October 31, 2007
Adam Katz from dogproblems.com says:
DOG TRAINERS TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL
Last weekend, I was invited to attend Fred Hassen’s “Sit Means Sit”
yearly alumni seminar. I got to meet some great dog trainers.
Some who were absolutely outstanding include: Dave Skoletsky, Toni
Drummond, Alfredo Rivera, Lianne Hassen, Luciano Aguilar and many,
many others. (I’m probably butchering their names, too!)
I’ve been around a lot of dog people and a lot of dog clubs in my
time, and I have to say that this is a great bunch of trainers,
from around the country. They are friendly and open. And most
importantly, they seem to leave their ego at the door and instead
let their dog training do the talking.
I saw dogs doing very complicated training exercises.
You know… it’s one thing to see a good AKC obedience trainer who
works with a dog that knows the obedience pattern and what’s
coming next. But it’s quite another thing to see somebody invent
an exercise that the trainer has never seen before, and then watch
almost magically as that dog trainer gets her dog to do the
behavior in a matter of seconds. And really advanced stuff, too–
like getting a dog to retrieve a toy from a bucket of water, at a
distance of 20 feet… while other dogs were standing around!!
It was an exercise that one dog trainer thought up, and challenged
the others, to do. Trust me when I say that it’s not simply
dropping a toy into a bucket of water and telling the dog to go
pick it up. The exercise involved: A directed send-away, a fetch
command, a return/recall command, and the dog having enough trust
in the owner to stick his head into a bucket of dirty water and
retrieve a toy.
Probably not what the average pet owner will ever need to teach
their dog to do– but impressive, nonetheless.
I saw many other incredibly high levels of training. And I’ll be
sharing more, in weeks to come.
If you’re looking into hiring a local dog trainer to help with your
dog, I think it would be wise to contact a Sit Means Sit dog
trainer in your area and have them at least come out and give you a
demonstration. I can guarantee you’ll be impressed.
For more information, see:
http://www.sitmeanssit.com
(By the way… I have no financial interest in recommending Sit
Means Sit. Fred Hassen, the owner, bought me a couple of dinners,
and that’s not nearly enough to buy my recommendation).
A Mercedes would be, though.
Enjoy your dog,
- Adam Katz
Dogproblems.com
