Lorrie Reynolds [00:00:07]:
At a trial several years ago, I asked two of my friends and seminar students how they liked the seminar they went to with a visiting instructor. They hesitated, looked at each other, hesitated again, and finally one of them spoke up and said, "It was awful." The other one nodded her head in agreement, and I was really surprised. I didn't know the instructor personally, but she ran her dogs pretty well, so I thought she knew what she was doing. What was the story behind their response? We'll find out in this episode of the Maximum Fun Agility Podcast. I'm Lorrie Reynolds, owner of Maximum Fun Dog Sports. We help your agility team build your relationship, communication, confidence, and fun in training so that you can enjoy success on any course. This is a real story about a seminar experience, and it still shocks me to think about. For privacy, real names are not used.
Lorrie Reynolds [00:01:05]:
After my two friends told me they didn't enjoy the visiting instructor's seminar, I didn't even have to ask why before the words started pouring out of both of them. They told me that the instructor yelled at them when they made mistakes and told them they didn't run fast enough. She told them that their handling sucked and that their dogs weren't good enough. She made them feel stupid and like they shouldn't even be competing. One of them said, "I cried on the way home." My heart hurt for them. I told them that they should never feel that way after seminar, and I was sorry that they had that experience. The second one cut in, "You never make us feel like that." I told her I was glad, and I was, but I was also extremely angry. This instructor prided herself on using positive methods to train dogs, but she'd forgotten one incredibly important thing: people need positive reinforcement too.
Lorrie Reynolds [00:02:02]:
I started to create this podcast from an instructor's viewpoint, but I think that it's even more valuable from the student's perspective. So here's how to decide if you should attend a seminar or not. Look for these qualities in the instructor: They meet students where they're at. We can't all be 25 years old and in great physical shape. Everyone doesn't own or want to own a Border Collie, and not every student will have trained for the past 5 or 15 years. Look for an instructor who understands that teams are different, with different goals, needs, and experience. A good instructor will be able to adjust the exercises and instruction level to include all of the teams who are at the seminar. The instructor should have experience with teaching or owning a variety of breeds, not just Border Collies or Australian Shepherds.
Lorrie Reynolds [00:02:59]:
They understand and accept the limitations of the team. An instructor's job is to push the team to expand their current skills, but to do it within their physical, mental, and emotional capabilities. This goes along with meeting students where they're at. Instructors shouldn't be telling someone to run faster if they aren't physically capable of doing so. They shouldn't be expecting a sighthound to perform the same way a Border Collie does. They should assess the team's current skills and push them further without overwhelming them or making them feel bad about themselves. Seminars are a great place to test limits, but it should be a stretch, not something that breaks the team.
Lorrie Reynolds [00:03:45]:
A good instructor doesn't denigrate other venues. We all have our favorite venues and others where we don't or won't play. Regardless of the instructor's choice, they should respect yours. Each venue offers a different type of challenge for agility teams. Some venues have more games for people who are strategy-minded. Some venues emphasize speed and distance. Some value the ability to collect and extend. There's not one right venue for everyone.
Lorrie Reynolds [00:04:17]:
If the instructor has a reputation for bashing other venues, it shows that they are closed-minded and don't appreciate the diversity of opportunities that we have. They are likely to only teach one way to handle a sequence and not be open to other techniques. They are patient and kind. When you're getting ready to sign up for a seminar, ask a past seminar participant how they felt after the seminar. Seminars should leave students excited about their new knowledge, eager to work on the exercises that they learned, and encouraged about the future of their team. They shouldn't feel rushed, embarrassed, dismissed, or less than the other teams. They should leave feeling better than they did when they started, not worse.
Lorrie Reynolds [00:05:07]:
A knowledgeable instructor has more than one way to teach things. As agility has evolved into a more mentally and physically demanding sport, it feels like the people and dog breeds participating have moved closer to the standard fast and fit handler and fast herding type dog. Unfortunately, the movement has created some instructors who don't know what to do with a Terrier or a Sighthound or a Toy Dog. They only have experience with one type of dog and either ignore or don't know how to train anything else. The reality is that there are venues for all types of teams to play in, and an instructor should be able to find motivation and teaching methods for any breed type. Handlers are all different too, with various learning styles or ways that they absorb learning the best. Instructors should have multiple ways to explain things to cater to a wide variety of learners. Good instructors are adaptable.
Lorrie Reynolds [00:06:08]:
Instructors prepare for a seminar with a lesson plan and goals. Sometimes, though, the students that signed up are not quite capable of performing the planned exercises. While good seminar descriptions and prerequisites should ensure that the seminar is the right fit, things don't always go as planned. I've had distance seminars arranged by others where the students were all at a lower experience level than I expected. We ended up shifting part of the conversation to basics like start line stays, contact methods, or behavioral issues instead of sticking entirely to distance training, because they couldn't work the distance pieces without having the basics. Instructors should have enough experience to reset on the fly if all the students aren't quite ready for the topic at hand or if a common concern comes up that affects all of the students that are attending. Their goal is to serve the students, not their ego.
Lorrie Reynolds [00:07:06]:
Look for an instructor that measures success by the number of teams she has helped rather than how much money she makes or how many seminars she has scheduled. It's important that the instructor for the seminar has real experience with agility and has been successful at high levels with her own dogs, but success by students is a better indicator of how well the teaching methods work for others. The goal of a true teacher of any topic is to share knowledge with the students well enough that they surpass her. They spend equal time with each team. While every team will have exercises that they do better on and those that they struggle with, on an overall basis, the instructor should spend a roughly equal amount of time coaching each of the teams. They should not spend more time with the fast and flashy teams and rush through the teams that may be slower or not as exciting. One of the main complaints I've heard from students who attend seminars is that the fast Border Collies got way more coaching time than the slower dogs of other breeds, and that if a less capable team had difficulty with an exercise, they were unlikely to get an equal amount of time to fix it. It's important that the instructor values every team at every ability level and treats them all fairly.
Lorrie Reynolds [00:08:27]:
They are knowledgeable AND they know how to teach. Many people have knowledge about or are successful at agility, Fewer understand how to share that knowledge in a way that's understandable, productive, and kind. Instructors don't have to have a background in instructional design, although believe me, it definitely helps. But they should have been mentored by someone, studied at least some adult learning theory, and created teaching materials with the student in mind. They should understand that everyone does not learn the same way and should have a plan for the different learning styles. They should also have a group of past students who have reached the level of success you're looking for. They have referrals and references. The best way to know if an instructor is a good choice is to ask their students.
Lorrie Reynolds [00:09:19]:
In the real world, there are always going to be differences of opinion or people who just don't mesh, but the vast majority of past students should have positive things to say about their seminar experience. The agility community is fairly small. If you can't find someone you know who has attended a seminar with the person, look online for reviews or ask around in a group with instructions to DM the answers privately. Find out if past students were happy with the seminar and thought it was valuable before you sign up. The bottom line is that you need to do your homework before signing up for a seminar with someone you don't know. Look at each item we discussed during the podcast and determine if the instructor is the right fit for you. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Maximum Fun Agility Podcast.
Lorrie Reynolds [00:10:11]:
If you'd love to attend a seminar with me, you can contact me at [email protected] and discuss availability in your area. Happy training.
