This weekend, Ziggy and I got an incredible opportunity to learn from former World Champion handler and trainer, Debbie Zappia. We were among several members of training groups from all over the Pacific Northwest who showed up for the three day event in Woodinville, Washington. 

You may recall Deb from our conversation in The American Canine podcast episode 10, Talking With a Champion. (Click the link to listen) She has been involved in the schutzhund world for more than three decades and took multiple dogs to the podium, eventually becoming the first American to win the WUSV IPO Championship. More recently, she has been a major figure in the creation of the American Schutzhund organization.

All this is to say that she has some incredible skills when it comes to dog training.

Throughout her career, Deb has consistently had dogs that performed at the highest levels. Some of this is dog selection. She will admit to that, but it is also having a consistent plan to your training and the flexibility to recognize when that plan needs to change. One of the things we heard her say several times as people asked questions about how she did things, was, “that depends on the dog.” Something I see pop  up over and over in the sport dog world is someone who does well with one dog, but can’t repeat their success because the next dog doesn’t respond like the first. It is good to have an outline to your training, but dogs are living organisms that will always surprise you with their behavior. You have to be able to adjust your game plan to fit the personality and character of each dog. The best trainers have an oft-repeated refrain, train the dog in front of you.

The theme of the seminar was “Games With a Purpose.” This is especially of interest to me as I teach a class, Play is the Way(to a better behaved dog). Deb turns training time into fun time. The dogs don’t know they’re not just playing with you. The tricks and methods Deb demonstrated this weekend were at once simple and game-changing. It is incredible to see how little changes to your delivery, posture, handling can have huge impacts on the development of your dog’s skills. Also, turning training from a rigid exercise into games dramatically increases the dog’s enthusiasm.

Many thanks to Donna Morgan Murray for hosting the event. It was a beautiful facility and she made everything run smoothly. I highly recommend attending one of Deb’s seminars if you get the opportunity. If you can’t make it in person, she has a ton of videos on Youtube and she has appeared on a number of different podcasts with some insightful dog training philosophy. To be clear, Ziggy did not get to train with Debbie, as we were attending in an audit spot, but we will be putting many of her ideas into practice.

This was also Ziggy’s first road trip training. She was a real trooper. She was good in the car and quiet at the event while she waited to get out. She was a bit nervous about what this whole trip was about, but she will get better as we do more, I’m sure.

Until next time, get out there and do something with your dog!