에피소드 06: 낸시 갈리아르디 리틀 인터뷰

I didn't screw it up, but she's just really amazing. He's got lots of power and speed. And he's just kind of getting used to controlling his body right now. We compete in master's level in AKC. And he just needs one more advanced standard cue to move into master's USDA. He's doing pretty good. And then last but not least, I figured I'd bring up my husband's dog as a toller. And this is kind of new for us. He's a year and a half. I'm not training him. He's being trained purely by my husband. I just really love this breed. It's new to us. He's the first toller we've had. We've had other sporting breeds before. But what a cool breed that is. So, yeah. So, he's a year and a half. So, I don't know if you know this, but tollers are the breed I'm looking at next. Really? So, it's good to hear positive things. Oh, I am very impressed with the breed. Yeah. Obviously, you've achieved a ton in the sport. I mean, even with just the dog show of now, that was a lot of letters and a lot of titles. But how did you originally kind of get into dog sports and playing those types of games with your dogs? My dad actually bought me a Shetland pony when I was five years old. Can you believe that? He can't believe that he ever did that. But now he just said he'd probably be arrested nowadays. But I just loved animals and I did a lot with all my animals. I taught them things. My horses all had recalls from the pasture. And, you know, just that love of animals. When I got married, my husband and I, we both love dogs and we each got a dog, a Labrador. We decided to take them through a formal obedience class at a training school here. We were introduced to competitive obedience there. Sent hurdles and fly ball. And it kind of went from there. It was just something that both of us could do together on the weekends. We were both working long weeks at work. So it's not, probably not all that different than a lot of people getting involved in dog sports. So when you started out, I'm going to guess, although I could be wrong, that it was more traditional methods. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'd love to hear what got you kind of started on the journey from that way of training to where you are today, which is much more positive. That's interesting because I'm basically a really positive person. I was raised in a positive environment. So throughout the course of my life, I've kind of continued to make changes to make life more pleasant and enjoyable. And I think everyone does that sort of thing as years go by. So, yeah, I started training obedience with traditional methods, and I think a lot of people have. I was pretty successful using them.

But then one of the last conflicts for me in the quest for me to make life more enjoyable was just addressing the way I was training my dogs. So I did lots of experimenting on my own with my own dogs. I loved what I was seeing. And, of course, it was much, much more fun for me. I loved getting out and training instead of, you know, just trying to find the time. And I got more involved in the sport of agility finally. And as I did that, I continued to learn about positive training methods since the majority of that sport trains that way. I'm a really creative person. It's kind of my forte. I love thinking and obsessing over training. So I started breaking things down more and became more aware of arousal levels and stress contributing to it all. And I started, you know, using those ideas and incorporating them into lessons with my local obedience students. And they enjoyed training a little differently. And so it's kind of been a wonderful evolution for me. And I love training more now than ever. And you mentioned kind of in there that you were raised positively. So when Denise and I were chatting about this and the fact that I was going to have you on the podcast, she mentioned your dad, John Glardy. And I'm not a football person. So I had to actually go look at him. I'd heard of you, but I hadn't heard of him. And he's really, really well known as a coach with the most wins in college football history. But beyond that, he had a really unique approach to coaching. So my understanding is that included things like not letting his players call him coach, not using a whistle or blocking sleds. He even prohibited tackling and practices. Just kind of a very nontraditional approach, nontraditional techniques. I'd love to hear how that impacted how you train and kind of your perspective on dog sports. Oh, yeah. That had a big influence on me. His coaching style was quite a bit different than the norm, and it still is. He was ahead of his time by 50 years by focusing on what he believed in and not what traditionally was done. Believe it or not, he actually started coaching when he was 16 years old. His high school coach, it's kind of a cool story. His high school coach was drafted into the war at that time, and they were going to cancel the football program. They were at the bottom of the conference and always losing. And so he loved football, and he approached the principal, and he proposed to take the team over and coach it himself. So kind of a self-coached team. And they decided to give him a chance, and he changed things, so he made practices more fun. And with a lot of things they didn't.

