시베리안 허스키 올리버의 어질리티 대변신: 맴돌기에서 우승으로, 교감을 통해 자신감 얻기

Siberian Husky Oliver’s Agility Transformation From Spins To Wins: Gain Confidence With Connection

For me, the sport of dog agility is like an amplifier of connection. Because if you look at a novice dog and handler team, the lack of connection results in the dog leaving. Maybe they just go off and visit somebody. Maybe they stop at the top of the A-frame and they just look around. Maybe they turn the wrong way. Maybe you're going off focused and you think your dog is following and they absolutely aren't. Why? Because the connection is flawed. It could be flawed from a weak foundation because a lot of times today, oh bless their heart. So many people are teaching dog agility and they think they're doing the right thing by getting people on equipment and letting them experience agility. But what you're doing is you are actually going to weaken that dog's confidence because they don't have the connection. They don't have the understanding. They don't have the confidence to do the things we need them to do. And so, we're actually doing a disservice to these dog and handlers, especially the people new to the sport as they set out to try to do something that they absolutely are not prepared for. And sometimes it's catastrophic and they just don't return. And that's just heartbreaking because dog agility is such an amazing sport. A sport that anyone can love, but you need a connection. And when I think of a lack of connection in dog agility, I think of one of our students, Jenny Kerwick. And when Jenny first came to us many years ago, she had a Siberian Husky. Yes, a Siberian Husky in dog agility named Oliver. Now, Oliver was one of those dogs that was put into a class and put on equipment without a connection. And it showed up when they were put under the magnifying glass at an agility trial where sometimes Oliver would just stop and spin in circles in front of the obstacles. He would create his own games. Well, this is fun, isn't it? When Jenny found our program and learned about connection, now she was still able to deepen her connection with Oliver, but through the learning that she had, her most recent Siberian Husky not only went on to be a great agility dog, but actually won big classes like a Grand Prix, which allowed her to get to a regional. And guess what? She won the regional beating out other border collies, border collies that were kind of born to do agility. Okay. Some people would say they're born to do sheep herding. I digress. But Jenny's evolution from being frustrated and overwhelmed as a dog agility enthusiast trying to love this sport with a breed that people traditionally would think, oh, that dog