If you have been reading my blog for some time you will know that we love video stories…and we love to honour the progress of our students. As we will soon be re-opening registration for Handling360 we thought there was no better way to start things off than to celebrate the journeys of our Agility Handling students. These unique stories share how and why this group of agility lovers joined our online training community.
Today kicks off Round One of our Handling360 video contest!
Members of H360 range from teenagers to grandparents, from the athletically gifted to the physically challenged, and from the never- trained-an-agility-dog-before to the national champions. Every level of agility enthusiast yet the same transformational experience and same goal; to bring out the best in their dog…and themselves!
Which Two Stories Touch You the Most?
Over the next week, we will be posting three semi-final rounds for you to vote on. Every other day we will post a new set of 5 videos. Pick your top two favourites in each round. We will finish the contest with the “Finale” where the top six videos of the week (top two each day) will go head to head to compete to be in the top three.
We have amazing prizes for our contest winners…I mean CRAZY GOOD AMAZING! Our wonderful sponsors have once again been very generous. The top 3 vote getters here, and two additional contestants chosen at random, will EACH receive a gift pack including the FIVE outrageously cool prizes listed below.
Thank you to our generous Sponsors!
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Dog Sofa from wiPet
The wiPet Dog Sofa made it’s debut at the FCI Agility World Championships in Spain and was an instant success! This is our new FAVOURITE dog bed here at Say Yes. The wiPet team have created an amazingly comfortable and durable dog bed that is also waterproof with a machine washable cover. This brilliant Dog Sofa is manufactured with materials of first quality and ergonomically designed for the maximum comfort of your dog. |
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H360 Gift Pack from 4MyMerles
This gift pack sure has a WOW factor and features your very own H360 Bag, H360 Plush Clip Leash, Limited Edition H360 Plush Bungee Earth Ball and “New” Bungee & Squeak. 4MyMerles have you covered with their wonderful creations! |
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FitBone from FitPAWS
We love FitPAWS and our FitBones here at Say Yes and know that you will too! The possibilities of things you can do with a FitBone are endless and they are great for dogs of all ages. FitBones are fun and ideal for countless body awareness games. |
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Aluminet Dog Shade from Be Cool Solutions
The very versatile Be Cool Solutions Dog Shade measures 2m x 2m and comes with a travel bag. This is BRILLIANT to keep in your kit for training, trialling and travelling, and for around the home! When it’s hot outside, the shade deflects intense sun and heat. When it’s cool outside, this same shade material preserves heat, holding in warmth beneath the shade. |
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Gift Certificate from DogWise
Each winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to DogWise.com – an online retailer of “All things dog!”. DogWise.com sells everything from books, to dog show supplies, eBooks, DVDs, and so much more! Check out the website…you’ll agree that this gift certificate will be TOO EASY to spend! |
Now on to the stories! Below are the first 5 videos, and we know that picking just 2 can be hard! Make sure to scroll to the bottom to vote. Remember, we have three rounds before the finals. If you are inspired by these videos and want to learn more about our Handling360 program just sign up for our “H360 Notification List” with the form found to the right of this post.
1. Shandlyn
2. Nici
3. Barbara
4. Liz
5. Maren
Voting in the Season Finale is now open!
Results of Round One Voting
- Maren (40%, 456 Votes)
- Nici (20%, 232 Votes)
- Barbara (15%, 175 Votes)
- Shandlyn (13%, 154 Votes)
- Liz (12%, 136 Votes)
Total Voters: 684
Loading ...View the videos in Round Two and Round Three.
Today I am grateful to each of the H360 students who stepped out of their comfort zone and shared their story with the world. Be sure to vote for the two stories that touch you the most!
If you would like to focus your agility training, we have a quick and easy online quiz for you to enjoy. After you complete the quiz we will send you a gift eBook with agility focus tips based on your results. Next week I will be hosting a free online agility workshop and we have started a Facebook group in preparation; everyone is welcome to join. So far there is a downloadable podcast in the file section AND on Saturday I plan on doing a Facebook Live broadcast (just for this group).
Maren. It’s good to see you and Sam on here. You have come such a long way with him. Keep up the good work. 360 – the way forward x
I have known maren for many years. Maren lights up a room when she walks in. Her possitive energy is contagous. Maren puts her heart and soul into everything she does. Maren loves working with dogs and just watching her work will show you how passionate she is about it. Maren is without doubt the winner for just being maren. She is remarkable…
She is special isn’t she ?
Maren’s story really touched me. It remnded me of my Jamie who needed two years to gain enough confidence to compete. Keep going. Yours is already a great success story.
Thank you everyone for sharing your stories. It is so hard to choose between them, all are inspirational.x
I have Molly my beautiful black nose border collie—she sheds sooooo much, nay type of a coat to hold hair in place
Kudos to all who have created these awesome videos. All have been an inspiration, but the most remarkable thing is how we all have embraced Susan’s and the Say Yes team’s amazing philosophy on dog training. With so many online choices to “perfect” our handling skills, H360 was the right choice for me, as it has been for all of you. Some may “diss” our unique style with verbals; however, it’s results that matter, whether it be personal or in the agility ring. We H360 members may be the few, but we are the mighty! Can’t wait to see more.
