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Instructors And Obedience Clubs


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Have just read the Hypo Border Collie at Obedience Story.

I understand your and the BC Owners concerns. However, speaking from experience, fundamentally, Obedience Clubs are volunteer organisations. Man power is always hard to get, and unfortuneately, the demand for capable Instructors can be quite hard to fill. It is sad when Clubs get set in their ways, don't want to change because it's easier to remain "safe" with what they know. So it leaves the STALE WARTs, whoops, the Stalworts to keep the Club floating, having alienated newer, and often experienced forward thinking people, whose knowledge should have been put to good use.

What then happens is that the Club recruits people as Instructors who have limited experiences, generally having ever trained one dog, to take Classes, because they have shot themselves in the foot so to speak, and are desperate to to Man the Classes for People needing learn how to train a dog for the first time.

These inexperienced Instructors, don't have the insight of problem solving, know little about different Breed Traits, and obviously, in your case, have not a sense of Leadership, or discretion.

Your concerns should be expressed to the Chief Intstructor or Committee, and alternate arrangements should be made to help a person with extra needs. It is not easy at the best of times, starting off with a novice owner and unruly dog. It is so frustrating for all concerned to work in a group situation. If a Club is worth anything, they should nurture these people, give them the time and help they require, because it is these people with the difficult dogs, that will eventually make a better instructor down the track, because they have learned first hand, the hard way. I hope the BC lady sticks it out, learns to master the art and go on to succeed in whatever wants to do with the dog.

Irene

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hi Irene

Yup its an ongoing battle to find experienced epople willing to give up their time to help out at a club we are trying to develope a course at present that will give our instructors a good toolbox to go int class with and make sure thye are egtting the ongoing suport they need but this takes a lot of soemones time and then we all want to trian our own dogs too

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Sadly only negative reports seemed to be viewed about clubs. I have belonged to several over the years and like everyone else met the good , the bad and the ugly instructors but I've also met some fantastic ones along the way. Most clubs are run by volunteers who have perhaps trained several of their dogs and that's the limit of their own dog training abilities and occasionally you get lucky and there will be one or two instructors who do have the talent and or qualifications.

The truth is as always 'you get what you pay for' if you really want value for money in training your dog its better to seek out a really well qualified private trainer and pay that money for quality education. Once you know what you're doing and have good control of the dog then go join the dog clubs and have fun and share your knowledge. The clubs at the end of the day do provide a great deal to the doggy community by offering some level of education, activities such as agility and obedience competition. Plus I think we all have to give credit that running a club is work intensive and none of these people are paid.

Hi caninecoach and Zhara I posted the above on another topic listed. :rofl: I know where you're coming from it is time consuming and like those attending clubs to learn those that put their hands up to teach also want time with their own dogs. Its the same in most clubs though - always the same few doing the work :mad

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This Saturday I am taking my first obedience class, as in instructor.

I pray, I make it fun!!!!. I will remember to praise the owners too, hopefully.

Good Onya,

I hope you enjoy yourself, I always do!

Best of luck!

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hi Zhara

i'm assuming your post was in responce to the other thred started by me? if so good and bad news. the border colly owner has started to gain controll over the dog and has got the dog into herding :( , unfortunatly i had to place a head coller on the dog :laugh: this lowered it's reactivness to a leaval that they could work with. the dog hasn't compleatly shut down and can still work just not overly happy about the thing across its nose.

the bad news, i have decided to leave the club, i can't stand the way they run the club and the dogs that they are giving a pass i would have repeat the class again. i'm not asking much i just wan't to see dogs not pulling their owners over (even with head collers on), and when doing heel work actually heeling in a relativly close position to a heel not pulling out in front of their owner. sorry i'm disapointed with this club however they are offering education and to the ones that don't fall through their program great!

Zhara in the first post you are right on so many leavels, this club is volunteer based, they have been recrooting from low leavels within the club to make up instructor leavels. this incadent was descused with the uper leavels of the club and i was toled that, that instructor wasn't their any more some thing i found out today not to be true. i basicaly feall that this club will brush any one to the side if they have a difficult dog :vomit: and i'm not in a position to stop it from happining. :rofl:

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Well Petmezz,

Happy to hear BC lady has found a niche, the lunar tick dogs are usually the more intelligent ones with the wrong "Programme in Life".

