Christoffer Endresen: [00:00:00] As I was about to publish this episode with Dave Mannings, I went onto Facebook and I learned that John Ness had passed away. John, for those who don't know who he was, was a team leader of the US team in agility. And I know that he was sick before the A WC and I was so surprised to see him there. And it is so sad to see that he's now passed away.
But what a fighter. He showed up. He showed up to every single team at the wc, and I could only imagine that he was in pain and that he was struggling, but he showed up and the community has actually lost a pretty big figure, and my condolences goes to the family. [00:01:00] To his friends, to the US team and all the jelly handlers in us.
You lost a big giant, a big champion, but yeah.
But the best way that we can honor him is to live out the values, his values, and the way that he showed them, and that's by showing up and supporting each other. Thank you so much, John, for what you've done for the sport.
Dave Munnings: So I was like, right, we're doing blinds, we're [00:02:00] doing keka, we're doing this, that and the other. And they were like, what? No way. 'cause I'd always been so anti it and anyone who'd ever tried to put one in before I was like, do not do that. Horrible. How are your dogs not broken? I see you get 'em outta the van.
Nothing except a we. And then jump and go around the speed of light around the agility course. And I think if I did that, all my dogs would be crippled. I don't know, it's just not good enough. You know, they are athletes at the end of the day and what we expect from them, um, they need more than just out the fan too.
Agility. I'm back intraining sessions where you come, where you think, why have I got angry? Why have I got angry at the dog? And it's not the dog's fault. I'm not, you know, I'm not a, I'm not a dog blamer at all. I'm very much. Um, I'll look at the problem, but sometimes, you know, I've got annoyed at dogs and I might have shouted, I've never, you know, I don't get physical with my dogs ever.
That's not what I do. But, you know, you do. We, we've all done it. We've all been there and we've all done that. And then you come away and you, I break myself. I hate myself when I, when I've had those training sessions, you know, this is, in the past, it was important. You've got to have a support system in, 'cause everyone, everyone moans, everyone gets upset.
You need people that are gonna listen to you and
Christoffer Endresen: hi and welcome [00:03:00] to the Champions Journey. My name is Chris Franken, I'm your host and we just finished the Norwegian Open here in Norway. And as a consequence of that, I don't have a good voice anymore. In addition, I got sick, but that's just the name of the game.
Anyway, the Champion's journey for if you're new to this podcast is all about listening to the stories of champions. We don't want to hear just the stories. About where they are now. We want to go back in time. We wanna understand their struggles, the efforts that they have to put in, in order to get to the podium.
Because there are people out there who are now putting in the work, who are working hard every single day to train the dog, train themselves in order to get better, and one day they will be on the podium. And they might need this podcast to listen to, to get that extra motivation to work through the struggles and challenges they are currently facing and knowing that that is a part [00:04:00] of the process.
Today's guest is Dave Mannings. He has won several medals in the a WC, also in European Open, uh, in a WC. It's the silver and bronze, and he runs QME agility for those who have heard about that. If not, you should check it out. We also get to hear one of the other initiatives that Dave is involved in, like Nexus and Nova, and in addition to that.
We get to hear Dave's story. Dave has been in the game for a long, long time and we got to talk about how agility has changed throughout the years and how that has influences both the demands for the dog and the handler in terms of handling styles and skills. Dave is actually the first agility superstar that I got to know, not personally in the beginning but got to know about back in 2017 when I got involved in [00:05:00] agility.
Now I actually got the chance to know him and I'm very happy that we got him on this podcast and I think that you will like his story. If you are new to this podcast or have not yet subscribed, it is free to subscribe to the podcast and you will then be notified every time a new episode comes out. In addition to that, I just launched a webinar.
So if you go to dog agility.com, you can learn more about how mental training can actually help you improve your game when it comes to agility. So go to dog agility.com or click, click on the link below in the show notes and it will take you there if you're interested in that. But for now, we're going to head over to Dave and listen to his story.
Hi Dave, and welcome to the Champions Journey. Hi, how you doing? Doing good. How about you?
Dave Munnings: Yeah, good. Not a busy day training, but it's been fun.
Christoffer Endresen: Yeah, it's been, uh, [00:06:00] I wouldn't say difficult, but it been challenging to find, uh, time that works because you're pretty busy, uh, these days. Crazy. Yeah. And I've had construction workers and fans because we got our basement flooded with water, uh, recently.
