Toni Dawkins Training Day(s)

On Friday afternoon I headed over to Newborough for a training session with D and Toni Dawkins. I’ve done a couple with her before but was surprised when I looked back that the last time I did one was back when I was in G2 with Pip. I guess I didnt get as much out of it then as obviously I was in a lower grade, and I was also much more inexperienced as a handler and a trainer.

I really feel some training days are about being pushed out of your comfort zone – pushing your dog that little bit further than you usually would do and maybe trying things you might not necessarily usually think to try. Others I feel are more for the experience of being there and practicing the exercises. Toni, however, is one of the few trainers I could quite happily go to with or without a dog and take in just as much either way. I actually came away and made notes!

Admittedly a lot of what we did was going back to basics – teaching the dog when to apply power and when to adjust for the turns – and the importance of being quiet on the turns vs being loud for “go ons” regardless of position. And of course the importance of only rewarding turns that we are happy with. We also touched upon working at distance and proofing contacts and weaves so once the dog has entered or begun the contact/weaves they continue irrespective of what the handler is doing – her example was you should be able to run the opposite way to them and they should still drive with as much speed to the end…I think we need a bit of work on that ;-)

We also tried a new turn that she picked up from Europe which was used instead of a pivot when pulling round a wing, and was basically using a form of a blind turn instead. It was amazing how much tighter *all* the dogs were and how they then powered out of the turn. I’m not a fan of blind turns - I like to keep an eye on my dog, I know I’d get my body language all wrong and I loathe my dog crossing behind me when I don’t want them to which I think it would encourage (again all related to my bad body language rather than the turn technique). That said, I know some people who use them very effectively and make them look so easy. At the end of the day if we want our dogs to do as well as possible, especially as dogs age, then we do need to change and adjust our techniques.

I certainly came away with lots of things I want to try and work on with D.

Monday we were back again. Si and Blaze were in the young dog class and due to a cancellation I got the opportunity to work Pip in the following class. Although it was Si who was working Blaze I actually really liked seeing how she does her foundation training. She teaches her waits completely separate to begin with and uses a cone or jump wing to gain distance and speed. They did lots of drive training, again going back to the foundations of when to use power & speed and when to anticipate a turn, especially for wing wraps. Unfortunately I missed the contact section as I was swimming Inca and Rex.

With Pippas training session, which I did over small, it was about pushing me out of my comfort zone – getting her to drive ahead and me pushing her from behind instead of being ahead. She does very much run to my speed rather than power ahead, and because shes not into toys as much as food I’ve not done as much work as I should getting her to power away from me (mainly because if I use food for her to drive to she’ll pinch it before I get there and if I use targets she’s still looking for me for the reward). So we used a food bowl (guarded by Toni) to get her to focus ahead. I really need to do more of this with her, but I also need to train another body rather than doing it on my own. Well..initially anyway. I've still not made up my mind about Pip and agility despite the specialist saying it was absolutely fine for her to continue with. I've entered a few all-sorts classes but I've not started planning a G7 comeback just yet.

So, LOTS of food for thought. A lot of it is pretty obvious and basic stuff but I know we all need reminding from time to time as we tend to stay in our own comfort zones.