Great Dogs, Great Handlers, Great Runners! And Me.
This morning I've been thinking about how fortunate I am - or maybe how smart I am - to be surrounded by people who strive for excellence and who share this passion with me so freely. I've also been thinking about how I've been blessed with some great dogs. This is in part by design because it's no accident that I try to get the right dog for me and in doing so, have dogs from very good lines with years of selective breeding behind them. It puts me in this precarious position of wanting to do the best I can to live up to those dogs! This is something I've been thinking about since my dinner party a week ago where we discussed the focus you need to be successful in your chosen pursuit.
I just spent an hour composing a long note to the Sheepdog chat list in response to a timely discussion that forced me to think. Since I spent that time on it, figured I would re-purpose it here as a blog post! The question raised on the list is whether the combination of successful handler and good dog is really the best combo, or whether anyone could take a highly trained dog and do well. It's resulted in some very interesting discussion about handling, training and dogs. Someone posted a note today quoting Malcolm Gladwell, one of my favourite authors, and I simply had to respond!
If you know me, you will know I can't stay quiet for long. In my post (below), I didn't get into Conformation or Schutzhund but I easily could have, so you can read this and think about any dog sport and handling. I am new to SchH so I feel the same about seeing a great handler and dog on the field as I do about Border Collies and sheep - - - well, in honesty my heart goes with the sheep first and foremost as it is my greatest love, but you know what I mean.
The bottom line is that we can learn so much from the great and successful handlers and trainers in any sport. I am very fortunate that I have role models, friends and mentors like Scott Glen, Nancy Anstruther and Dan Waters (no website, Dan! - one of the top SchH competitors in Canada) in my life. I watch how they are so single-mindedly pursuing their dreams and goals and it is an ongoing lesson to me.
I am also very, very lucky that I have been blessed in my life with some amazingly good dogs - Rough Collies, Border Collies and German Shepherds. My goal is to be the best that I can be and do the best I can for my dogs. If I apply myself with focus and determination I can end each day knowing I am growing in my chosen pursuit. It's me - against me! And no one else. This even ties into my diet and weight loss goals, come to think of it.
If you read on, you will see how this all ties in...
Here is my post - -
I really like what you said Laura. I was thinking of raising Malcolm Gladwell too, because I love this books. Malcolm Gladwell also wrote in 'Blink' that most of us have the ability to make decisions in the blink of an eye, and if you pair the ability to do this, up with his book the Tipping Point and the 10,000 hour eqation, you get our ultimate handler! ** (see my sidenote below about Chariots of Fire!)
As to Jerry's question, regardless of what dog I am blessed with - I don't know that I could ever hope to have the 'second sight', intuition, timing or instinct of someone who is fortunate enough to have grown up in it, and who has the time and facilities to train daily. Beyond training, people who simply work their dogs in a real life situations have such an edge over most of us. It's a powerful combination of circumstance, ability and environment that makes the best handlers. But I can always hope to learn from them and beyond that, I love to watch them.
At one of the first clinics I ever attended with Scott Glen, [my note - who I got Jet and Ted from]... he was talking to a bunch of 'green' people like me, and I always remember his words as being so encouraging. He said that our goal should be to take any dog and make it the best dog that IT can be. Not every dog is equal but if we have made it the best dog it is capable of being, we have succeeded and along the way, we will learn about dogs, sheep and about ourselves. He also said (I am paraphrasing, forgive me Scott) that some of the best teams are often the ones who have had to work harder and longer and who have stuck with it.
(This is me now...) In many dog pursuits, I've seen people with a prodigy dog, who *believed* that they were great handlers. Obviously they niched with that dog and that is of course, a wonderful thing. I think that when this happens, the ideal would be that we get the 'feeling' of how things should be, and are able to use that in our future training and know more clearly what we are after with dogs to follow. The sad thing I've seen in some cases is that some people hate every dog afterwards, finding fault in it and comparing it to the gift they had in that one special dog - rather than understanding that as handlers, they are part of the equation - or rather than finding joy in each individual dog that comes along.
In every dog sport there are people who have natural talent and people who have to work at it. Every dog is different too. I personally love the process of developing myself when I train. Aside from stockdogs, my dogs all track, and this is also a natural ability that we encourage in our dogs. I teach tracking and give clinics - and I will often see a dog with such raw ability that I *know* I could take it and without much effort, shape it into a phenomenal tracking dog with little effort. But my job is to help the handler.
It's not always easy - some of what I know comes from time, miles and perhaps some talent and instinct for it, as I have been doing it for thirty years now very successfully. I have realized that, and in my teaching I try hard to pass on what I know I can - and hope to inspire people to work hard enough that one day they will have more flow and better timing and observation skills. There are some things that one just can't pass on though. But I have seen over my years as a tracking instructor where someone suddenly 'gets it' and a few of my students have surpassed me. This is a joy for me because it is my passion, and I learn from them!
Some people just have "IT" and when they are in the zone there is nothing more breathtaking to watch than one of these handlers. It is what inspires me to keep going and sustains my love of working with Border Collies and sheep.
***as a sidenote, I watched the movie Chariots of Fire on an old movie channel the other night. It is a fabulous movie to watch and to think about the themes of natural, raw talent, training, passion, sportsmanship and friendship. The two runners are very different but equally talented. One, the Scottish gold medalist Eric Liddell is one of those I would say who 'simply has IT.' He ran with no form, throwing his head back and in the zone. The other runner, Harold Abrahams, worked at form and technique but also got a gold medal. I compare everything to my dog pursuits - and when I watched this movie I saw the same things we talk about here - the naturals and the ones who work at it - and both can be successful!
