Industry Accredited Dog Trainer Certificate – completed 2007
Certificate 3 Companion Animal Services – completed 2006
My experience
Callan
In 1984 I purchased a gift for my husband, Callan the Kelpie. Because he was my husband’s dog I didn’t have the opportunity to bond with him nor the experience and skills to train and raise Callan appropriately. He was a beautiful, super intelligent dog! My husband began a new job which required him to be out of town for extended period; I had just had my first baby; Callan was beginning to wander off and kill sheep or fight with other dogs (probably finding some female dogs too!).
Looking back now I see how terribly irresponsible I was as a dog owner – my time was so taken with a new fussy baby; a husband that worked away, and living in a small country town. Callan was the last thing on my mind – he was just there to guard me and the house. I had no idea on proper nutrition for a dog; no idea about appropriate canine management.
The final straw for Callan came when he ‘snapped’ at my 15month old baby – he was taken immediately back to the breeder.
The story has a wonderful happy ending – Callan became the breeder’s best stud dog and went on to receive his Grand Champion title.
But Callan’s story is forever imbedded in my mind – a strong reminder about the consequences of irresponsible dog ownership….
Golden Retrievers
In 1996 my first Golden Retriever was given to me as a Christmas gift from my husband – Stella was my companion and best friend. I took Stella to the local dog club for obedience training but was soon very disheartened by the expectations of the club – they asked me to put a choker chain on her and to pull/push/dominate her. I felt very unhappy putting her through that and soon pulled out of training. I trained her with the limited knowledge I had – using the techniques that my father had used on our family dog.
Stella was very easy to please and a delightful dog – sadly she passed away at 3yrs of age after eating dead and rotting blowfish…. Another lesson learnt for me.
Year 1999 Sally came along – I learnt so much about dogs with Sally because I devoted so much time to watching her and trying to get into her mind. She was a lot more active than Stella, Sally came from working lines. I will be forever grateful to Judi Barkla for understanding my desperate need for a dog after the death of Stella and Judi was compassionate enough to give me the only female born in the litter despite my name being at the bottom of the waiting list.
Sally is the foundation bitch for Goldcity Golden Retrievers and has 70 children; grandchildren and great-grand children – two of her grandchildren live with us, Kaelen who is 2.5yrs old and Dina who is 4yrs old.
I also acquired 3yr old Tessa as a companion for Sally and found out about Animal Companions Inc. Tessa became an accredited Pet Therapy dog and began a wonderful career with visiting friends at an aged care facility. It was through Animal Companions that I met Belinda Simpson who introduced me to Assistance Dogs.
I started training Samson for Assistance Dog work in 2005 after Belinda assessed his suitability – Samson is one of Sally’s sons and I kept him on for breeding and showing. However, I could sense something very wonderful about Samson and this was confirmed when Belinda met him and assessed him so I decided to donate the first BRADS dog for the training program. Belinda suggested I go to a private trainer; this was the beginning of my love for dog training because the instructor used gentle positive reward training techniques. I thoroughly enjoyed training Samson and took him to TAFE with me for dog training units – he was a great help for other students too. I also trained Samson for Pet Therapy and he was accredited with Animal Companions Inc.
In 2006 Belinda moved back to New Zealand and met a young man who she knew needed a dog like Samson. I made the decision to take him to New Zealand for his new owner. Because of his solid training, Samson was given public access approval via New Zealand Epilepsy Assist Dog Trust to fly in cabin with me on Air New Zealand. Samson was 3 yrs old when we said a very tearful goodbye – however, his new owner often sends me emails about him and how he has enhanced quality of life. Samson is now a fully qualified Seizure Support Dog and continues his Therapy Dog work at a local nursing home in NZ. (see Samson’s story at www.waadinc.org.au – under ‘News and Stories’)
I was fascinated and in awe of what our canine friends could do for people and the benefits both physically and psychologically to enhance quality of life. Suddenly the purpose for my breeding program became clear and I embarked on studies and qualifications in order to ‘produce’ quality dogs for training and breeding. I received my Cert 3 Companion Animal Services at Challenger TAFE to enable me to intelligently care and manage my breeding dogs and the dogs in the Assistance Dog training program, then called B.R.A.D.S (Beautifully Raised Assistance DogS) Inc. Part of my training at TAFE was the ‘conditioning’ of shelter dogs where I gained much experience with many different breeds.
I will be forever grateful to Ken Storrs, Senior Lecturer, who demonstrated his faith and confidence in me by encouraging my involvement in BRADS Inc and going on to develop the organisation to what it is today. 6 yrs later and WAAD Inc (West Australian Assistance Dogs – originally known as BRADS Inc) has 14 dogs in training; a full committee; puppy raisers/sitters and trainers. I am very proud of my achievements with WAAD Inc including the training of Simba, a Goldcity boy, for his partner Georgia. My hope is to develop a training program for Autism Support.
Kaelen has been taught many Assistance Dog commands such as taking my shoes off; getting washing out of the machine and putting it in a basket; pressing buttons at traffic lights; getting and picking things up for me; bracing for stability. Kaelen is a wonderful demonstration dog and also a wonderful dog for demos at schools – he loves showing off his reading skills. I hope to use Kaelen as a Literacy Aid dog for children that need help with reading (see http://www.therapyanimals.org/R.E.A.D.html)
Kaelen is also my wonderful friend and show dog - just 36 points to go for his Australian Championship title!
Mandurah Dog Club
Currently I am a trainer with Mandurah Dog Club and I teach the Newcomers’ class – it’s vital that owners learn the solid basics of ‘how to train’ in order to continue appropriately. I am always so proud to see the students in my class progress through to Advance and beyond, knowing that they are happy to work for their partners and that their partners enjoy working with their dogs. Does my heart proud to see the dogs go through the assessments with waggy tails!!!