So, uh, that's why I have to sit on the kitchen.
Dave Munnings: Yeah. I wondered why you were trying to, you were saying everyone's in the house. Yeah. No, it's been busy. I've been busy. You've been flooded. But we managed to find a date.
Christoffer Endresen: Yeah.
Dave Munnings: Perfect. It's a dream come true. I knew, I knew it would be for you
Christoffer Endresen: finally. A date with Dave.
Dave Munnings: Yeah. I know you've been desperate for one, for ages. Yes.
Christoffer Endresen: I actually have to start out with, uh, telling you something. Uh, this is a fun fact. I knew about you before I knew about Ellie. No, you did not. Yes, I knew I was the
Dave Munnings: first I knew her.
Christoffer Endresen: No, it's actually the, the person that introduced me to, uh, agility.
She, her name is Monica. She lives in Bergen [00:07:00] and. When I start to sort of understand more about agility, she said You should check out who this day money guy. He's really good. You've been checking me out ever since. True. Yeah. Yeah.
Dave Munnings: I knew it.
Christoffer Endresen: But don't tell Ellie that. No, I won't. No. We'll keep
Dave Munnings: it quite our secret.
Yeah.
Christoffer Endresen: Very good. The purpose of this podcast is really for us to, to hear about the different champions journey, and we're going to start out with you. Of course, you're the, the guest and for. People that don't know you. Uh, we talked a little bit about the introduction that you're the person in the GB team, so Great Britain, that has been on the team the most.
Was I right about that?
Dave Munnings: Yeah, I think so. Now just, I think I took that title like away from Greg, maybe like this year. It might have been this year or last year. I can't remember now. But yeah, so at the moment I'm, I'm the oldest, one of the oldest, been doing it longer time now. I've had a lot of, um, yeah, I've been on like Te [00:08:00] s and World Champs quite a lot of times now.
Christoffer Endresen: And in the beginning, like how was life before Agility and when was that and how did you actually get into agility?
Dave Munnings: So. I think I was 12 when I first started Agility, but before that I was very much into horses, horse riding. And throughout when I started Agility as well, I was a lot into, um, show jumping and did a lot with horses, race, horse riding, breaking, all sorts of things.
So I was very horsey background. Um, and then I was desperate for a dog my whole life. And then eventually my mom, uh, gave in and let me have a little spaniel. Um, then she was like, oh, let's do something with her. And she found this agility club and that was it from there on. And she was only a medium and they were trying to make her jump 75 at the time.
'cause Medium didn't even exist. So I was like on lead trying to launch her over these massive drums. 'cause that's what they would telling me to do. I'm like, she can't jump it. And then all of a sudden they were like, oh yeah, they brought this new height in now. And I was like, oh, [00:09:00] thank god. Poor thing was like on the collar trying to be pulled over these 7 75 centimeter jumps.
Oh my god. All the things we did back in whatever year that was. 94, something like that. So. 1994, long time ago. So yeah. Then obviously Spaniels and then really got into it. It was much easier than horses as in cheaper and you didn't have to get up at the cracker of dawn to go muck out and stuff, so they kind of just took over from the horses after that.
Christoffer Endresen: Yeah, it's, it's kind of funny to that your mother, you had to negotiate with your mother to get a dog, but you, you were already engaged with horses and all horse horse
Dave Munnings: sports I think, um, I think 'cause we were out a lot. Um, my mom worked a lot, so my, my dad's. He died when I was really young, so it was just me and my mom.
And so she was out at work a long time and I was at school for a long time and so we just didn't really have time for the dog. And eventually she gave in and yeah, she did have spend a lot of time on her own at at home while we were [00:10:00] out. But every three second I had, I was spending time with her, with the, the dog, not my mom, spending time with the dog.
And so yeah, she eventually, and then after I got one, I was like that I need this. This is what I love. I just love dogs so much. Always have done. I was always desperate. Even when people used to come around the house with dogs, I would always take them out in the back garden and try and make them jump over sticks.
And I was just obsessed with dogs. Al always had been. So when I got this little spani, it was just like, oh, dream come true.
Christoffer Endresen: And then you started with agility and like how old were you when you started with your first competition or entered your first competition? So
Dave Munnings: probably. First competition was probably a couple of years in, so maybe I was like 14.
