Susan Garrett: «Your dog is a reflection of your ability as a trainer.»

Susan Garrett er velkjent for sitatet: Hunden din er et speilbilde av dine evner til å trene den…. I en mail til cleanrun’s mailingliste utbroderes dette litt mer, og jeg har uthevet noen av setningene jeg vil huske.

From: Clickerdogs@…
To: CleanRun@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, September 19, 2005 9:19 AM
Subject: [CleanRun] A dog IS a reflection of their trainers ability

Well, I have had a tough week, dealing with a family tragedy. I rarely read internet lists but wanting something to do that would take my mind from my troubles I decided to read. I wish I hadn’t. I let 2 days go by but felt I have to reply to this thread since I am the person who coined the phrase «Your dog is a reflection of your abilities as a trainer» I took this somewhat personally and didn’t want the meaning of this great training mantra to be lost.

For those of you that do not believe this statement is true (from the looks of it there are alot of you!) think of the first agility dog you trained. My first agility dog Shelby started her career with a run of 65 faults and it took us almost 2 years to get ONE leg in novice. I recently started my 18 month old puppy whose first ever run was a USDAA Grand Prix where she won the 22″ class. Her second trial was the Canadian Nationals were she came 4th in jumpers. Her third trial was in Northern California where she won the Steeplechase finals. Was I just lucky? Apparently some of you believe that is the case. Personally I believe the real reason behind my 5 year old DeCaff & my puppy Encore’s early success in the ring has to do with how much I now know about training agility vs what I knew 17 years ago when I started Shelby. These dogs reflect how much my understanding has grown in the past 17 years just as I trust your dogs have improved in agility over the years.

I started telling people their «dog is a reflection of their abilities……….» because of how saddened it made me to continually listen to students blaming their dog for mistakes they made due to a poor foundation of training or poor execution of handling. «My dog is just stupid, my dog is just a bad jumper, my dog doesn’t like contacts, my dog is just shut down, my dog is too wild, it is because he is from working lines, or I got him when he was 6 months old……..». The list is endless and is it unfair to the dog. By blaming the dog you won’t try to overcome the issue because you accept it as a short coming of your dogs—– therefore it has nothing to do with your training or the choices you made for the dog when he was growing up. It also makes it easy for you to «retire» the dog or worst yet «rehome» the dog in search of another dog that doesn’t have the same issue.

I am not saying dogs do not present different challenges to all of us. Was Buzz as easy to train as Encore. NO WAY! But Buzz does reflect my ability to train a very high border collie puppy that had little impulse control. I think I did a good job………but he also reflects my ability to get a dog to work without barking………..I did a lousy job (as he screams when he does agility).

Your «rescue dog» reflects your ability to overcome issues and train a «rescue» perhaps you can’t let go of what kind of start your dog may have been given and so you continue to lament «but he is a rescue dog». Many people  are brilliant when it comes to letting go of the past and you may never know their dog is a rescue unless you ask— hence they are able to bring out all of the potential out of that dog. Does this mean they will be a National Champion? Who knows, who cares! What it does mean is that they did the best with the potential they were given and they didn’t rely on an excuse of the dog’s limitiation to justify what they didn’t do.

Your «shy» dog or «high» dog or «terrier» or «sighthound» reflects your ability to train just that. Do you find yourself justifying all of your dog’s issues but telling people about what your feel are your dog’s limitations or do you just roll up your sleeves and do the best you can with what you have.

That is what I mean when I tell students «their dog is a refection…….». . Yes I have had people cry when I have told them this. However, most are crying at the realization that they have been blaming their dog all this time and are moved by the thought that there is a way to help their dog. Anyone that has heard me say this while teaching have likely also heard me say «your students are a refection of their instructor’s ability to teach». Do you as an instructor dump a line on your student and walk away. Do you say «you have got to teach your dog to tug» and leave it at that? Or do you take ownership of your student’s shortcomings and help them to overcome whatever challenges they are facing with their dogs, giving them to the tools to help facilitate their dog learning how to tug. Let me share with you some names of students that came to me with a dog that challenged them, they were all told the same thing «your dog is a reflection» and they embraced the statement and grew. Jen Pinder, Barb DeMascio, Kathy Keats, Mary Ellen Barry,Theresa  Rector, Tracey Skelnar, Alaina Axford-Moore, Lynda Orton-Hill; were all struggling, some in more than others when they came to us at Say Yes for the first time. They now are amoungst the best agility trainers in the world because they knew I was not attacking them nor their self esteem when I encouraged them to improve their dogs through their own growth of understanding dog training and handling.

Coach John Wooden has a wonderful quote (which I started my new book with)……»It is what you learn after you know it all that counts». If you have convinced yourself the dog is performing this way because of a limitation that can not be overcome you will never grow & learn to help a dog that may come your way with the same limitation in the future. You will be convinced «it can’t be fixed». I was told this by a seminar presenter once while working with Buzz. He told me to accept Buzz for what he was and that he would never  be competitive. Then I found Greg Derrett’s system of handling and never had that same problem again and Buzz went on to win 2 National Championships.  Just because YOU do not have the answer does not mean the answer does not exist. Now, I am not saying a three legged Bloodhound that is blind and deaf is going to win the World Championships –  there is realistic and then there is absurd. I am only suggesting you keep yourself open to the possibility that an answer may be out there for you and your dog.

So you can take one of 2 pathways from here. You continue to beat down a wonderful statement of self awareness thus justifying any of your dog’s weaknesses (in doing so possibly saddling your dog with the frustration of  not knowing how to perform better) or you can do as I intended and take the challenge that this statement presents to you and improve your knowledge, your handling and your dog training and likely also your enjoyment for both you and your dog.

Best Regards

Susan Garrett
Say Yes Dog Training Inc