Laurence James, Affiliated Instructor with The Canine School of Trailing, and his dog Samson
Rachel and Marilyn who set up The Canine School of Trailing were delighted to assess the first set of trainee instructors after a week long practical course in May 2024. The trainee instructors had already been working hard shadowing sessions, plotting virtual trails and attending online training before coming together to undertake 4 days of practical coaching before running training sessions with real customers at Astbury Mere.
Following successfully passing their instructor course, trainers are given the opportunity to affiliate and become a part of The Canine School of Trailing family.
In this blog, we are excited to introduce to you, Laurence James the first affiliated instructor. Laurence has not only passed his course with flying colours, receiving wonderful feedback from his customers, and sharing with us how much he had enjoyed laying trails for the teams, but he has also met the necessary requirements to be affiliated with us which include:
- completing a canine first aid course.
- having necessary business insurance
- agreeing to follow our Code of Conduct focussing on ethical training and business practices.
- completing a minimum number of hours each year for continued professional development meaning he will remain on top of the best (and most fun) ways to trail
So without further a do…….. here’s some more about Laurence and what you can expect if you go trailing with him at www.dogtrailing.co.uk
Laurence explaining line handling to some customers at a class
Laurence has been trailing with his own dog (the gorgeous Samson!) since 2023, the duo have worked through two assessment levels already, the beginner assessment and more recently the intermediate assessment where they covered a 500 metre trail with 2 difficulties that was over an hour old in less than 20minutes. He told Rachel “I started trailing whilst looking for an activity to keep my rescue dog motivated when he was restricted to lead walks during a period of recovery. We fell in love with it! Samson gets super excited when he realises what we’re doing on a trailing day. We’re currently working towards Competent Level Assessment together”.
Laurence went on to say that one of the reasons he loves trailing so much is because he is “just constantly amazed by the power of our dogs’ noses. Sniffing is something I only fully understood the power of when I got a rescue from a challenging background… it’s so calming for Samson”.
Something we completely agree with here at HQ! Sniffing lowers dog’s heart rates, lowers blood pressure and releases dopamine! Which exactly why it calms Samson and so many other dogs down, so if you’re looking for an activity to help your dog why not consider heading over to a session with Laurence or one of our other instructors?
Samson – Laurence’s gorgeous rescue dog enjoying a beach trip!
Before we let Laurence get on with his trails we asked him for any anecdotes about trailing and he told us that as Samson is super smart, like many dogs, looks for a quick win. He tends to shout at Laurence if he’s not listened to his direction instructions properly and has been known to follow the instructor’s scent trail as it’s quicker! He keeps Laurence on his toes!
Samson really is a smart boy and under Laurence’s guidance your dog could become a super sniffer too!
You can find Laurence (and no doubt more photos of Samson!) at:
Website: www.dogtrailing.co.uk
Social media links:
www.instagram.com/dog_trailing
www.facebook.com/dogtrailing.uk
We can’t wait to introduce more of our trainers to you over the coming posts!
If you’re a canine professional and are interested in becoming a Canine School of Trailing Instructor then reach out to us at rachel@thecanineschooloftrailing.co.uk for information on our next course.
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