Apparently, at that time, they weren't allowed to drink water, he told me. So they would drink water. They were told they were going to die. They were going to die if they drank water. Interesting. So with all the changes, his team went from the bottom of the conference to winning that conference that year. So he was successful just making changes to do things that they enjoyed doing. And so many of the things he did for 63 years of coaching are now being looked at by the NFL and other coaches to help prevent injuries. He never wanted to hit in practice. He wanted to save his players for the game, and he didn't like injuries. So his practices were centered around enjoying life, having fun, things like that. And his players absolutely loved playing for him. They rarely missed practice. He kept things simple, worked on fundamentals, and he only added more difficult techniques when the players had mastered those pieces. And then he would break those plays down into small pieces, get those pieces perfected, build those pieces into a lot of different complicated plays. And so his teams rarely lost games because of the depth of training he put into those kids. So he was a master at analysis, details, and creative solutions. And I think that's something I've either inherited or learned from him. I was going to say, just listening to you, I can hear the parallels there with dog sports. Just the idea of breaking things down into pieces and foundation skills. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, and this is the other piece that I think is so cool is he expected them to be excellent players as well as excellent human beings. And he believes in people and respects people, loves to learn about people. There's so much about his coaching that parallels the way I train my dogs because I expect and focus on their excellence too. And I believe in my dogs. I always believe in them. I believe they're right. And they're telling me things. I listen to them and try to make changes to my training based on what they need. And those are all things that my dad taught me from the way he coached with his players. So there's so many parallels between coaching and dog training. And just his way of coaching, it just kind of helped me as a dog trainer. I'd really love to hear how you describe your training philosophy now. What's really, I guess, important to you? Or what do you see as kind of the big things and how you believe in training when you work with your dogs today? Mm-hmm. Well, I guess to sum it up, it's not a really long philosophy. But, you know, what sums it up for me is I just always look at my dogs as my coaches.

You know, so the dogs are my coaches. Whether they're my students' dogs, whether they're my dogs, they're the ones that are helping me develop a plan. And I like to think of it that way because it just keeps me always evaluating and looking at things. I want to make sure we talk a little bit about your experience as an obedience judge. Having had the experience of being a judge for a while kind of has influenced or changed how you train and how you prepare yourself for competition. So can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah. So I got to watch a lot of dogs over the years. It's 20 years, I think, I was judging, somewhere around there. I don't think judging has really influenced the way I train at all. It's kind of separate. But it has made me more aware of handling and timing issues that, you know, unknowingly contribute to problems in handlers. And it's also helped me develop a system of handling for healing where there's no footwork involved. And that's one of the classes I'm doing right now, which is really different because I noticed when I was judging handlers coming in, especially new handlers, even handlers that have been around a while that are just struggling with getting on the right foot and, you know, and that. Those are just a few things. Timing is another issue. You know, commands that, you know, I give to handlers and handlers quickly giving the cue to the dog. And you start to see anticipation issues, those kind of things. Like I mentioned, I'm fairly new to obedience. So I've been volunteering to steward kind of every chance I can get just to surround myself with a sport, learn a little bit more about it, make sure that when I do eventually end up in the ring, I'm not quite as nervous. At the very first trial where I got to steward, the judge said something to his beginner novice handlers that I don't think I'll ever forget this. He said, I'm here to work for you. So if you're not ready when I ask, tell me so. I'll wait. Take your time. And he, like, really emphasized this idea that they were basically paying for him to be there, not the other way around. I think most handlers probably haven't ever thought about a competition quite that way before or the judge at least quite that way before. And I was curious if you have any nuggets, things that you wish handlers had known when you were judging or that you wish handlers knew when they walked into a ring just from your time being on that side. Yeah, that's wonderful advice from the judge. And it's so true.

