Ms Christine Manchester-Hoenig from Mudgee, NSW, is the recipient of the inaugural Susan Wilkins Award.
Christine was recognised for the significant work she had done in Mudgee, NSW. Working in collaboration with the local branch of the RSPCA, local veterinarians, local animal control officers, Council members and staff, Christine uses her skills and resources as a pet dog trainer to help the community address dog related problems in the Shire. In accepting the Award, Christine encouraged us all to get involved and not to be scared to ask for help.
Susan Wilkins said "Congratulations to Christine for winning the award, which I know is well deserved and more importantly sends the message to others that spirit and determination and sheer 'doggedness' can make a difference to what can be achieved in making a better life for dogs. We can achieve anything we want if we believe strongly enough in it."
Christine has done some marvellous work in Mudgee. Here is her response to receiving the Award:
"From the earliest days of the Mudgee Dog Project, my goal was to develop "plug and play" programs that could be transplanted into other Council Pounds. So we have compiled entire training manuals, job descriptions, everything I could think of that would enable someone else to take the ball and run with it in other locations. There's some preliminary work that people would have to do with each local Council, but essentially any APDTA member or CGCI can do this. All it takes is time, patience and what my grandmother would call "pure mule-headed obstinacy".
Even if all you can donate is a few hours a month, there's so much to be learned in a shelter environment. I'm not just training my own dog, or helping students work with their dogs in class. Every day, week in and week out, I have a never ending stream of new animals. (Knowing I have 7 days to make a life or death difference for these dogs is a serious incentive!).
Our volunteers learn how to be really creative and flexible, and are determined to get the behaviour - any behaviour. We look for anything we can reinforce, and work from there. I think one thing that everyone working with dogs will agree on is that the dogs are our best teachers. (And they certainly keep us humble!).
Since our volunteers range in age from 18 to over 70, I also see that yes, anyone can learn clicker training. And the success they see with operant conditioning opens the door to so much more. Whether it's pet dog owners or Pound volunteers, experienced dog owners or Work for the Dole participants, they all get excited.
Sometimes I have to giggle to myself, listening to the conversations around me. People of all ages and from all walks of life, chattering on about this dog's stress displacement signals, what strategies we can employ to change the emotional state of that dog, and solemnly informing me about "the missile leaving the silo".
One of our local cops, a member of our bouncing baby Flyball Racing Training Club, told me a few weeks ago that he's now using both operant and classical conditioning at work. LOL. He's a big, strapping country boy, who lives out in the middle of nowhere, and he's so excited by what he's learning. So much for the misconception that only well educated city folks from the rarified heights of the socio-economic scale can be interested in learning theory when training their pet dogs!
Inspired by what I learned at the Suzanne Hetts seminar, I'm now working on a new project, and of course, it's never just smooth sailing. The problems are huge, complicated and I don't run the world. Sometimes I feel as if I'm herding cats. There are days that I feel as if I'm banging my head against a brick wall. Other days when I come home tired, depressed and discouraged. But we are making progress, and I just keep reminding myself about the starfish story. We can't save all of them...not yet, anyway! But we're making a difference, one dog at a time, one owner at a time. Every time I see that light bulb go on over an owner's head, every time someone becomes enthusiastic about setting their dog up to win, each time we have a successful adoption, I celebrate. I made a difference for that one."
.