this team has done especially well is win.
“Toughness means to us getting up and showing up every day,” said forward Jamil Wilson, who had a team-high 16 points and eight rebounds. “Buzz’s favorite quote is, ‘Get up and ring the bell every day.’ We build toughness by going every day into practice and practicing hard. Trying not to give a day away, a shot away, a rep away. Because in the end of the day you’re gonna need that rep.”
They didn’t really need that rep on Thursday, because this game was won by halftime. It was won in the image of their short, sort-of pudgy, occasionally irascible, never-sexy coach. They didn’t look the part of an Elite Eight team in any way except their grit and grind, but through that grit and grind, they became an Elite Eight team.
The character of this team was formed before a game was played this season; not because it signed a bevy of five-star recruits, but instead because of something Williams calls his boot camp.
FOX BRACKET CHALLENGE
The tournament has kicked off.Click here to check on the status of your bracket.
“It’s not really something you can explain in words,” Wilson said. “A whole lot of shoes squeaking, a whole lot of yelling, some guys falling out, a lot of barfing. But in the end of the day it’s well worth it. Coach says it, before boot camp starts, ‘It’s where we’re going to be made as a team. It’s where you guys are going to show your true colors.’ ”
Marquette showed its true colors on Thursday night, as did Williams. He knows his team isn’t a sexy team. He says he doesn’t want to be known as a coaching genius, doesn’t want his team known for being a tactical team, but would rather just be known as the toughest team out there. After the game, Williams talked about his rough edge. He’s not always kind to reporters. On game days, he pointed out, he’s not even kind to his family, because he’s so focused on winning that game.
He doesn’t really care if you think he’s isn’t refined enough, or question whether his team plays pretty enough.
“Regardless of the perception of me, of our team, whether we’re supposed to win, whether it’s supposed to be an ugly game — in the end none of those things matter,” Williams said after the game, having changed from his suit into a dumpy white polo. “What matters is the trust that was involved by most of those single-parent moms that said, ‘Buzz, I trust ya. Take care of my boy. ‘Cause he’s all I got.’ So regardless of my attitude toward you guys, I have to be accountable to those mothers. And in the end, that’s how I’m going to be judged.”
No, it really isn’t sexy, not at all. Instead, Buzz Williams and his Marquette team are something far more powerful, far more lasting, and far more meaningful, too.
Follow Reid Forgrave on Twitter @ReidForgrave or email him at ReidForgrave@gmail.com.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Patches-A Puppy Story
When Patches first joined puppy class in late 2012, he was afraid of everything...especially dogs and people. he screamed and barked for several of his first classes. His tail was clamped tightly against his body as he hid behind his Mom, Jessica. He was so scared that he wouldn't eat...not even the tastiest of treats. Any attempt at socialization with other puppies impossible!
In his second session, things finally started to turn around. Each victory,no matter how small, was a celebration...less barking, tail up, able to focus and work...and eat treats, and finally able to be near other pups without growling, barking or carrying on.
At home his progress was equally dramatic, like the week Jessica came in and told me that the vet was able to touch Patches and carry him into the back room. or, the fact that he escaped into the neighbor's back yard but came the first time he was called!!
We provided the structure for Jessica and Patches to work and grow, but it was their hard work that made the difference.He is a lucky little dog to have such a wonderful home! And now on to try some agility!
Friday, March 15, 2013
Puppies Visit The Park
Please visit our website: www.tailswagg.com to hear their story and see their photos.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Doing "The Wrap"
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| Pictured L to R - Ron & Scout, Cindy & Star and Sarah & Bella all practice "the wrap" Not pictured (due to operator error) are Korie and Roen and Kim & Maggie..I'll get you guys tonight! |
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