<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> I'll be sure I warn the helpers that this is the new policy.

My husband and I have decided to purchase a few of the Leerburg videos and work with her on our own until we find a good club. All the suggestions I've gotten will be helpful when we do begin to look. Unfortunately, I've heard bad things about the TD for the club I asked about in my original post, so I decided not to bother going.

Ok, Ed. Tell your choreographer the Helper Shooting segment goes like this:
Novice owner brings pup/young/green dog to field for 1st time. Helper is hiding in wooden blind. Helper starts hitting blind w/stick making noise, yelling, screaming, coming straight at the dog, waves stick at dog. Dog a)hides behind owner or b) comes out lunging and snarling.
Ok to shoot now . . .

Just to be sure I'm communicating this correctly, what I *meant* was a helper who would put defense on a dog *before* the dog had a good prey foundation first.
Never claimed to be a diplomat . . .

Have any of you ever heard of John F. English?

Joy:

If you plan on becoming a Diplomat you can talk to Brendan. His way with words is quite unique. Only kidding Brendan.

Vince, I only have a diploma in 'diplomacy'.
Josh has a bachelors degree and Ed has a PhD. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

TRAINERS:
I have seen and experienced the trainers treating his/her students like complete idiots when they make stupid mistakes which are only
normal for an amateur. Rome wasnt build in a day and the social interactions between handler and trainer is very important. They create stressfull situations for the inexperienced handlers and that stress gets inadvertably reflected onto the dog. If dog training is becoming a emotional crucifiction
for the handler the dog will sense it and react accordingly.
Its ironic that some trainers have the worlds patience with dogs but when it comes to training handlers they have no patience whatsoever.
If your trainer is constantly breaking you down, belittle you and are generally egotistic and patronising how would you ever gain confidence to train your dog. A good teacher is humble, patient and inspiring but also strict and fair.
These are universal qualities of teaching and
applies as much to handler training as to any
other field of learning.
A egotistic, untactfull, narrowminded and dictator of a teacher only has one place: a character in Pink Floyd's Wall

my 2 cents

Here I go again. Playing the Devil’s Advocate. I have met 2 or three people who I would call “experts” in protection training in my life. Each one had one thing in common. They told things as it is and did not care if you liked them or not. Let’s say Mrs. manners would not feature them in her articles. I think this is because they see the same mistakes made day in and day out for sometimes 30 or more years. Along with the newcomer who thinks he knows everything (I being the only exception of course). It desensitizes you after a while. So my point is if you take manners and political correctness as the highest priority you are narrowing the field down quite a bit. Just be aware!

Now Vince... All of the experienced, knowledgeable dog trainers I have ever met have been soft-spoken gentlemen/gentlewomen whose first concern is the delicate emotions of their clientele. That holds ESPECIALLY true for the man who runs this board! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Peter said that Ed not me. You spell Felknor F-E-L-K-N-O-R. His email address is ...

Ps. One more note. Training a puppy and training a mature dog are two seperate sciences. One of those two experts that I mentioned I would not fully trust with my puppy. But if I retire with 10% of his skills on a muture dog I would have reached my goals. Just a thought.