Dear Linda, I just wanted to say on behalf of the Committee and the Charity, a huge thank you for arranging for the girls to perform for us. We were all most impressed and the performance was splendid, especially considering the girl's ages, Excellent.

Please pass on my thanks to Sheila and Pauline for their sponsorship on the day, I thought the girls were super, most professional, and with all the waiting around the dogs must have been at their wits end.

My you have been busy, it is a super site and thank you for your link to mine.

A big thank you to Linda for one of the best "Training Days" we can remember, Linda you can always spot the problem, be it with the dog, the handler or both, more importantly you can come up with the correct solution in terms of performance which is instantly obvious to the handler and the spectators.

Linda's skills were matched by Loughborough Dog Training Club's organisation and outstanding hospitality, together they made for an excellent and enjoyable day.

Sorry not to spot you at Cruft's. You should have come over to say hello. I

was incredibly busy on all four days, rushing between the various breed

rings and the Special Events Ring, and also recording bits for the BBC and

then doing the commentaries live each evening. But, as ever it was great

The Best in Show is the most lovely little chap - I know that Peke's

aren't everyone's cup of tea, but this one is absolutely the tops, and after

two previous reserve BIS, I think he deserved the top honour. No dog in any

breed has ever before won its group three years running, so it was special

Hope you enjoyed the show. And thank you for all your help with The Contest

of Champions.Click Here I gather your Juniors are all organised.

Yes you may certainly put my ideas on the judging question on your website.

I think the root of the matter is that in most canine activities there are

so many dogs who can do all the exercises to a very high standard. There is

so little to choose between them that the judge is reduced to splitting

hairs to find a winner. In such a situation is the traditional judging for a

winner practical? Times change and what might have worked before may not be

Also remember Click and Treat. I think that should apply to the Handler as

well as the dog. After all we are not really so very different from our dogs.

Yes I was going by personal experience. I foolishly allowed a trainer to

push Rooskie to the very limit. (I have been long enough in dogs to have

known better so it is partly my fault and I feel guilty). By the time the

said instructor was finished with us we were BOTH nervous wrecks.

Then recently, I was able to take Rooskie to a small class taken by an NCDL

behaviourist. What a difference. She does not bother telling handlers how

good/awful they are. She just gets on with the job. Rooskie was a different

dog. He settled down at once and worked beautifully. At the big class he

will not do a stay unless the lead is left trailing but at the class run by

the behaviourist he did the stays with the lead off and looked completely

We now go to both classes but at the big class I take care now not to do

exercises which I know will upset my dog. And one instructor now lets me

choose my own distance for recall etc. Once he got me rather flustered with

the result that, doing an A recall, I lost my balance and landed in a heap

at his feet. I was not hurt but he got a shock and has been rather different

But one good thing from that class. One instructor made a point of getting

the dogs socialised with children. She borrowed children and got them to pat

the dogs with the result that Rooskie is good with children. With one

proviso. As long as they don't hurt him. And at the big class I get more

(Incidentally despite the above, Rooskie has the K.C. Bronze and Silver Good

Citizen. No one at the class can understand why but the test circumstances

The chief instructor also disapproves of behaviourists. I don't know why as

the behaviourist who runs the small class has helped me a lot --

particularly with Rooskie's off lead work -- and it was also a behaviourist

who got Rooskie walking backwards. At a weekend course in the Peak

You say that unqualified/unregistered people can be brilliant trainers. I

quite agree. But the question is How do you know? If a trainer has a

qualification you know something about her right from the start. But so many

instructors are completely unknown quantities. And people innocently taking

their dogs to these classes will not know what is being done to their dogs.

I have a friend who is very bitter. She has a rescue Chihuahua. If she

stroked it would suddenly bite. The chief instructor told her to keep the

lead on and when it tried to bite to yank it up in the air and shout No. She

did it only twice because her husband said it was cruel. Then she gave it to

someone who took it to the vet who found that it had something wrong with a

disc and when stroked that hurt it. The little dog is now fine with its new

owner but my friend feels both bitter and guilty. But she thought the

instructor knew all about dogs and so she did what she was told.

Incidentally, at the small class the behaviourist has an assistant

instructor -- a French girl who brings her own collie. It is interesting to

Rooskie and I are both recent -- and very enthusiastic --converts to clicker

trainer training. Done by remote control by means of books and videos.

Oops Mary, I think you will be picked up on your comments about unregistered

classes could do a lot of harm. I think every viewpoint is based on personal

experience, I know a tremendous amount of people who do work with their dogs

and teach training, they are not registered, they are brilliant!

From reading your email I think the instructor you are referring to actually

fails because she does not keep an open mind on the subject, just the length

of time a person has been training does not make them perfect,You have to be

prepared to learn for ever, both from your dogs and your pupils.

When I was first starting to learn about sheepdog training I went to a chap

who was registered with the ATB, he was really awful taking one girl for

half an hour and asking me to train the others, I declined. Conversely I

went to a chap in Wales and watched in complete awe as he worked two dogs on

a huge field, as I stood next to him I could only just hear his commands.

