John Fisher mentioned the level of interest in launching the APDT at the APBC Annual Conference in 1992. The idea was well received by dog training instructors present.
At this time, few people had mobile phones, and internet connections were ‘dial-up’ and expensive. Business communication was conducted by landline telephone, which was expensive if you were out of your immediate telephone region, by post, or in person. Those of us who were forward-thinking and had moved away from ‘jerk and pull’ methods of training were isolated. We were still surrounded, in the majority, by dog trainers who thought that the old tried and trusted methods of correction and coercion worked best.
It was so exciting to attend events like the APBC Conference and to have the rare opportunity to meet like-minded people who believed there was a better way to communicate with owners and their dogs. Most people wanted to have fun training their family pets and did not want to become bullies in the name of training. We were also in a time when many people had not grown up around pets, and as most couples worked full time, many began to see having a dog almost as a child substitute.
At this time, most trainers and clubs would not accept puppies under six months old for training.
Most work by waiting until the dog got it ‘wrong’ and then ‘corrected’ for it. It says a lot for dogs that many somehow got it right in the face of learning by trial and error. Sadly, though, many shut down or became ‘problem dogs’ and ended up in rescue or, worse, were put to sleep through no fault of their own.
There was much work done in the background during 1992 and by September there had been 500 replies to a questionnaire asking trainers what they wanted. It was clear from the responses that regardless of background or qualification, every member should be assessed before joining. This was announced at the APBC Conference in 1993. There was an outcry in the dog world, who would complete the assessments and who would assess the assessors?
This was the result of those deliberations. Potential co-ordinators/assessors were selected on the recommendation of respected behaviourists who knew them well and had seen their work first hand. They were invited to complete an application form and in addition, written references from one veterinary surgeon and three clients.
This process resulted in sixty regional co-ordinators being appointed and invited to the inaugural meeting and start of the APDT at the Swallow Hotel, Grantham on Wednesday, 11th August 1993. Although it was short notice and midweek fifty-three of us attended and things really began to move forward. I remember clearly that one of the things decided at that meeting was to use Kind, Fair, Effective as a policy statement.
However, the logistics of us all meeting and communicating on a regular basis to hammer out more detailed plans for a code of practice, finances and assessment was impractical, (remember this was before we all had internet and mobile phones). The planned launch was February 1994, the day before the next APBC Conference.
It was therefore decided at this meeting to appoint a steering committee, chaired by John Fisher to hammer out some details to bring back to the co-ordinators /founder members for agreement. Those interested put forward their CV’s and five people were duly appointed. They did an amazing job in a short time and their recommendations were fed back to the founder members/co-ordinators.
The big media launch in London on 4th February 1994 was supported by Pedigree Petfoods, who commissioned The Grayling Company to organise it on behalf of the APDT. It was a great success and garnered much interest from both detractors and supporters. However, no publicity is bad publicity and the more the detractors shouted, the more interest we attracted from the right sort of trainers for us.
A further meeting of all co-ordinators/founder members took place in Sheffield in May 1994. During this meeting we took a very firm stance on the type of equipment which could be used by APDT members. I am very proud to say that we were also prepared to put our heads above the parapet and be the very first organisation ever to ban the use of choke chains. We also banned the more obvious things like electric shock collars and devices, prong collars, high frequency startle devices.
Once the application process and assessment procedure had been agreed by the co-ordinators/founder members APDT membership began to grow. It was decided that the election of an Executive Committee and hand-over from the Steering Committee would take place at the AGM on 16th September 1995.
I know that the original Steering Committee was chaired by John Fisher, members being Pauline Wise, Charlie Clarricoats, Jo McLaggan, CC Guard and Roy Hunter, who resigned later that month due to the pressure of his other work. Elaine Rix was co-opted onto the Steering Committee because she had specialist expertise in the legal aspects of developing the Code of Practice. She was involved in this exclusively but not in the other business of the Steering Committee.
CC Guard ran the APDT Office for some time, dealing with applications for membership, arrangements for assessments and complaints against members. I can’t remember the names of all the first Executive Committee, but Pauline Wise and CC Guard are names I do remember.
APDT EDUCATION
The APDT’s initial education programme was held at a college in Cirencester and I believe it was run by Sandra Fraser and Stella Bagshaw, who may be able to help you with more detail and dates. I am pretty sure that Val Harvey, Chris Mancini and Helen Roberts gained the qualification provided from those early courses.
There was then a gap before an Education sub-Committee was formed again and we began to run courses at Moulton College in Northampton. I think this was in 2008/2009 but honestly can’t remember the exact dates. We had become computerised and had internet and email by then and the information has gone astray. Chris Mancini, Val Harvey and Patsy Parry might be better to help with dates.
CRUFTS
We attended Crufts from very early on and the stand was run by Pauline Wise in Hall 1 for many years. Initially it was a small, square stand, mainly for information, sold some books, promoted members and the education programme. As years went by the stand became larger and in addition sold equipment and toys. When Pauline retired it was taken over by Rachel Pattison and helpers for a while.
I think it was 2015/16 that the stand moved to Hall 5 with Val Harvey and Calum McConnell looking after it. In recent years Cal has headed the Events Committee organising the stand and demonstrations. It gives information, sells books and toys, promotes members but a further, excellent development was to offer demonstrations by different APDT members with their own dogs over all four days of Crufts.
RALLY
It is now sometimes forgotten that Rally was introduced to the UK by Stella Bagshaw and Pauline Wise, who ran the first Rally workshop for members at Moulton College after an AGM. As Rally grew, Carole Thornley and I became more involved. Carole and Stewart Thornley also organised registrations and the first competitions for the APDT.
As interest in the sport grew the APDT approached the Kennel Club about it becoming an official KC sport. Stella Bagshaw, Carole Thornley and I attended meetings at the KC in London on behalf of the APDT to ensure that Rally continued to insist on the use of flat collars only and no loud or harsh handling methods. We felt that it was essential to maintain the essence of the sport being fun and the relationship between dog and handler. It took some time and there were detractors, but the APDT did not have the infrastructure to run more and larger competitions so if the sport was to grow it needed to become a KC sport and this happened in 2013.
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