So they show up with their beloved dog who is “just ball crazy”. If you have had a chance to communicate with them prior then they have a crate and a dog toy, hopefully some water and a leash. The dog is probably 5 Lbs overweight and both are totally overwhelmed with all the barking dogs and what appears to them to be chaos.So how to start????
I encourage every member of my team to take some time to greet the new person, meet their dog and attempt to make the person feel comfortable. People who are comfortable are more open to learning.
As we don’t have “beginners classes” we work their dog into our regular practice. We give the prospective member the opportunity to come to three practices for free to get a feel for the sport, get a feel for the team and for us to get a feel for them. From this we can see if the dog has potential and if the people have the self-discipline to show up three weeks in a row. After three weeks and all is going well we ask them to join as an associate member… which has dues attached.
The first few practice we will introduce the dog to the jumps, work on prey drive and teach how to teach conditioning training. I tell the prospect that most of what they will be doing in the beginning will be in their homework. I try to identify the dog’s strong points and set the person up to feel proud of their dog, but know what they need to work on.
I have found that dog owners need as much reinforcement as their dogs do and in the beginning you are really doing human training… training the human to train their dog.
A few things I’ve learned over the years… After they’ve attended a few practices give the prospect a copy of your bylaws or some other information on what your expectations are. (They may be intimidated to touch the equipment… unless you’ve told them that setting up/ tearing down equipment is expected of every teammate.) If you’ve told them your expectations and they are still sitting on their camp chair while everyone else works around them and/or they have an excuse every time there is money due you will be in a position to recommend they find a different team with whom to play flyball. Everyone knowing what is expected of them leads to a more harmonious team.
I try to get an associate member to attend a tournament in the area. They get a feel for what they are working for and what all is involved in the sport. There is always so much to do at a tournament and they can find themselves a contributing member of the team. With new folks you must always be VERY specific on what you want done in order to set them up for success. You can’t say “set the jump heights”. You must say “add one of those one inch boards lying on the ground next to the jumps to the top of the jump board on each jump and do it fast!”. For those of us with years of experience it’s hard to remember how basic you must be.
We let the associate member know what our criteria are for becoming full members and every full member has a say in whether an associate member is accepted. I find this gets associate members in to the habit of contributing to the team and reduces the propensity for personality conflicts.
When that new teammate finally gets into the ring for the first time and lets their dog go and the dog races the course successfully it is a moment they never forget. I always say that the first title is the hardest title to earn. It is reason for an entire team to celebrate.
Connie
7 comments ↓
Great post Connie! Our team follows your recipe pretty much to a T.
I’m curious - how many green dogs are you (or anyone) willing to take on at a time? Do you have a limit? Have you ever run into problems having too many green dogs at once?
We’re currently facing a capacity issue. We have 4 green dogs in training (1 is my latest pup - so really 3 newbies) and we too work them into our regular practice schedule. We also have someone new interested in coming to a practice to check it out. We have no problem with them coming to see what it’s all about… but if the person is interested I’m worried that we just don’t have the resources to take on another new dog right now. We don’t want to discourage them from coming… but also don’t want them to come to a few practices and feel like they aren’t getting enough practice time and end up losing a potential new member.
I’m curious what other clubs do when faced with a sudden influx of green dogs. Do you lengthen your practices? Have a green dog max? etc.?
-Jeannie
How about having a practice solely dedicated to green dogs? You can do green dog stuff (and bring your green dog training dogs) - and THEN the newbies still come to regular practice/training to help with the other dogs.
This way, you don’t take away from the trained dogs that need work, and devote needed time to green dogs.
Of course, not everyone can/could make it, but if you have a few of the seasoned trainers to help - that is really all you need. You could even set your “green” dog training time on the same day - just before or after your regular practice/training. BUT, the newbies have to understand they are expected to help with the other training - which gives them loads of learning potential.
Jackie
We split off green dog training from our practice. We used to intergrate them into practice, but found it to be very frustrating. Especially if we worked with someone & they don’t come back, so we’d wasted valuable team. We also had issues with new people who didn’t care to follow rules, one in particular had the attitude of “I’ll just let my dog run loose during the practice!”. Luckily no one was hurt, but it made us rethink how we wanted to deal with new people.
