Returning to Temple and finding Victoria!

2010 has been a tale of Tails for this Dog Trainer. I have become nationally certified as a dog trainer with two nationally recognized organizations, been hired as a dog trainer for assistance dogs as well as the garden variety dog, and atended two professional dog training conferences. Whewwwwwwww. And yet there is so much more to learn and I suppose this is just a tip of the ice-berg. What compels me each day to bite off more of the training apple, as it were, is my personal quest to help communicate to the dog, to the client, and to better impress upon all the joys of communion and communication between the primate and the canine.

And lest I get caught up in the communion, let me take time to recognize the teachers of the trainers. Those special people that bring positive training to the fore. One such teacher is Ms. Temple Grandin who I had the privelege to meet not once but twice this year. Temple Grandin is a woman who has walked through baricades and doors to open up doors to understanding Canines as well as ourselves in the process. She has tackled the subjects of animals, communication, and Autism. She fights hard to let primates know that dogs do have emotions and she has the scientific evidence to prove it!

This years APDT conference held in the downtown Atlanta Hilton was home to Temple and to the Animal Planet's very own Victoria Stillwell, the host and dog trainer made famous in her series, "ITS ME OR THE DOG". I caught Victoria and Temple communing in the lobby between conference lecture halls. Their canine banter drew a crowd. Their words were pearls of understanding which strung togehter created a brilliant necklance of passion for dogs and communication between man and his favorite primates.

But these fine women were but a few of the impressive list of speakers that gave lectures at this year's 2010 APDT conference. Over 1200 attendees were present. I met trainers from all across the country and some even from Manilla in the Philipines.
Patricia McConnel and Suzanne Clothier, and the wise women at K-9 noseworks were among the highlights for me personally as well as the fabulous lectures given by Prof Horowitz, author of inside the Dog in addition to Victoria Stillwell and Temple Grandin.

The conference was a cauldron of all things dog. I heard testimony of new techniques to reduce anxiety in dogs, got samples of new tinctures to help ward off dog ailments, got free clicker to click at new dogs and old, gathered new training treats and plush toys, and stuffed more dog training literature into the strained threads of my bursting suitcase.

And it was all worth it. Especially Temple. Her special kind of pure enthusaism and passion for life and kindness and truth is contagious. A walk to her temple is as inspiring as any temple could be. I feel so blessed to have been lead to a life where I can afford an opportunity to better communication between species and see smiles and communion around me. What could be better?