Sad confession time (although I think I've already confessed it). I actually taught agility before I had ever seen it done. I got hired to teach dog training classes right out of college by one of my professors. It included some beginner agility classes. I liked it right from the start, and really wished at the time that I had a dog to take through classes (but the 13 year old Bedlington wasn't interested, thanks for asking). When it was time to get a dog again, I went in to it knowing I wanted to do some agility.
I also plan to refund all the people I taught their money if I ever get rich. Because seriously - I should not have been teaching agility.
The sheer panic of graduating from college and having no plan drew me to take the job offer.
As for getting in to agility - I was already very involved in horses and horse showing. I knew I liked the idea of competing with my pets. I liked the give and take and the training aspect. I liked that agility competitions felt less life threatening than showing the horse (Tristan was kind of a punk for a long time...). It felt like a cheaper, safer way to get my fix of competition and showing off how cool my animals are.
I was interested from the start. When I adopted Meg, I figured agility was not going to happen because of her fears. I took one class to see if it would help make her braver...and we just never stopped. I think after probably 4 months or so of classes, when I started to see her really changing, I knew I wanted to keep working and try to get her ready to compete, even if just once.
Find someone who is producing competitive students to learn from, even if you think you just want to do it for fun. The ones who take it seriously and are training students to be successful are the ones who are most likely to be up to date on safety issues and the most effective training methods.
Agreed. With a very few exceptions, the people I know who are successful are the ones who are either incredibly supportive, or at the very least not bothering to discuss other people. They don't need to do it to feel better about themselves. It always seems to be the people who are struggling themselves who want to tear at other people.
I also plan to refund all the people I taught their money if I ever get rich. Because seriously - I should not have been teaching agility.
The sheer panic of graduating from college and having no plan drew me to take the job offer.
As for getting in to agility - I was already very involved in horses and horse showing. I knew I liked the idea of competing with my pets. I liked the give and take and the training aspect. I liked that agility competitions felt less life threatening than showing the horse (Tristan was kind of a punk for a long time...). It felt like a cheaper, safer way to get my fix of competition and showing off how cool my animals are.
I was interested from the start. When I adopted Meg, I figured agility was not going to happen because of her fears. I took one class to see if it would help make her braver...and we just never stopped. I think after probably 4 months or so of classes, when I started to see her really changing, I knew I wanted to keep working and try to get her ready to compete, even if just once.
Find someone who is producing competitive students to learn from, even if you think you just want to do it for fun. The ones who take it seriously and are training students to be successful are the ones who are most likely to be up to date on safety issues and the most effective training methods.
Agreed. With a very few exceptions, the people I know who are successful are the ones who are either incredibly supportive, or at the very least not bothering to discuss other people. They don't need to do it to feel better about themselves. It always seems to be the people who are struggling themselves who want to tear at other people.