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| Caden, River, Ted and Jet |
As a writer, I tend to surf along gathering bits and pieces from everywhere, with hopes that I'll be able to put it together - much like a bird making a nest. Today it came together, and I am sharing it here.This morning I've been thinking about how fortunate I am - or maybe how smart I am - to be surrounded by people who strive for excellence and who share this passion with me so freely. I've also been thinking about how I've been blessed with some great dogs. This is in part by design because it's no accident that I try to get the right dog for me and in doing so, have dogs from very good lines with years of selective breeding behind them. It puts me in this precarious position of wanting to do the best I can to live up to those dogs! This is something I've been thinking about since my dinner party a week ago where we discussed the focus you need to be successful in your chosen pursuit.
I just spent an hour composing a long note to the Sheepdog chat list in response to a timely discussion that forced me to think. Since I spent that time on it, figured I would re-purpose it here as a blog post! The question raised on the list is whether the combination of successful handler and good dog is really the best combo, or whether anyone could take a highly trained dog and do well. It's resulted in some very interesting discussion about handling, training and dogs. Someone posted a note today quoting Malcolm Gladwell, one of my favourite authors, and I simply had to respond!
If you know me, you will know I can't stay quiet for long. In my post (below), I didn't get into Conformation or Schutzhund but I easily could have, so you can read this and think about any dog sport and handling. I am new to SchH so I feel the same about seeing a great handler and dog on the field as I do about Border Collies and sheep - - - well, in honesty my heart goes with the sheep first and foremost as it is my greatest love, but you know what I mean.
The bottom line is that we can learn so much from the great and successful handlers and trainers in any sport. I am very fortunate that I have role models, friends and mentors like Scott Glen, Nancy Anstruther and Dan Waters (no website, Dan! - one of the top SchH competitors in Canada) in my life. I watch how they are so single-mindedly pursuing their dreams and goals and it is an ongoing lesson to me.
I am also very, very lucky that I have been blessed in my life with some amazingly good dogs - Rough Collies, Border Collies and German Shepherds. My goal is to be the best that I can be and do the best I can for my dogs. If I apply myself with focus and determination I can end each day knowing I am growing in my chosen pursuit. It's me - against me! And no one else. This even ties into my diet and weight loss goals, come to think of it.
If you read on, you will see how this all ties in...
Here is my post - -
I really like what you said Laura. I was thinking of raising Malcolm Gladwell too, because I love this books. Malcolm Gladwell also wrote in 'Blink' that most of us have the ability to make decisions in the blink of an eye, and if you pair the ability to do this, up with his book the Tipping Point and the 10,000 hour eqation, you get our ultimate handler! ** (see my sidenote below about Chariots of Fire!)
As to Jerry's question, regardless of what dog I am blessed with - I don't know that I could ever hope to have the 'second sight', intuition, timing or instinct of someone who is fortunate enough to have grown up in it, and who has the time and facilities to train daily. Beyond training, people who simply work their dogs in a real life situations have such an edge over most of us. It's a powerful combination of circumstance, ability and environment that makes the best handlers. But I can always hope to learn from them and beyond that, I love to watch them.
At one of the first clinics I ever attended with Scott Glen, [my note - who I got Jet and Ted from]... he was talking to a bunch of 'green' people like me, and I always remember his words as being so encouraging. He said that our goal should be to take any dog and make it the best dog that IT can be. Not every dog is equal but if we have made it the best dog it is capable of being, we have succeeded and along the way, we will learn about dogs, sheep and about ourselves. He also said (I am paraphrasing, forgive me Scott) that some of the best teams are often the ones who have had to work harder and longer and who have stuck with it.
(This is me now...) In many dog pursuits, I've seen people with a prodigy dog, who *believed* that they were great handlers. Obviously they niched with that dog and that is of course, a wonderful thing. I think that when this happens, the ideal would be that we get the 'feeling' of how things should be, and are able to use that in our future training and know more clearly what we are after with dogs to follow. The sad thing I've seen in some cases is that some people hate every dog afterwards, finding fault in it and comparing it to the gift they had in that one special dog - rather than understanding that as handlers, they are part of the equation - or rather than finding joy in each individual dog that comes along.
In every dog sport there are people who have natural talent and people who have to work at it. Every dog is different too. I personally love the process of developing myself when I train. Aside from stockdogs, my dogs all track, and this is also a natural ability that we encourage in our dogs. I teach tracking and give clinics - and I will often see a dog with such raw ability that I *know* I could take it and without much effort, shape it into a phenomenal tracking dog with little effort. But my job is to help the handler.
It's not always easy - some of what I know comes from time, miles and perhaps some talent and instinct for it, as I have been doing it for thirty years now very successfully. I have realized that, and in my teaching I try hard to pass on what I know I can - and hope to inspire people to work hard enough that one day they will have more flow and better timing and observation skills. There are some things that one just can't pass on though. But I have seen over my years as a tracking instructor where someone suddenly 'gets it' and a few of my students have surpassed me. This is a joy for me because it is my passion, and I learn from them!
Some people just have "IT" and when they are in the zone there is nothing more breathtaking to watch than one of these handlers. It is what inspires me to keep going and sustains my love of working with Border Collies and sheep.
***as a sidenote, I watched the movie Chariots of Fire on an old movie channel the other night. It is a fabulous movie to watch and to think about the themes of natural, raw talent, training, passion, sportsmanship and friendship. The two runners are very different but equally talented. One, the Scottish gold medalist Eric Liddell is one of those I would say who 'simply has IT.' He ran with no form, throwing his head back and in the zone. The other runner, Harold Abrahams, worked at form and technique but also got a gold medal. I compare everything to my dog pursuits - and when I watched this movie I saw the same things we talk about here - the naturals and the ones who work at it - and both can be successful!
Category Article Border collie, Schutzhund, teaching tracking, Tracking training
