[ Post a Response | Ask Cheryl Carlson ]
Posted by Carole Field
on 4/19/2009, 10:18 pm, in reply to "I guess I am getting old..."
UKC Service Dog Judge
Oh, Cheryl…. you’re not that old…. You just need to consider the source. It seems to me that some of the newcomers in the dog training world don’t feel the need to study, learn and practice as many of us “older” trainers did in past … instead finding it oh so much easier to hang a shingle or build a website listing inaccurate (dare I say untruthful?) information about their experience.
Perhaps the days of amassing and READING a training library are gone. (I have 96 books, 36 video tapes and 2 audio tapes… and I know you have a similar number.) The dog training & judging seminars you and I attended in the past (conducted by William Koehler, author of Koehler obedience training books, Ian Dunbar, DVM, PhD. on dog behavior & temperament, Stone City Kennel Club on AKC judging, Kay Gutzloff on competitive obedience by OTCH trainer & AKC judge, Fox Valley Schutzhund Club on canine drives, Diane Bauman & Ruth Rosbach Training Camp for competitive obedience, tracking, herding, & Schutzhund by author of “Beyond Basic Dog Training”, Michel Pechereau on NARA French Ring, Delta Society on Animal Assisted Therapy, Karen Pryor & Gary Wilkes on Operant Conditioning, Pierre Yves Secretain on NARA French Ring, C.W.Meisterfeld on canine behavioral psychology, Illini-Badger Schutzhund Club on Schutzhund trialing, Suzanne Clothier on training methods for obedience instructors to motivate students, Michael Job Evans on dog training by author with The Monks of New Skete of “How To Be Your Dog’s Best Friend”, Suzanne Clothier on “No force” dog training methods for dog trainers, Wendy Volhard on teaching dog obedience by author of “Teaching Dog Obedience Classes”, Brian Kilcommons on training by author of “Good Dogs, Great Owners”, Mike Harlow on protection training by author of K9 Bodyguards, and Art O’Keefe of the National Association of Protection Dogs) have now been replaced by You-Tube videos. The belief now seems to be “Once you’ve seen it, you’ve seen it all”…making the viewer now “know” how to train a particular exercise or sport after watching a 6 minute video. Unfortunately, the viewer often has no clue if the presentation they are watching is correct or incorrect… how do they know if the handler is guiding the dog correctly, or if the helper is teaching? Don’t they realize that the method of teaching must change for the age and personality of the dog, breed of the dog, ability of the handler, etc and that they must have an arsenal of four or five different ways to teach the SAME exercise dependant on the individual circumstances???
The other thing that troubles me is that I wonder if this lack of knowledge even matters to some of these “instant trainers”. In the immediate information age of the internet it is startling to see how readily some plagiarize the works of another, violating copyright laws and republishing original content as their own while advertising their goods and/or services. I believe the U.S. Attorney General categorizes this as “willful infringement for profit”. Just because it is easy to obtain content published on the web (be it written word or photograph), one does not have the right to duplicate or republish it. Ethics are definitely lacking when the offender does it to make money, from someone else’s work!
So Cheryl, you and I may be dinosaurs…. But knowledgeable ones that did it the hard way. It’s difficult to understand why a video on the computer screen is held in higher esteem than one of the country’s foremost Ring Sport trainers… apparently it isn’t necessary to “pick the brain” of one who’s depth of experience and knowledge is literally unsurpassed in this country. Perhaps they don’t know that, though; as they didn’t see it on You-Tube!!!
My answer to the video generation is “PROVE IT”. What have you done to prove your claimed “knowledge and experience”…. How may dogs have you titled, in how many sports, over how many years? How many awards and placements have you obtained? How many times have you been paid for your services? How many students have you trained… classes have you taught…. dogs have you placed in service? How many shows have you judged, articles have you had published, interviews have you given, television appearances you have made? How many times has your expert knowledge been called upon in a review, evaluation or utilized in a court of law?
I realize my statements today may not be viewed favorably. I will admit my opinion is definitely skewed, as I spent some hours this morning struggling over whether I should enforce my copyrights by sending an invoice billing for infringed work that appears on another trainer’s website, or script a cease and desist letter asking they simply be removed. Therefore, my mood is somewhat sour (and I really want a cigarette!) But, life is very short and it is our personal responsibility to make our world comfortable for ourselves and our loved ones. So, I’ve followed my heart and stated my opinion.
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