The Graduating Class of Fall 2012

What a great looking bunch! Best of luck to the graduates of the Fall 2012 Professional Trainers Program.

Enjoy,
Ben

Sharon Toews - Graduate PTP Spring 2012

Sharon Toews, graduate of PTP Spring 2012 sent us an update, check out what she did to make her first puppy training job a success. Way to go Sharon!

Enjoy, Ben


Hi Nancy and Ben,

I have really been enjoying training dogs of all sizes - yes I finally did get the hang of working with a small dog. (You may remember how totally lost I was on the first free training day when I got a Yorkie mix, after only working with Scout and the big dogs in our class.) Soon after getting home my first puppy training opportunity was a 9 week old Havanese. I was very excited because I had done my class presentation project on the Havanese but had never even met one!

I didn't know where to start so I re-watched your puppy training video and couldn't sleep that night with doubts whirling in my head. However, you guys really do know your stuff and I should have trusted your encouragement when you said: "Remember you have more to offer your clients because there is no other method out there that compares to ours....".

Well, this little Havanese puppy responded exactly like your Border Collie did - "sit" to "stay" to "sit" to "down"... fortunately she was really food motivated! I can't even begin to describe my excitement! The owner was flabbergasted and sputtered, "Isn't that too much for her to learn?" I managed to hide my own incredulity and replied, "Well look at her! She's doing it all and I'm not even touching her."

Over the next 4-5 weeks I praised her for her puppy's progress and reassured her of being a good owner. The puppy is well on her way to being a dream dog but she still hires me for walking consultations and advice. I finally told her she no longer needs me because she has done a great job raising her pup. She admitted she just likes having me around for reassurance. Score one for holding my tongue!





Sharon Toews

"Toews Training Paws"

The Power of the Pen

Received this email from David, a grad from a year and a half ago.  Thought I would share it as he really articulates how important good note taking is - even years later!

Hi Ben,

I was doing a little clean up of my office last week and came upon all of the 'stuff' from PTP Spring 2011. Naturally, I started to flip through various things - photos, keepsakes etc.; but as I began to reread the classroom notes I had taken, I rediscovered a veritable treasure chest of information. Having been in the dog business now for about 16 months, those old classroom notes almost started to speak. What had been frantically written down every afternoon now made so much more sense. There were some important things that I had either forgotten or let slide. (I'll have to blame that short-term memory loss on having grown up during the 60s and early 70s). I can't tell you how beneficial it was to reread the classroom material from a working perspective. I think that a review of the classroom material confirms the importance of some of the basic methods that were taught. I think this review also helped me to understand some of the changes or modifications that I have made in my training methods. Either way, rereading your classroom notes 10 to 12 months later is a great experience....a should do for everyone.

Hope all is well. Please send my best to everyone.

Cheers,

David Dussault

dpdussault@sympatico.ca