# Seminar Working team or auditing



## Augie's Mom (Sep 28, 2007)

I'm planning on going to a 2 day obedience seminar and was trying to figure our whether to go with Augie as a working team or by myself and audit. I can see the pros and cons of both and want to learn as much as possible. 

What do most of you prefer doing and why?

Thanks for your insight. :wave:


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## fuzzbuzz (Aug 3, 2008)

I did a team seminar when Buzz was about 10 months. He was a bit of an airhead the first time we went into the ring with all the other dogs but that made me work harder to keep his attention. The second OB seminar didn't have any team space available so I just went. I got a lot out of it too. Watching others work their dogs can be very enlighting to say the least. I just pray I never 'enlighted' anyone watching us! The best part of the seminar I went to without Buzz was that I went with a training friend. Our next few training sessions we went over things from our notes. That really helped.

Best I can say is, either way is fine. Buzz and I have another one in a few weeks. But I'd go without Buzz if there wasn't space for him.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Who is the seminar speaker?
I've done both. I think I would gauge your level of experience AND what your dog is working at. I'm going to a Celeste Meade seminar this weekend (obedience) and have a working spot, but I'm comfortable enough with the material (and so is my dog!) that I feel a working spot will be best for us. (we shall see!)
On the flip side I attended a Mike Lardy (field work) seminar almost 2 years ago and I KNEW I was not nearly ready to be a working spot. Thank god I audited!!!
Best of luck and have fun!


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## Augie's Mom (Sep 28, 2007)

K9-Design said:


> Who is the seminar speaker?
> I've done both. I think I would gauge your level of experience AND what your dog is working at. I'm going to a Celeste Meade seminar this weekend (obedience) and have a working spot, but I'm comfortable enough with the material (and so is my dog!) that I feel a working spot will be best for us. (we shall see!)


The seminar speaker is Celeste Meade, what a coincidence. Please let me know what you think of the seminar. I hear her seminars are really good and packed full of information. The seminar I'm going to is "Motivational Methods of Increasing Drive and Focus in the Ring", is that the one you are going to?


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Yup I think it's the same one, at least I hope! (sounds fun 
Will let ya know how it goes! I'm looking forward to it!


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Go for a working spot!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I usually go for an auditing spot. This way I can concentrate on what the presenter is saying and demonstrating with fewer distractions. And my dogs get to relax at home rather than being confined to their crates, and usually in a way quieter environment .


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

I'll be curious to know what you think of Celeste...
There are two people I know (folks that I see at trials...no one right around me) that have driven hours and hours for a year or more to train with her that have recently stopped. When I pressed for why they have recently stopped I was told by both that she has changed.... :-(


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## gabbys mom (Apr 23, 2008)

I only go if I can get working spots- my firm demands so much of my time during the week and many Saturdays that I'm just not not paying to sit and watch other dogs work- instead of working my own dogs. I also avoid seminar presenters that don't have dogs up on the floor a lot- lecture is not my style for this kind of stuff. 

Anyway, I think it may come down to your style of learning, too. I'm a learn by doing type person- so I need to see how it feels on my own dog.


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## Augie's Mom (Sep 28, 2007)

Thank you all for you input. I've never been to a Celeste Meade seminar or even heard of her before. My trainer went to her seminar this spring and was telling our class how good she thought it was and about all the useful techniques she learned. 
So when I saw another seminar in my area I thought I would go. 

Unfortunately, I have no prior knowledge of her to compare her current teaching style to. But I will post my opinion when I go for what it is worth. I say this as I haven't been to alot of seminars or worked with any of the renown trainers.


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## MurphyTeller (Sep 28, 2008)

Augie's Mom said:


> The seminar speaker is Celeste Meade, what a coincidence. Please let me know what you think of the seminar. I hear her seminars are really good and packed full of information. The seminar I'm going to is "Motivational Methods of Increasing Drive and Focus in the Ring", is that the one you are going to?


Depends on what you are comfortable with doing to your dog and if you are comfortable and confident enough to say "I'm not going to do that to my dog"...I brought a dog to one of Celeste's seminars and I wouldn't in the future - but that's me.

Erica


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## Augie's Mom (Sep 28, 2007)

MurphyTeller said:


> Depends on what you are comfortable with doing to your dog and if you are comfortable and confident enough to say "I'm not going to do that to my dog"...I brought a dog to one of Celeste's seminars and I wouldn't in the future - but that's me.
> 
> Erica


Based on both your's and LibertyMe's comments, may I ask what happened? 

I would never do anything with or to Augie that I was not comfortable with, doesn't matter who it is. I'm a very protective mother, nobody messes with Augie! Grrr!


