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Instructors:

Ms. Donna Brown, Ms. Nancy Williams, M.A., ACAAB, RVT

Facilitated by Suzanne Hetts, Ph.D., CAAB

We are thrilled to welcome Ms. Donna Brown to our circle of tele-webcast instructors. Anyone who is “in the know” when it comes to agility knows of Donna, as she has earned the highest titles in USDAA and AKC agility with her Pembroke Welsh corgi and two Border Collies. Her Border Collie BAM placed 9th overall in the AKC 2009 National Agility Championships on March 27 – 29.  Be sure and check out Donna’s website at www.k9play.com where you can see her competing with her dogs and read her complete bio. Nancy has been one of our co-instructors for our popular course “Medical Problems that Masquerade as Behavior Problems” and in addition to her other qualifications is an AKC emeritus and UKC agility judge. Learn more about Nancy at www.DogsWithIssues.com. Donna and Nancy know how important it is for instructors of beginning agility classes to help their students create a sound foundation that will serve them well as the teams progress to more advanced levels. Too often they see teams coming to them for advanced instruction that have gaps in their skill set that must be filled before they can move forward. Nancy and Donna also see a number of problems in dogs that attend agility class. Dogs are expected to become very excited when running a course and at the same time not let this excitement turn into aggressive threats toward other dogs (and sometimes people!) as they pass by them, often in close quarters. Any sort of fearful behavior is certainly a problem in the challenging environment of competition. Nancy will be addressing how to prevent these and other unwanted behaviors by recognizing early warning signs, and having better control of the dogs. Whether you already instruct agility classes, or whether you’ve wanted to start teaching beginning agility but just didn’t quite know how to get started, this course is for you. Current instructors will improve their ability to get students started right, and new instructors will learn how to avoid problems common to beginning instructors. Here’s how Donna describes this 2 session course: The beginner agility class is the most difficult course in agility to instruct…are you up for the challenge?  Despite the challenges of an entry level course in agility it can also be extremely rewarding. There is nothing better than seeing the dog that entered your class, afraid of the world, now boldly navigating equipment. Equally rewarding is the dog that came into class so interested in the world that he didn’t realize that his owner existed on the planet who is now working with his owner like a joyful teammate. The skills you will give owners to have happy, healthy relationships with their beloved canines is priceless. Agility is so much more than a list of titles (although that is important and fun too). This 2-session telecourse will explore the fundamental challenges inherent to this particular class. We will identify the two extremes of dogs that are often found in an agility class and demonstrate ways to handle each appropriately. Also included are “classroom management” techniques to enhance the learning environment and empower you to take control of your class. The telecourse will include specific methods and techniques to deal with the canine students as well as the human students.   To see a Course Outline Click Here Listen to Donna, Nancy and Suzanne tell you the benefits of the course to you and what you’ll learn