'cause the club I was at used to do all these demonstrations at like local fates and stuff. They didn't tell us about competitions, so I didn't know they even existed. 'cause we used to have to go and do these demos and I was, um, got quite bored of them. So then all of a sudden someone was like, oh, you can enter a show.
And I was like, what are these? I never even heard of [00:11:00] these shows. So, and then found out about that and then it was just kept going and going.
Christoffer Endresen: And you got hooked. Yeah. Really hooked. And like when, when was the time when you sort of understood that there were more than demos and more than these shows? That there was an international arena for this?
Dave Munnings: I mean, obviously the world champs and things like that weren't around when I was back in the 1990s. I can't dunno, the first year the world Champs started actually, but I didn't know about it for a long time. Um, but they had obviously Olympia, which is a big, uh, final in the UK at Christmas time. So I saw people qualifying for that, and that was always a dream come true.
And obviously we got CRTs in the UK and then saw Agility was at CRTs. I didn't really know any of that before. So, um, when I realized that there was, you know, more to it than just local shows and winning up through the grade, through the grades, then I was like really like very [00:12:00] excited to, um, to try and do those things.
I saw other people doing them and thought I want to do that. Olympia was just an absolute dream in that ma arena. Thousands of people watching you was So the first year, I remember the first year I qualified it was so, I was beyond excited. It was crazy.
Christoffer Endresen: And was that
Dave Munnings: combined with other shows as well or was it just agility?
Yeah, no, it was a horse show Olympia. So just with from the dog point of view, just agility. Um, obviously corrupt is everything. Mainly showing the Agility's the side show. Um, but with Olympia, which was the crazy, exciting final that was just agility and the rest was show jumping for the horses.
Christoffer Endresen: Oh, interesting.
So it was a combination between horses and dogs.
Dave Munnings: Yeah. Yeah.
Christoffer Endresen: What type of turf was that? Was
that
Dave Munnings: moron of sand? Like usually Yeah, or sand. Like we haven't had like asteroid turf obviously. I remember I first went to Crufts. It was just a flat carpet laid on concrete. I mean, it was so dangerous. It was just, dogs just used to land and slip and smash their heads on the floor.
It was a [00:13:00] horrible, and then eventually they decided to bring in the AstroTurf. I can't, no idea what year that was. And all the showing people complained 'cause their dogs couldn't trot so well on it. And all the agility people, flag wall people loved it 'cause it was so much safer for the dogs. But yeah, it's changed a lot since I was, um, when I started.
'cause it was just sand and grass back then. And then all of a sudden they brought in all the carpet and then the AstroTurf, thank God. And now they have the AstroTurf with this, with stuff underneath it. Um, yeah, it's, it's got a lot safer. Thank God. It's a different mindset
Christoffer Endresen: now when it comes to safety.
Especially some people are, are, um, suggesting that the, uh. The ladder, um, should be as wide as, as they frame and so on. So it's, uh, we'll see how the development goes. Yeah, it
Dave Munnings: is. And I do, yeah, I think I, I kind of understand that a dog walk is so, is so narrow, but, and the speed they go on it, but it's just the, oh, it would just be crazy.
Wouldn't if they, everyone would have to buy a new dog. It would just be, I, I, [00:14:00] I think it needs to happen, but I just can't see it happening. Let's see what happens with that. Interesting. But do
Christoffer Endresen: you ever, like from time to time, watch it videos from your early runs?
Dave Munnings: Yeah, I've got it all on like an old VHS videotape of me, uh, shows.
Oh my god, it's so old. I don't even know how I'd play it anymore. I don't need to put it onto a DVD or something. Um, take it somewhere can do that. But yeah, it was, um, I've got some on my first ever Olympia is on a DVD somewhere I could even find it. And it is, oh, so my hat, everything's just so different.
I was so skinny for one. That was nice. But that was easy back in the day when you are young. Um, and yeah, just the handling, the, the course, the equipment. The equipment was crazy. It was just, you know, I just had contacts with sand. It was just sandy contacts, no rubber or anything. Sand and paint. And the tunnels, like they had sandbag on each end.
