Scottish Dog Training is run by Bonny Quick.
A bit about my dogs...
Tully - Little Cookie
"I started agility with my black larador, Tully. We went to a little, local agility club and quickly got hooked. Tully was a fantastic dog to learn with because she and I have a very close relationship and she is always desperate to please, and to earn her reward. Tully won the very first Kennel Club class she and I entered - a grade 1 jumping class. Tully then went on to win all the way into grade 6, which is a real achievement for an ABC. She currently has two grade 6 wins towards championship, pretty much unheard of for a Labrador. However, I had to withdraw Tully from competing and training in June 2011 as she was unwell, and I have decided not to continue competing with her to safeguard her physical health. It would have been lovely to get her all the way to grade 7. In part because she is an ABC, Tully taught me the most valuable lesson I think I will ever get about agility - the importance of motivation and of positive reinforcement.
Hayly - Redwood Trail of Flames
"My second dog is Hayly, an Australian Kelpie x Border Collie. I got Hayly from a little farm near Tomintoul in the Scottish Highlands and trained her using what I had learned with Tully and from what I had picked up by watching other, more experienced handlers and dogs compete. As soon as Hayly began competing, she excelled, and won in just a few months from grade 3 to grade 7 (championship level, the highest level in the Kennel Club's grading system.) Hayly and I qualified through several heats to compete at Olympia Horse of the Year Show in the Novice competition in 2009, in which we finished 2nd in the morning semi-final with a steady, calm clear. In 2011, at three years old, Hayly qualified as the top dog in Scotland to represent Scotland in the Crufts International Agility competition. We competed successfully in two separate heats at Crufts 2011 to get through to the evening final, in which we were pleased to finish 4th overall. This year, Hayly has qualified as one of 8 large dogs in the UK to represent Great Britain at the international championship, the European Open. This year, the European Open will take place in Sweden in July.
Ivy - Lightning Trail of Flames
"In 2010 I got Ivy - a black, white and tan Australian Kelpie x Border Collie - from a farm in Somerset. I am training Ivy running contacts, which is going well so far. She is currently 23 months old and has recently begun competing. She has just won out of grade 4, so will shortly be competing in grade 5."
And a bit about me...
"I set up Scottish Dog Training in January 2010 because I had seen the way some agility training was done and I wanted to try and do better. A surprising number of people trained their dogs almost exclusively by shouting 'that's bad' or 'no' at the dog when the handler made a mistake, and genuinely blamed their dog for being 'mental' or 'not listening' when clearly their handling was at fault or their training was insufficient.
"I realised how powerful a reward was to communicate with my own dogs and wanted to show other people how to establish the same line of communication between themselves and their dogs to train new behaviours and reinforce existing ones. I also wanted to start an organisation in which the happiness and wellbeing of dogs was at the forefront of all the training.
"Having said that, because I train other people how to train and handle their dogs, my task is as much about communicating with people as it is about relating to dogs: I aim to keep my classes and private sessions fun and informative for owners.
"Training my own dogs has taught me an awful lot about dog training, as has training other partnerships. I regularly read dog training literature, in particular agility articles and those published by the APDT (UK and US). When possible, I also try to be trained by other dog agility trainers I respect: I have been lucky enough in the last year to train with Dawn Weaver and with Lee Windeatt.
"Being a dog agility trainer is a constantly evolving process - I am always learning how to be a better trainer and I don't think I will ever feel as if I have arrived at my final destination and have no more to learn. Every dog I train teaches me something new."
