Students teaching

[Tabitha]

Really?They are complete Novices.

In that case, I don't think I would be very comfortable with someone teaching me how to train my dog that knows about as much about the sport as I do. I would want a handler that has trained many dogs of their own and has had a lot of success in the way they do it. So no, I would not go there.

 

[HopeShelties]

I have a question to ask at this point so that my mind doesn't take me off on a incorrect tangent. First a little setup: The original question was "would you take a class from someone competing in novice?" not "would you take a class from a novice teacher?".

So, my question is this: If an experienced trainer (one who has had dogs at the top levels of competition) had a new dog in competition, wouldn't that experienced trainer be competing in novice? It would seem to me that the question was posed one way (perhaps incorrectly) and the answers are responding in another way. Did I get something wrong?

Sharon and I had already talked and I knew these people were complete novices... Not experienced handlers with new green dogs.. There is a big difference.

 

[SheltieChe]

More important to me- what the class structure looked like? What was the class flow with 3 instructors? What kind of teaching those people did? How many dogs per one instructor? Who are the students? What is the program geared for? What the structure? I would like to have more info please.

 

[Sharon]

More important to me- what the class structure looked like? What was the class flow with 3 instructors? What kind of teaching those people did? How many dogs per one instructor? Who are the students? What is the program geared for? What the structure? I would like to have more info please.

It is a Foundations class for students who want to compete!!Novice handlers that can't get there dogs around a course.I have seen them run and not one has a leg yet in Novice.One teachers dog can't even do the seesaw without bailing on it and weaves are atroscious.They were teaching or trying to get the dogs on wobble boards and going through tunnels.Lets put it this way I wouldn't do it.

 

[JLSOhio51]

Sharon and I had already talked and I knew these people were complete novices... Not experienced handlers with new green dogs.. There is a big difference.

I get that now. But when folks post, all us readers and followers of the post have to go on is what is actually said in the posts. Add to that many of us have far less knowledge of what's being discussed than others here. Obviously I understand that there is a difference, that is why I asked that the inconsistencies in the conversation be addressed.

 

[HopeShelties]

Just another thought... On doing agility for fun. Even if you dont intend to compete it is important to learn to do agility safely and many true novices dont have enough experience to ensure dogs and handlers are learning to do agility safely.
Also, many people who say up front they want to do it for fun later get bitten by the bug and change their minds. They then face having a lot of holes in their training and things that have been taught incorrectly to go back and fix. It is much easier to teach things correctly from the beginning than having to go back and retrain.
I always wanted to compete but started with someone who didnt know as much as they shouldve to be teaching. My first two agility dogs will never be as tght or as true to aphs as my later dogs who were trained correctly from the start. They will often fall back to old habits because of poor initial training.

 

[dblock]

That being said, I think I'd be okay with students acting as assistants to an instructor, like helping to fit collars, individually show proper heel position, etc.


I think this is bang on, but, I would also add, these classes cost some people a lot of money, and I think, that it would have been expressed at the beginning like for instance before I made the first payment or when I called for information on the class.

I have the same issue with going to college and paying a college professor and instead being swapped out for a TA who doesn't have near the knowledge yet have to pay the same amount. With some things I just don't like being someone else' guinea pig.

 

[JLSOhio51]

...I think this is bang on, but, I would also add, these classes cost some people a lot of money, and I think, that it would have been expressed at the beginning like for instance before I made the first payment or when I called for information on the class.

This makes perfectly good sense. If the people offering the training do not disclose upfront that the teachers are less trained and/or accomplished than would reasonably be expected, I would take that as an effort to conceal that information. I could be wrong, but it isn't as if the staff shouldn't expect that to be important to the participants.

I have the same issue with going to college and paying a college professor and instead being swapped out for a TA who doesn't have near the knowledge yet have to pay the same amount. With some things I just don't like being someone else' guinea pig.

I think this analogy is a little more tenuous. Having been both a TA and a college professor, I can tell you that there are indeed TA's who are better suited for teaching some classes than the professor. It is situational, which is why I said earlier that my issue would be more; "is the teacher qualified to teach the specific class" regardless of novice/experienced. (Plus, TA's in college are generally disclosed in the school's policies).

 

[SheltieChe]

My answer would be ¨it depends¨.
I belong to a club where all teaching done by volunteers. It is less expensive to take classes this way and you can get quality time practicing but for teaching part you get what you get. If this is similar type of situation then I see no problem with taking this type of class.
As for these 3 less experienced people teaching beginners... mmm, someone did give them ok to use space and time and advertise the class?
There is lot more going into teaching quality foundation class than putting MACH or whatever other title on your dog that this does not come into my consideration at all. I would def look what these people dogs look like and what kind of relationship they have with their dogs, it is important to me no matter competing experience/ titles or no competing experience/titles.
Then there is such thing as being able to teach humans.... besides being able to read and see dogs... ability to create flow of the class where people are happy, enjoying, learning, being challenged yet having fun...

 

[celloyogi]

I think this analogy is a little more tenuous. Having been both a TA and a college professor, I can tell you that there are indeed TA's who are better suited for teaching some classes than the professor. It is situational, which is why I said earlier that my issue would be more; "is the teacher qualified to teach the specific class" regardless of novice/experienced. (Plus, TA's in college are generally disclosed in the school's policies).

Kind of off-topic, but... I've been in classes with TAs who were far and away better instructors than the professor, and sometimes more up-to-date on the topics (more often the gen-ed classes, though, not the higher-level major-specific courses). The reverse is also true. Course schedules usually list the instructor; the only time I get annoyed is if I took a course for a particular instructor, TA or prof, and get there to find out someone else is teaching. My favorite stats instructors are a TA, who I think is finishing his PhD this year, and a professor who looks like a long-haul trucker but talks research methods like nobody's business (and has an adorable black lab, to keep this sort of dog-related).

I remind myself of my nerdiness on a daily basis.