Maren, I think we have two of a kind dogs only mine wasn’t a rescue! So many issues .I love that you told your story through such a beautiful video. It touched me so, that I cried through the entire time. We too have had great success with H360 and Recallers even if we are still a backyard team and we have fun, fun, FUN!
Totally love Liz’s fantastic attitude, they have really built an amazing partnership in a very short space of time, transferred their 360 training into really inspirational runs to watch with so much fun and love in there. Good luck Liz xxxx
Maren – your story reminded me so much of my journey with Rue! He was fearful from 12 weeks old and it has been a long journey to get him into a competition ring – I love how much positive trainers like Susan have helped us on our journey. Like your pup Rue has gained so much confidence through agility etc. – this past summer my little friady cat even performed in front of thousands of people at the canadian national exhibit!! The SKY IS THE LIMIT!!
Thanks, Say Yes team for giving us a great line-up of videos to vote for. It’s always a fun challenge to choose favorites!
Maren I remember you and Sam from camp but I had no idea he had previous issues as you both seemed so happy and confident as a team and worked so well together.
Great videos, love seeing how everyone gains confidence
I can see something that I have had problems with in all of the videos, I suppose I picked the videos that had some sort of relationship with my own dog who is very sensitive, without doubt we learn each time we get a new dog, (mistakes we made with our first agility dog) My 2nd Bc learned much more quickly because I knew more about what I was doing, but with my 2nd dog came new problems that I had never reached withmy 1st dog, and now I have to learn how to get over these? one thing I have learned, training, repeat and train, repeat, you only get out what you put in? Allen.
Maren’s video is so inspirational, working through the challenges with patience and determination, amazing, well done to Maren! Oh and Sam x
I must say, out of all the videos, maren’s work with her dog has moved me the most, and brought tears to me eyes. To to take the time out of ones life and use that time to help an animal in distress, and bring said animal back to some sort of normality ,and give it a good life and home, it says a lot for the kind of person she is. Very good dog trainer pleasure to watch, well done maren .I liked the comady side to nici s video, where the dog trys to get his point across,, but with the help of Susan, gets there in the end,, good job.
I cried real tears watching Maren’s video. Amazing!!! Such an inspiration
I am very keen to know what part of Susan’s Course you used to work through aggression problems. I have one that is great at Training (most times, although does take off after other dogs and is very full on towards them and I don’t trust to let him off lead like everyone else does – unless he is on the course where he seems to stay connected to me 🙂 I have started Crate Training DVD and he has worked through the first part successfully. Did you use this to assist with the dog agression – I’m keen to know if it worked.
Hi Judy! I am an H360 student and have taken all of Susan’s courses one way or another. I also have a fear aggressive border collie and a reactive mix who have both competed successfully in agility and life :). Recaller’s is a great place to start for all the foundation games that help teach the dog about staying focused on you and ignoring distractions. Some of the games are covered in H360 as well in the prep-school section. You are off to a great start with Crate Games! That is where it all begins 😉
Judy, Handling360 is all about agility handling so there is nothing specific to overcoming aggression within the content HOWEVER as you can see from Maren’s video Sam was a rescue dog, no one can know the challenges he faced before Maren saved him…but it is obvious he had little confidence or trust in people. What helped Sam’s recovery was Maren following a clear set of lesson plans that lead towards specific outcomes. Every success in training would lead to a new skill, every new skill would lead to new confidence…and that confidence leads to speed and focus in what he is doing.
Often times a dog without confidence does the one thing you don’t want him to do…lash out in an act of aggression. Agility gave Sam not only new confidence and trust in Maren but also focus for work which meant he didn’t notice other dogs or people in his environment. I met this team while I was teaching in the UK this year…Maren had no “outcome goals” that fed her ego…it was all about what was best for Sam…which is why she was able to create such an inspiring outcome with him…the end result (of competing in agility) wasn’t what fuelled her…it was seeing her dog blossom!
One step at a time…as we say in our courses it all starts with CONSCIOUSNESS (you becoming aware of what your dog needs) with leads to CLARITY (using our lesson plans to create specific outcomes…steps up the ladder of success) which grows CONFIDENCE in the dog and the handler…leading you to a place where the dog is focused and happy and drivey about the work which allows us to CHALLENGE you as a student with more complex lesson plans leading to new CAPABILITIES. So yes …a well structured program of success leading to specific outcomes…completely unrelated to specific behaviour modification can have a massively positive contributor when working through confidence based aggression.
Ah – I really appreciate your reply, Susan. Obviously I know the 5 Cs for training skills…but when I see Confidence mentioned in the context of the dogs reactions to “life” it makes me think about how I approach my own dog’s response to distractions. It might be just the reframe I need to move forward faster. Maren’s story absolutely spoke to me and I’m grateful for the inspiration.
Nick I loved your video being from your dog’s point of view. Your dog’s point being that it is the Human who needs the training is so true. I also admire Maren’s desire to find a way to connect with her dog.
Maren, I love your work with Sam! My Grit developed aggression and we have work so hard through it. We have such a great relationship now. I can see you building that. Each dog teaches me so much and I grow. Susan has so much to offer. Look out for Recallers.