The One With My Conference
For those of you who don't know, I'm in Kansas City for the Association of Pet Dog Trainer's annual five day conference. Since it was in virtually my hometown this year, I decided to check out the lineup of fantastic speakers while visiting friends and family that I don't see nearly often enough.
Day One was great, except I'm going on like six hours of sleep over the last two days. Apparently, when Mon and I get together, we can really talk. :) Those of you who know us know that for once, I'm downplaying that statement. I skipped the first session because it was about training without corrections. In light of all the Dog Whisperer stuff, there is a huge contingent of positive-only trainers that are really trying to overtake APDT. While I agree with most of what they say, I find them to be as close-minded and judgmental as the group they are fighting, and I don't like to be involved in those debates. I know my beliefs. Listening to people argue and judge isn't going to change my mind.
The second session was the one I was really looking forward to. Two of the top dog evolutionary biologists (for those of you who have dogs, read "Dogs" by Ray Coppinger and you will not regret it) in the field and one I had never heard of but was an excellent speaker had a panel debate about the evolution of dogs, which is quite a hot topic right now. It was fascinating, but I'm really interested in that sort of thing.
The highlight was a little unexpected, however. My favorite speaker spoke about cats. He does kitten socialization classes, much like the puppy classes dog trainers try so hard to push, and the ideas were excellent. I actually think I might try to teach them at some point. While most of his points just made you realize how dumb that you hadn't come up with the ideas yourself, he was an incredible speaker, very passionate about his topic.
Now I'm headed off to spend time with my last remaining friend from high school and my mom, both of which I'm really excited about. This week, I have several old friends who want to see me, including the best of them all -- my Oldsmobile Troi, who my dad has running again. Should be a great week.
Day One was great, except I'm going on like six hours of sleep over the last two days. Apparently, when Mon and I get together, we can really talk. :) Those of you who know us know that for once, I'm downplaying that statement. I skipped the first session because it was about training without corrections. In light of all the Dog Whisperer stuff, there is a huge contingent of positive-only trainers that are really trying to overtake APDT. While I agree with most of what they say, I find them to be as close-minded and judgmental as the group they are fighting, and I don't like to be involved in those debates. I know my beliefs. Listening to people argue and judge isn't going to change my mind.
The second session was the one I was really looking forward to. Two of the top dog evolutionary biologists (for those of you who have dogs, read "Dogs" by Ray Coppinger and you will not regret it) in the field and one I had never heard of but was an excellent speaker had a panel debate about the evolution of dogs, which is quite a hot topic right now. It was fascinating, but I'm really interested in that sort of thing.
The highlight was a little unexpected, however. My favorite speaker spoke about cats. He does kitten socialization classes, much like the puppy classes dog trainers try so hard to push, and the ideas were excellent. I actually think I might try to teach them at some point. While most of his points just made you realize how dumb that you hadn't come up with the ideas yourself, he was an incredible speaker, very passionate about his topic.
Now I'm headed off to spend time with my last remaining friend from high school and my mom, both of which I'm really excited about. This week, I have several old friends who want to see me, including the best of them all -- my Oldsmobile Troi, who my dad has running again. Should be a great week.
posted by Rachel at
3:23 PM
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