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philippavallely

Becoming a Gundog Trainer’s Academy accredited instructor

If you follow me on social media, you might have seen my post earlier this month with the good news that I am now officially a Gundog Trainer’s Academy (GTA) accredited instructor. Why did I follow this path? Well, there are three main reasons.


Firstly, currently no legislation exists around the dog training profession in the UK which, as someone from a teaching background, I find unbelievable. Literally anyone could set up tomorrow, advertise a class and call themselves a trainer. So, when I was looking to move from (human) teaching to dog training, for me it was really important to obtain recognised qualifications as that is what I personally look for when attending courses and workshops.


Secondly, I wanted to work with an organisation that had principles aligned to the way I felt about teaching- both human and canine. As when I was teaching languages, the passion I have is for creating a positive learning experience for all, using understanding and motivation to generate exploration and progression- for both ends of the lead. To date, the GTA is the only gundog training organisation in the country to be accredited by the Animal Behaviour Training Council, which means they meet the industry-agreed criteria for welfare and ethics, teaching and training dogs and people, professional conduct and underpinning knowledge.


Thirdly, whilst I had accreditation as a general dog trainer with IMDT, my passion is gundogs. Since I was 4 years old they have been in the family home, labrador and spaniel cross, and working spaniels. Growing up, many family friends had (and have) gundog breeds, some trained to work, some just living a fabulous life in this beautiful county. I have know labradors, setters, pointers and spaniels all my life and I love observing them in interaction with their humans and with the environment. I wanted to really hone my skills and knowledge in this specific field and felt that the teacher’s course with GTA would give me the structure and focus to do so.



To participate in the teacher’s course you have to complete the GTA Handler’s Course first, as they want to see that you can train gundogs and have a good solid understanding of the different types and the jobs they do on a shoot. This is a year-long course involving four modules of face-to-face training, where you set goals for yourself and your dog and then work towards those goals with support across the year. The course culminates in a shoot day at Clicker Gundog in Worcester, which allows your dog the opportunity to participate in a shoot- beating or picking up or both- but with the focus purely on the dog and building their confidence and experience. For anyone thinking of working their dog, I would recommend going on a training shoot day first, as it removes all the pressures that would normally exist on a normal shoot day.


If you have demonstrated on the Handler’s course that you can train your own gundog to an agreed and assessed level then you can sign up for the teacher’s course- a very different beast. The aim of the teacher’s course is to prepare- and assess- you to be a competent instructor of gundog skills, with the focus on not just your knowledge of working dogs and how to train them but- crucially and critically- your ability to break down that training for others, and to be able to communicate that information clearly and effectively. This “teaching humans” side of dog training is often neglected, and this was the only course I found that assessed this side of things- for me, you can have all the knowledge in the world, but if you can’t communicate it well, then that’s not the best teaching.


You are assessed continually during the course, submitting various elements of coursework, all of which is aligned to specific measurable criteria set by GTA and the ABTC. Certainly the most challenging of this for me was the two different training journals! Journal 1 demonstrated my ability to train my own dog (I took Toffee from no Gundog Club grades, through to Gundog Club Grade 3, achieving 98/100, in 8 months). Each entry had to show what I was working on, how I structured sessions, how I measured progress, how I “proofed” behaviour, and how I adapted as needed. Journal 2 was assessing my ability to work with a human and their dog across the year, with each session working on introducing new behaviours, progressing others and working with the human to decide targets and objectives.

I also had to submit proof of a minimum of 100 hours of professional development, to show how I was developing my knowledge outside of the course itself (I think my hours were almost 300!)- I really like that this is an on-going requirement each year, to maintain accreditation status, as being committed to continually learning and developing is the sign of a good teacher/ instructor.

After all the coursework, I then had to sit a written test, examining all aspects of knowledge development- from canine behaviour, training and physiology to rules and regulations around guns and shooting, to health and safety, to teaching and learning theory- a very thorough and rigorous test!

Then the final test, a day of practical assessment, teaching all gundog types (R/HR/HPR) in both group and individual classes. Detailed lesson plans had to be submitted- more detailed than anything I wrote in 9 years of teaching at the Institute of Education!

 

And so, finally, I am proud to say that I am the only GTA accredited instructor in the whole of Dorset. So, if you choose Fundog Gundog for your training, you can be assured that you will be guided in your gundog training journey by someone who has met ABTC standards, whose knowledge and ability has been assessed in multiple ways and who has a genuine passion for helping you have the best relationship possible with your gundog- whether you plan to work them or just have fun with them- based on mutual respect, understanding and the desire to have fun together!


If you want to read more about the GTA Teacher’s Course, there is an excellent blogpost here about it: https://gundogtrainersacademy.co.uk/blogs/news/how-to-become-a-gundog-training-instructor

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