He wasn't registered, he did know his job, even more he was willing to share

Since I raised this subject, it has not once received a positive

Everyone has held to their confirmed points of view without offering any

I raised the subject to empower judges, and subsequently competitors.

standard. That is determined at the outset by an agreed criteria, and

While it is true that Freestyle (in part) is subjective, there is a strong

possibility that unless well worded regulations are introduced, there will

be less variety than at present........because wins/awards will go to the

That encourages even further extremes, an example is "high" work, at the

Few of the heavier and larger breeds can consistently perform this sort of

work, so should a system encourage (even incrementally) the possible long

Now some do it naturally,(poodles, some toy breeds, amongst others)

structurally sound dogs maybe taught it, but is that any reason to

encourage it, by either awarding a dubiously high value to the move, or allowing a

This is a judges dilemma........those dogs that can and do will probably

come to no harm........but what about those that are being "motivated" in

training, practicing for many hours, to perform actions that in the long

Now I can hear the argument....good owners won't do anything like

that......fine, that means that to be competively successful, certain

Already we hear, people say that they are not that bothered about "winning"

but would like to be awarded for their efforts, but before that can happen

there has to be a consensus on what merits an award. If a majority go for

a "no judging" option, then the attraction for the competitive members will be lost.

The argument is that we cannot change present judging systems, because

difficult decisions have to be made...... who assesses the assessors?......

and what is "heelwork"?............define repetition....(add your own list).

Everyone who partakes of this sport is a judge. Why did you pick a

particular piece of music? Why did you discard others? Every time you add,

subtract, or move one element in your routine because it doesn't fit /feel right, you're judging.

Everytime you watch someone else work and think that was great, or don't

As a judge , what are the criteria you are applying..........Answer that

question and that 's what the regulations for HTM and Freestyle should

contain. They are not supposed to be a hidden Masonic ritual, only

available to the initiated, guarded and hoarded, they are for the benefit

of everyone taking part, written and applied with common sense and understanding.

I have only just come into this conversation so probably should not be

I think the subject of training and the rules goes a little deeper than

starting at the judging/showing level. It starts when a person walks into a

club and says I want to teach my dog heelwork to music or canine freestyle -

As an instructor - and this is after all where most people begin with our

sport - the first words out of my mouth are "I will not let you do anything

that is detrimental to your dog" and then go on to explain that some dogs

will be able to do something's and not be able to do others; this is

dependant on the dog AND handlers ability, age, breed (the dogs not the

handlers!!) etc. At present I train an 85 year old woman who competes at

events with a German Spitz and I have also trained disabled children to have

fun with their pets, as well as the average person. Some want to compete

and some don't but we all have in common one thing - we all enjoy our dogs,

The good thing about our sport is that it does attract the other breeds

other than the collies (and I am a collie owner so can say this). But we

must all be sensible about this. The rules and regulations might say for

instance that my dog must be able to hold a pose position, such as a beg for

several seconds, to be able to pass an award or compete in a particular

class but if my dog is not physically capable of doing that I simply do not

enter him in that class - there are other classes and other talents he can

demonstrate quite adequately. We must all have targets or goals to head

As an instructor, handler and judge, of course I am guided by the rules of

whatever event I am attending but again its my choice. If I feel happy that

the wording of the rules of the event act as a clear guideline to the

competitor then I am happy to support the event and its organisers in any

way I can. However, if I am not I simply do not give them the time of day.

The rules and regulations must allow for personal interpretation of the

handler in order to allow the creativity of our sport to continue. You

simply can not have a definition of every word or phrase in a rule book -

its too binding and quite frankly not necessary. I do agree that the rules

must be carefully worded and not be too much open to interpretation because

I feel you use the word "judging" too much. That is my opinion not me

judging you as a person. I also disagree that judges need "empowering"

quite the opposite - if they are not sure about the rules they are attending

the event under then they should not be there in the first place. I believe

in order to judge you must have had the guts to have trained and worked your

dog in the environment you are judging at - that way you not only have the

rules to guide you but you also have empathy with the handler. Knowing the

difficulties of training different breeds I feel also helps. What I am

trying to say in a very long winded way is, I feel you are putting too much

emphasis on the rules side when there are other factors to also be taken

Gina has raised an important point. She says that, as an instructor, she

That is all very well with instructors who know what they are doing.

But this is not the case with ALL dog classes. At present anyone at all can

start up a dog class without any training at all. I have experienced some

appalling instructors myself. Often it seems that an appearance in Crufts

Obedience is taken as meaning that that person knows ALL about dogs -- even

if this appearance is just in the area competition. But of course Crufts is

I attend a class (just to get Rooskie used to working in a different

atmosphere). The head instructor said she had been an instructor for 35

years -- and had not changed her methods basically since the day she

started. So I had to learn about clicker training etc from instructional

The dog class situation is one we MUST monitor carefully. In a few years

time dog classes may start to "do" HTM and Freestyle. In some cases I

I don't know the answer but we should be aware of this because unqualified

I know there are qualifications for dog instructors just now -- Institute of

Behaviourists, APDT etc. But they are not well known. Perhaps a simple

umbrella qualification is called for --- in addition to the present ones.

But how do you tell the owners who go to their local dog class about it?

Most of the owners at one of the classes I go to will not know about

And then there is no way in which an unregistered dog class can be stopped

A tricky situation. But we should at least be aware of it as an unregistered

class could do a lot of damage -- and, as I have already said, give

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