Years Gone By
It is difficult to pin point the year, but I remember the event as clear as it was yesterday, compliments of a great long-term memory (not to be confused with a good memory for last week). It had to be in the early to mid 90’s.
It was a dog weekend, one held at a training school west of Toronto. We were all there to hear a presentation by Ian Dunbar amongst others. The one thing that has stuck with me all these years was not the information presented, but the feeling that I got during the dog games. I was there with my 6 month old Border Terrier, Preston. He was a great little dog, but not nearly as skilled as his more experienced competitors. The games consisted of many components requiring certain skills. Then, a miracle happened! There was a “best kisser” game. And you guessed it, Preston in all his exuberant glory won.
It wasn’t the winning that was the icing on the cake, it was the event, the feeling of joy from receiving a ribbon. Sounds a bit silly, but it was a light bulb moment for me. I realized that if I felt that way, so would our clients and so a shift in our training methods began. I say began because the evolution has never ended, thank goodness.
This was also the start of my many experiences with Ian Dunbar, a true pioneer in the art of teaching dogs.
Over the years I have attended many of his weekend lectures, and managed to have a few discussions over coffee along the way. But the next great event was the Puppy All-Star Games (aka K9 Games), held at one of the largest dog shows in Toronto. This could have been a disaster, as it was geared for dog training schools and groups to compete against each other in…you guessed it…dog games! And yes, we felt that our school, Who’s Walking Who, would excel. We practiced, trained and strategize before the big weekend and upon winning that first year, we were hooked.
When year 2 of the games approached, we saw more competition and dog training skill elevated. We always kept in mind that these were games, and although we wanted to defend our title, we were far more interested in having fun. And what fun we all had. All of us, all the trainers from all the teams. While it was competitive, it was all done with a fabulous spirit and a lot of laughter. We were once again the champs of year 2.
By year three we were the team to beat and while we stuck with our team consisting of a Yorkshire terrier, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, a Sheltie, a couple of JRT’s and a few talented mixed breeds, we came in a respectable second to a team of Border collies ☺
It was an honor to be asked by Ian and Kelly Dunbar to participate in Dog Star Daily and I hope to open up discussion amongst both dog trainers and the public and promote fair, kind, motivational, thoughtful and respectful training…a gift to all our dogs.
Thanks for reading.