We now offer separate classes, folks pay for the classes (a good way to determine if they can pay to be a team member). If someone wants to come check it out we offer for free that they can come & watch our practice or a class without their dog. The classes last 5 weeks, or this winter we are actually doing a drop-in class, where folks sign up before the class and pay per class. This has worked well with the horrible weather we’ve had. So the folks can try it, with a low committment, and if they do want to continue on in the sport, we invite them to start attending team practices or refer them to other area teams. We are very encouraging during class & with a smaller group the whole situation is calmer & quieter to ease in a new dog. It’s also really nice as an instructor not to have your attention divided between training your dogs & helping new ones.
I currently have 6 dogs in various levels of learning and not yet ready to race. In the last four months we have debuted 4 dogs and are about to debut another at the end of this month.
So many dogs in training is really a challenge. (Especially for my brain to remember where every one is in their progression). My teammates mostly do not have more than 2 or 3 dogs in their household so this means lots of people as well.
I do incorporate the dogs in training with my team practice and sometimes do midweek work only for them. I usually will work my trained dogs and then while they rest I work my green dogs. Then my trained dogs are ready to come out again and work on something different. I find that the watching of the other dogs work is very valuable for the future handlers and you get a feel about how folks work as a member of a team.
The scenario that Jayne describes is the reason we don’t start working seriously with a dog or person until they are an associate member. The first practice they attend I spend some time talking one on one about the dog’s strengths and why they want to play flyball. I talk about what they need to have to play flyball and what kinds of costs they can expect in being involved in the sport. I do this while trained dogs are working so we aren’t wasting anyone’s time. At the end of practice we may take the dog over some jumps and everyone can get a feel for the potential of the dog and person. I then send them home with some homework to work on. The true test is if they show up for the second week and if they worked at all with their dog.
One teammate really cracked me up when she asked “When does my dog get to the level where she is a color other than green?”
My club does a little of everything.
I am currently training a couple newbies during our club practice time. I only have 1 or 2 people helping me since most of the team has different training techniques than I have on box training, etc…
I enjoy training so I actually have folks come to my house and do boxwork. Sometimes they come once and say it is not for them, sometimes they really want to continue and some come out a few times to my house and either say yes or no on continuing.
This kind of takes all the distractions out of working with the dog and gives the people one on one attention.
I do like the idea of being an associate member and we do sort of have that at times. With some folks, we have them pay $5 per practice they attend but once they come more often we will have them pay our monthly dues instead. They all know about the dues but at first I want it to be affordable for them especially during the winter months when we don’t practice as often.
Now I co-train a class with another club. The students are given an option where they want to run unless they were specifically brought in by one of us.
Our club also allows other clubs to pay $5 per practice if they want to come and practice with us. We have 2 clubs that do not practice on their own very often so their green dogs come to some of our practices and we help them out. At times we have 3 clubs (or 4) working together to get dogs up and running.
We make sure that everyone knows the costs from the beginning including dues, tourney dues, hotel costs if any, gas, etc… this way they know what to expect. they also know they must help setup/breakdown if possible.
Before someone becomes a full fledge member they do have to come to a tournament or 2 and help out. When I decide they can do warmups and if they do really, really well they may get a heat or 2. We had one couple attend tourneys for almost a year before they had a dog up and running.
I wish we could find some more people who just want to come and don’t have dogs.
Enough rambling - needless to say my club can’t decide what we do and when
As someone who has been “recruited” to two different teams, I’d say the most important things are…
Keeping the mood light and fun.
Being open to different training techniques and ideas in general.
Making everyone feel like an equal member of the team.
Organization. Flyball always looks like chaos to some extent, but there should be some method to the madness.
Communication. Poeple don’t know what to do if you don’t tell them what needs to be done.
Honnesty. Be upfront about costs, time commitment, etc.
We hold weekday drop-in classes for those person interested in trying Flyball out. The first class is free, then $10 for each class afterwards. We work on the basics and focus on skill training. Although a few “trained” dogs from the team drop in for skill help, they come with the understanding that this is really for the beginners.
Then, we hold bi-monthly team practices on the weekends. We begin inviting new dogs out to practice when they are able to complete all the basic skills and the handlers show the interest to compete and the commitment needed to be a team member. It also gives us the time to determine if we are right for each other.
As for too many green dogs, our club has recently been formed after a number of us left the old team and we have, currently, 2/3 green dogs on our team. We stuggle to make strong lineups, but manage. It helps that all of us share the same philosophy on training and competing. We give up points now, but know that with proper preparation and training, we’ll be strong later.
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