Toon was badly mistreated, living in a very small backyard where she barked day and night. She was scared of hoses and a quick movement of a hand, until Kate Pollard entered her life and wanted to understand how Toon communicates.
“Toon is a one year old deaf Bull Terrier cross. I’ve named her Toon as she looks like a cartoon character.”, explains Australian OneMind Dogs pack member Kate Pollard.
Toon had no training and didn't even like to walk on a lead. Kate says “I was so concerned about her training as she has so much energy and is a very strong dog. I spoke to my vet about my concerns and she suggested that I try a training course.” Kate found the recommended online training course (that was different to OneMind Dogs), but she found it very hard to understand and there was no help or support offered so she was struggling to learn anything.
After not getting anywhere with the course, Kate decided to join a local agility club in September, after three lessons Kate says she and Toon were ‘hooked’, they loved it and already wanted to learn more. Sensing her enthusiasm, one of the club members told Kate about a OneMind Dogs seminar that was being held locally with OneMind Dogs Coach Niki Drage and OneMind Dogs Assistant Coach Paul Enriquez.
Kate and Toon signed up for the novice class, having no previous exposure to OneMind Dogs and only having three previous agility lessons under her belt, Kate says her first feeling was “what am I doing here, everyone else is so much more experienced and already knows all about this method, I will be so lost.”
Paul was teaching Kate’s class, he asked Kate about her and Toon’s previous experience with agility and OneMind Dogs. Kate says “I told him that I had no experience and then also said that Toon is deaf. I couldn't believe how well he took that, he spent so much time breaking everything down going over it again and again to make sure we understood. Finally it all started to make sense! By the end of the day, I was shocked to find out we had won an award for being the most improved team over the course of the seminar”.
Kate heard about the OneMind Dogs website during the seminar and she couldn’t wait to learn more about this method, which made so much sense for her and Toon. Kate explains “I joined OneMind Dogs online service as a premium member last week and bingo, this way of training is unbelievable. It's broken down clearly, the videos are well done and there is step by step instruction which makes it easy to follow. Most importantly, help is there when you need it and all your questions are answered”.
Kate finishes by saying “I want to give a major shout out to Niki and her Assistant Coach Paul. If it wasn't for them or this online program, I would have given up on ever being able to do agility with Toon. This week I already moved up from beginners to the next level class at my agility club, all thanks to OneMind Dogs! So once again thank you”.
Kate Pollard
Sydney, Australia
Watch a video of Kate and Toon practicing!