They had people behind the tunnels holding the tunnels in place 'cause they, and they were like dent like this. Uh, [00:15:00] it was just so different. It was crazy. Like, it's changed so much since, since I started. Yeah. Let's, uh,
Christoffer Endresen: go back to that big event, Olympia. Um, when you stood there and there were thousands of people in the audience, what emotions did you go through?
Dave Munnings: Just. Obviously nerves, excitement to show like what the dogs could do. 'cause they don't, they're not agility people. It's not like the world champs where everyone understands what you're doing. These are just people that think it's, it's funny, you know, that dogs are wiggling through the weaves and you know, they don't get that.
It's for us really serious. So it, it is fun because, because it is not that serious in that respect. But obviously we wanted to, we want to win it. And, you know, they even had a, like a fun dog. They don't do that anymore. They'd put in like a different breed, like a boxer or whip it that basically just couldn't do agility and would do like two jumps and just sprint around the arena just to get the, um, audience laughing and finding it hilarious.
Um, so if you [00:16:00] were the fun dog, it was, they loved it. The fun dogs. They used to like cue up to be the fun dog at Olympia. Um, yeah, they, you know, they do take it more seriously than that now. Thank God they got rid of the fun dog. But yeah, just the excitement of, it's usually get a warm up round in the afternoon that's, um, got a big crowd and then like a, an easy, like a pairs class or something.
And then the final in the evening, the final is crazy because you get, it's not like real agility. The poles is six foot long. The wings, each wing is two foot. So if you have a backside, like to actually get round, jump is quite hard. It's fricking massive. Um, and it's, and it's just so, yeah, it's just so different.
And you get like a minute to walk the course whilst they're setting the course up because it's all for the, you know, they've got the fit you into, and then if you're first on, you literally have to run back. You're knackered from walking X the arena's so huge and then you've got to run your dog. It's still like that now to be honest.
Um, but it is just a really exciting because event, because they just, the crowds is screaming, um, it's just exci. You don't really notice a crowd went through in the arena, but you can just hear them like, I [00:17:00] think three times I've messed up now because the crowd has been so loud, um, that they just can't.
My dogs can't hear, my verbals, can't hear what I'm standing 'em to do 'cause it is just, it's just a different event. There's nothing else like it in the world really that I know of. This is so big. What does it take to qualify for that event? Uh, so you have to, throughout shows throughout the year, you have to come a top five place and that qualifies you for the quarter finals.
You have to go to the quarter buttons and get in the top, top 20 I think it is for large. And then you get to the event and then you have to get in the top 10 in the morning to get through to the final. So there's quite a, quite a lot of stages. Yeah. But that also makes it fun. Yeah, it is. It's a bit different for other heights, I think.
It's not quite so many stages for some of them. I think in small medium, you guess as soon as you qualify for the event, at the quarter finals you're getting straight to the final. So it's a little bit different just 'cause it's obviously less dogs than large, but it is, it is not easy to qualify, but um, it's something that everyone just wants to experience.
Christoffer Endresen: Cool. And. [00:18:00] When you did that the first time, was that with, with the dog, with the, with the leash jumping at 75? Yeah.
Dave Munnings: So that was with the Border Collie. I had my, it was my first good, really good border colleagues. I'd had a couple of rescues and they did well, they got to the top level, top grade, but they hadn't quite, weren't quite good enough to qualify.
So I eventually got a dog called Billy, who was a friend of mine now actually, who, uh, she went away traveling and she left her dog with another friend, Billy. And, um, they even, she decided to stay traveling a bit longer. She had some things going on in life, so she went away for a long time and they said, oh, we don't want him anymore.
He's a good dog. But he was a bit, um, nervous, a bit weird. That's him actually. That one right there. Um, a bit nervous, a bit weird. He was just a bit. He was un people didn't understand him. So I said, I'll take him on for a bit. Um, and as soon as I took him on, we just got really bonded so quick. He was such a cool dog.
Um, we qualified for crafts, qualified for Olympia. We got to grade seven and we had championship classes. And then when she came back I was like, oh, can I keep him [00:19:00] to the Olympia? And she was like, yeah, yeah. And then I'll take him back after that. And then eventually I, I rang her and I said, look, you either need to take him now or don't take it, or, or don't take him.
And I keep him forever 'cause I can't just, I can't have him have you just come along one day and go, I want my dog back. So I either keep him forever and I obviously buy him off you or you take him now. 'cause I can't cope with it. I'd love him too much to him to just be taken away from me. So she was like, okay, I can see you guys are so bonded that, you know, you can keep him.
