I was emailing a new client today, and it made me think of 25+years ago when I was training at our local dog club. I remember watching people say they wanted to go to advanced classes and then watching the trainers tell them they had to do the prerequisites first. I remember thinking, “But that dog is so well behaved.” I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t let them move on. It felt like they were holding people back from their little “click” of trainers.
Fast forward to today, and now I’m the trainer telling people they have to do the prerequisites. 🤦‍♀️Of course, years of mentorship and trial and error have taught me that EVERY time I bump someone up to a class they aren’t ready for they are missing technical skills that would make them a better team. I have tried taking people from different training companies into my Therapy class only to find out the dog won’t walk on a loose leash without a pinch collar (which you should not use in therapy). We have other classes for that and other students end up getting held back from their best potential. I have dogs in agility that don’t know how to get from the door to the crate by their handlers’ side… and handlers that don’t know how to keep their dogs by them. I have seen dogs that do the A-Frame and have terrible stride regulation because they raised to full height too soon. Back down they go… I have seen show level obedience dogs that have no concept of their back feet. I could go on and on and on.
I guess my point is that we don’t make you take a class because your dog isn’t well-behaved or because you can’t get them to do cool stuff. It’s to fill in all the little things that can cause you to have to back up and reevaluate. Retraining a muscle memory behavior can be soooo difficult. Let your trainers help you teach it right the first time so you don’t end up wasting your money in the ring just to go back to square one and do what we suggested in the first place.
Show coaches really do want to see you succeed… and look good when you are doing it! A Q may be a Q, but we all know that a higher number makes us feel more accomplished than a squeak by number.