Do not denigrate the Club, if they can help one person there is hope. Oneday someone will join in, someone they do not feel threatened by, they will gain the Stalewarts trust and move them into the future!

This is what YOU do next! You sit back, let them s#@t in their own nest. You train your doggie well, enter Trials etc..., and if they have any end of year awards, you simply win them all.

We have proven this one to work time and time again. And just when they think you have disappeared, you come in with another dog and blitz it again, if you can't have another dog, you would probabely have met someone, somewhere and you give them tuition and they go and win everything! Get the picture?

People tend to want to mix with other people that do well! You become the "In person" to be associated with (be genuine and honest to yourself). Your results will prove that you know your stuff. Everyone meets users and losers along the way, choose to be with genuine people, build strength through them, it's up to you to be a Winner!

Don't let anyone spoil you enjoyment of your Hobby.

I don't wish to come across sour, I've been around it while! I move on, I don't forget, I just move on! I make it good for me, and the people that annoy me, can't annoy me anymore, because they have a problem, not me! I laugh, I choose who I help, and I enjoy my Hobby!

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hi Zhara

Don't let anyone spoil you enjoyment of your Hobby.

just a note dogs are not just a hobby for me, they are my life. i have been doing a profesional dog training course, i do volunteir work in a pound, i instruct at one club, i use to assist at another, i compeat in sledding, i work as a privat dog trainer, i have apparently been nominated to a commity positition at a obediance club (some thing about refusing to use their techniques and getting my husky through 3 leavels in one term) i'm hoping to open my dog day care center some time in the future. do you get the idear that i'm dog obsessed :( .

the club will become a great club, they just need to get some quality trainers in their, but if they keep isolating people well......... not much anyone can do.

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hi Zhara
Don't let anyone spoil you enjoyment of your Hobby.

just a note dogs are not just a hobby for me, they are my life. i have been doing a profesional dog training course, i do volunteir work in a pound, i instruct at one club, i use to assist at another, i compeat in sledding, i work as a privat dog trainer, i have apparently been nominated to a commity positition at a obediance club (some thing about refusing to use their techniques and getting my husky through 3 leavels in one term) i'm hoping to open my dog day care center some time in the future. do you get the idear that i'm dog obsessed :( .

the club will become a great club, they just need to get some quality trainers in their, but if they keep isolating people well......... not much anyone can do.

That's what I'm talking about! May your light shine brightly, and the Stars in your future shine on for a long, long time to come. My dogs are my life too. Zhara is my shining light, and leads the way for me. I love my son too, we share.

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Hi everyone, new to this forum and would just like to say hello. I have been involved with a few obedience clubs at all levels including instructing and committee level and quickly found out that running a club was a lot more involved than just turning up with your pooch on a Sunday morning. What most club members dont realize is the amount of work/disagreements/paperwork/dummyspits/compromising etc,etc that goes on behind the scenes. While most are willing to turn up to train, most dont want to help out and the only way to change this problem is for the unhappy club members to get themselves into the clubs at commitee/Instructor level and help change them. It has been frustrating over the years to see people leaving clubs because they dont like an instructor and I think that clubs need to address these areas with more bravado (taking in account that they are all volunteers) A lot of these club level problems that occur are because not all of the instuctors in any one club are on the same page with their methods. I Joined one Melbourne club last year as a handler only and was instucted so many different methods of the basics of each exersise through the different class levels that it would have made my head spin if I didn't know any better. I recently obtained a new dog (staffordshire) and found a small club closer to home and plan to trial around late November. He's going great guns with his work and we are just starting to apply the polish to hopfully make him a winner.

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I agree with what you say being on the instructor end of the stick can be frustrating and exhausting we have so many poilitics and sometimes you feel like you ar just hitting your head against the wall.

at present our cub is trying to take on board what the mebers want and keep them happy so they dont leave its amazing what a smile and a few kind words can do for soemones self esteem

Well done with your staffy look forward to seeing you around the melbourne tril scene in the future

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