That was one of my biggest, one of the things is I just wish people would, you know, slow down and kind of take more time. So that's awesome that he or she brought that up. A couple other things come to mind. And one is, I think it's a little better now, maybe, but just playing and engagement between exercises. There's countless times where, you know, the judge is busy scoring and you're moving between exercises and the dog needs a break. And I just wished more people would, you know, break the dogs rather than healing them and just play a little bit, you know, between exercises. And it's fine to do that if you just don't hold up the ring, you know, and just kind of make sure you're moving between exercises. And then the other important thing is just to be your own, your dog's advocate in the ring. Just making sure that, you know, if something is going on that you step in and, you know, take control. Because just because, you know, somebody is telling you not to do that or to, you know, just make sure you do what's right for your dog. I didn't include this, I guess, in the questions I sent over in advance. But I'm curious because you've had so much experience with the sport. Just what some of the changes you've seen over the years have been. From what I hear, even the instructions that AKC kind of gives to their judges have changed a little bit. They've become a little bit more about trying to make the sport more acceptable and more interesting for people who may be new to it. Which is awesome. Yeah. Do you have anything that kind of comes to mind about kind of how the sport has changed and, you know, what your thoughts may be? I don't think the sport has changed too much. I wish it would change more. But some of the exercises have changed. The order, there was in the B classes at one time there was only one order. And now the Open B and Utility B exercises have, I think there's six different orders. So there's that. At one point in time, you could not excuse yourself from the ring. And you can do that now. That's a fairly recent change. You know, there's lots of little things like that. Utility, a long time ago, there's, you know, there's Utility A and B were split more recently. But at one point, they could be combined into just one utility class. And there was also an exercising utility that was a group stand where the dogs would all be standing and the judge would go down and examine each. That was before I was judging. I was competing then. But the dogs would all stand and the judge would examine them, all 12 of them at the most. So those are some changes.

In terms of judging, you know, the judges have changed according to the rules. But, you know, basically, I think the procedures are fairly similar to what it was. And I can't really, since I haven't been judging, you know, since 2008, you know, I can't really, you know, say what is going on currently. Well, just to kind of round things out, I have three more short questions that so far I've asked everybody who's been on the podcast. So the first one might be a little hard to answer, but what's the dog-related accomplishment that you're proudest of? Yeah, that can be hard because I think everybody has that issue. You know, I know for myself, each of my dogs have given me some pretty amazing things to be proud of. But actually, I could think of one thing, and I think my proudest accomplishment was that the American Kennel Club's Border Collie Parent Club, which is Border Collie Society of America, gave me the 2010 AKC Good Sportsmanship Award, which I was very honored to receive. Congratulations. Thanks. So the second to last question is, what is the best piece of training advice that you've ever heard? Yeah, I had one ready for today, which is, it's not so much training advice, but more life with dogs. And that includes training. And this is something I love so much. I have t-shirts made with it on. And that's, be the person your dog thinks you are. I just love that, that slogan or saying. But then today, Julie Daniels posted a response in the instructor's email list, and it was on a discussion we were having. And she said something that became my new favorite piece of training advice. So that just happened today. And what she said was, consequences are not always the enemy, but anger is always our enemy. I just love that. I'm sure she'll be very flattered. That's what you chose. Yeah, so that's just awesome. This last question is, who is someone else in the dog world that you look up to? Boy, this is a hard one. There's so many people in the dog world that I admire. There's just too many to mention. And so I think I'll say the entire group of instructors at FDSA as an entity. It's an incredibly supportive family. And Denise is just the best boss that anyone could possibly have. I'll agree with that. All right. Well, thank you so much for joining me. And thanks to our listeners for tuning in. We'll be back in two weeks with Sue Alsby, well-known creator of the Levels training program. If you haven't already, subscribe now on iTunes or the podcast app of your choice to have our next episode automatically downloaded to your phone as soon as it becomes available.

Today's show is brought to you by the Fenzie Dog Sports Academy. Special thanks to Denise Fenzie for supporting this podcast. Music provided royalty-free by bensound.com. The track featured here is called Buddy. Audio editing provided by Chris Lang. And transcription written by CLK Transcription Services. Thanks again for tuning in and happy training. Thank you.