OneMind Dogs Coach Channie Elm Ørsted from Denmark has a student who wanted to share a story about her OneMind Dogs journey. This is the second part of a series of three blog posts.
Have you seen the start of Louise’s story? Follow her OneMind Dogs journey from the beginning by reading her first post here.
I drove home from the seminar with tears in my eyes and a feeling that I wasn’t that good at agility. I thought Channie was very annoying and overrated in my point of view, I am sure I would not have given Channie a very positive review if anyone asked me about the seminar. Of course, Channie noticed my reaction, and after a couple of days, she wrote to me and asked if I wanted to meet up for a private lesson, to check my dog’s understanding of the obstacles. My answer to that question was “YES, PLEASE!”
This private lesson was the biggest revelation for me. With very simple exercises, I learned what connection, commitment, and cue was. Channie told me how important it is that my dogs understand their part of the job, and for them to commit when I ask them to. I learned that it was my job to move away to the next obstacle and give early information (cue) to my dogs. After this lesson, I decided to give the next seminar days a chance. My mom always said that if I am into something, it is always 100%. That stubbornness and determination saved my relationship with OneMind Dogs.
Things were a little better already at the next training session with Channie. I could feel small things improving and the other participants also noticed the improvements. At the last training session, I had the opportunity to train both my dogs, because of a cancellation. The handling of my dogs was definitely getting better now. I think I got through half the course and I was so proud of myself and I felt like I could fly. I was of course still insecure and stiff in my movements, but I was IMPROVING!
The next day I was entered in a competition. I was full of confidence, and I was really looking forward to running agility with my dogs. The results of the competition were everything I could hope for, Piil received her last 3 clean runs in A1 and moved to A2 and Ronja won one A2 class. I got prizes in 7 out of 8 runs. I was really emotionally touched and took the final decision to follow the principles of the OneMind Dogs method. I started booking private lessons with Channie and stopped all other training lessons so that I could focus 100% on OneMind Dogs principles.
I could easily say that it was OneMind Dogs that changed my way of running agility, and that everyone should just look at the OneMind Dogs website, but then the article would end here. I am convinced that it is also the combination of trainer and student, which makes you able to develop your own way of handling agility. I found my mentor in Channie. In my eyes, she is faithful to the OneMind Dogs method, both when she runs her own dogs and when she teaches others, which I find important in a coach.
I never hear a “good job” praise from her unless it’s something she means 100%. In the beginning, I often heard “not completely good enough, or do it again”. That slowly turned into “Okay, but do it again” and now, it’s “it's not that you are doing it wrong, but do it again, to get it perfect”. I still hear all three statements, but it is clear to me that I am moving in the right direction. Another thing that works well for me is that Channie is not just rewarding my dogs… she is rewarding me!