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Okay, I am back from the seminar.
I really shouldn't do this without letting myself stew for a while but here was my take on it.
Celeste is very engaging, funny and friendly but a disorganized presenter. I felt we just sorta jumped into things and out of things with no real sense of one idea flowing into the next OR that of a flowchart in training. I wish she had a flowchart or book we could follow to get more of a sense of how and how much a part of her overall training we were actually getting at the seminar. We heard a lot of her training philosophy - which is based on well grounded behavioral science - but didn't see too much of it in action other than on her (very well trained) dog, and got to try it even less with our dogs. Again, it felt like what we saw was the tip of the iceberg.
If that iceberg were in my back yard (if I could train at her facility) I would be totally devoted to it....but right now it's kind of like -- where does that tip of the iceberg fit in to what I'm doing, and if I don't know the whole iceberg, does the tip do me any good?
She had a LOT of VERY GOOD stuff on general dog behavior that I really liked. A lot of cool ideas for obedience training, but I didn't think we got to do enough of it (I had a working spot). I was baffled a lot of times. 
Overall I'm glad I went, but I was frustrated a lot, knowing that I didn't get the whole picture. I think I would love the picture, but I didn't get enough of it. 
As far as the working dogs go, unless you think leash pops are tools of the devil, she did nothing I would be uncomfortable with for my dog. In fact, she is quite excellent at reading dogs and what will be good for them, and a HUGE part of her training philosophy is that people teach their dogs to be afraid of hands and afraid of corrections, and she actively works against that. 
I will be curious to hear opinions from other people that have attended her seminars.


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## Augie's Mom (Sep 28, 2007)

Anney,

Thank you so much for such a detailed account, it is very helpful. I think I will go for a working spot and then sit out an exercise if needed. At least that way I have the option, if I audit then I can only observe. Our seminar date is in Sept, so it is a ways off but I will post my comments.

Again, thank you all for your comments it is much appreciated.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Sure thing. Really everything we did with our own dogs was great. Not enough of it though! She also did not troubleshoot, well, except within the confines of the precise exercise or skill she was teaching. 
If you felt you didn't want to do the exercise it was very easy to just skip out and watch. I also felt there were too many working spots at the seminar I attended (which probably had more to do with the club than Celeste) so even when there were dogs out working there was a lot of down time. 
I'm going to write down everything I remember from the seminar and hopefully, I can extract some useful items and incorporate them into my training. If her training school was near me I would be there with bells on, but we don't have anything like that in the whole freakin' state. The B classes are MUCH more competitive in New England where she lives than down here in FL. She's talking about 198s not getting placements up there, down here that would win just about every time. Anyways...


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## MurphyTeller (Sep 28, 2008)

K9-Design said:


> Sure thing. Really everything we did with our own dogs was great. Not enough of it though! She also did not troubleshoot, well, except within the confines of the precise exercise or skill she was teaching.
> If you felt you didn't want to do the exercise it was very easy to just skip out and watch. I also felt there were too many working spots at the seminar I attended (which probably had more to do with the club than Celeste) so even when there were dogs out working there was a lot of down time.
> I'm going to write down everything I remember from the seminar and hopefully, I can extract some useful items and incorporate them into my training. If her training school was near me I would be there with bells on, but we don't have anything like that in the whole freakin' state. The B classes are MUCH more competitive in New England where she lives than down here in FL. She's talking about 198s not getting placements up there, down here that would win just about every time. Anyways...


Yes - 198 is not good enough for a placement around here - has been that way for a while.

I'm curious - which dog did she have with her this weekend?

Erica


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

She had Sparky. Neat dog. Although the constant BC orbiting made me dizzy.


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## Augie's Mom (Sep 28, 2007)

Well we just went to the Celeste Meade seminar this weekend. The seminar topic was about attitude and motivation.

Augie and I were the greenest team in the room. I found the seminar definitely worthwhile and informative. She is very personable and funny, all the material she presented was doable, even at our level. Exercises I learned in the seminar I was able to come home and actually do, which makes me happy.

I loved her parlor games which you can do in your living room, don't take alot of time and are fun! 

I also learned a new improved way to cut up string cheese


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Augie's Mom said:


> I also learned a new improved way to cut up string cheese


Glad you had fun! I wish I could've gone, but I was running one of my dog camps.

What's the string cheese trick? ;-)


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## Augie's Mom (Sep 28, 2007)

The stick was cut into 4 sections (four 1 inch pieces) and then the strings were pulled off , it created lots of long strings which were highly visible to the dog. 

It allowed the dog to easily see the cheese without it being a big huge chunk.

One of the exercises I really liked was the "nose bridge" which she has on her website as a 3 part video.


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

See, I thought nose bridge was cool in theory but really silly in practice!
Sounds like you had a good time though and got something out of it.
Was it two days or three? Do you mind me asking how much you paid for a working spot?


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I'm going to a Celeste Meade seminar next weekend. I went to one last year and liked it so much I signed up again. This time I also have a one hour private with her.My biggest decision is which dogs to bring....I have a golden working on his UDX/OTCH, a Lhasa with a CDX training for utility, and a 3 1/2 month old golden puppy. We can bring two dogs, so I'm not sure which one to leave home. I was thinking about bringing the two goldens....I'd like to use some of my private with her to see what she would be doing with a puppy that age.Jodie


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I went to see Celeste over the weekend. I spent most of the private lesson working with the puppy. I thought it was pretty funny that she took one look at him and knew he was a Sunfire dog, since she's never even owned a golden. But she lives in that part of the country and trains a lot of them. She was able to tell me all about him and what he would probably be like before she saw him do anything (and she was right about it all).


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