And you know, she'd been away for a year and a half. He didn't, he did remembered her of course, but I think me and him had such a good connection that she let me keep him. So he was the one I got to the first time I went to World Championships. Uh, I got a medal with him in 2005. He was a really cool, he was kind of one that started me off on like the professional journey that I would say I'm on now of actually wanting to do it as a living and getting a name for myself.
Christoffer Endresen: We have to go back to, it was 20 years ago. So you have a 20
Dave Munnings: year anniversary this year? Yeah, it was, that was my 20th year. I was there 2005. That was my first [00:20:00] every year in 2025. Oh, it's a long, long time.
Christoffer Endresen: Yeah. But, but, but still, I think that when you, you're having fun. It go, the time goes fast this fall. So 2005, you were even attending the World Championship in Norway when That was back in 2009 or oh seven.
Dave Munnings: I think so. Yeah. Yeah. I've been to Norway. Um, I can't remember, and this is something I'm really bad at, is remembering what years I did what I have no clue. Like I have a terrible memory. So unless I wrote it all down, that's why I love Facebook so much. 'cause I can just check back and see what I posted.
So before Facebook, I have no idea what I was doing. I remember 2005, 2010, so I won medals. Apart from that, honestly, it's a bit of a blur.
Christoffer Endresen: And so you won medal at your first uh, yeah. World championship. And how was, I wasn't expect you because Yeah. Sorry. Go. No, go ahead. Tell about how was, how was that experience for you?
It was,
Dave Munnings: I kind of went thinking, oh, he was a good dog. He wasn't an incr, like a [00:21:00] fastest dog in the world. Um, and he, yeah, I thought he was more of a team dog. And I was on a team with Greg Derek and a girl lady called Tony Dawkins, who still does a jersey now. And they had really cool dogs. Uh, we did, we messed up our team, but I had two really nice runs in the individuals and got a bronze medal.
I was got beaten by two Germans, so nothing's changed. Still love to beat me. Um, so yeah, but it was really, I couldn't believe it really. It was one of the most exciting things that'd ever happened to me at the time because it was just, you know, the world championships and getting a bronze medal my first every year when I was, you know, so unexpected.
I didn't think it would happen. Um, but yeah, it was really, really cool experience.
Christoffer Endresen: Having that experience your first year, did that influence you when you went the second year?
Dave Munnings: I think I was just kinda shocked that it happened. I thought it was probably a fluke. So then I went back, obviously I think I qualified the next year after that and then I didn't qualify again.
So I think when 2005, 2006, I might have gone 2007 as well. Um, and then I didn't qualify again to [00:22:00] till 2010 with my next dog. And the first year he went, he got a medal as well. He came, he came, got the silver medal individually. Uh, only did individuals that year, um, to Lisa Frick, you know, she won it four.
She could have given it to me one time. She won it four times. She said fricking Really? So, um, yeah. And you, not a bad thing coming second to Hoss really. He was a pretty good dog.
Christoffer Endresen: And, but, well you said also that back in 2005 when you had the medal, that that was the time where you really started to think about doing this professionally.
Dave Munnings: Yeah, I think professionally I didn't start, I mean, I was doing bits of teaching all through uni because I, I went to university to be an osteopath on humans. So I like, you know, I, I, I'm, I'm a qualified osteopath on humans, dogs, and horses. But, um, I kind of finished my degree. I was teaching all the way through my degree to earn money, obviously.
And then I finished it. I kind of moved back to home. I didn't have a practice to work in, so I started teaching a bit more and more and more. And then eventually I just thought, you know, what I really want [00:23:00] to teach. And that was back in 2005 maybe. I started doing, I, I finished uni, something like that. Um, so yeah, it was, yeah, a long time ago.
I, I was kind of trying to remember everything, but yeah, I don't remember that. It was never an actual point where I thought, I'm definitely gonna do this as a full-time job. It just kind of happened, really. I, more and more people went to train with me and, you know, I was doing training days all over the country.
There was good money, much better money than working in, you know, McDonald's or something. So it was, you know, I loved it 'cause I could earn good money doing something I loved. I've always loved teaching. I used to teach, when I went back to the Pony Club, I used to teach horses. I used to, when I finished uni, I went back and was like a teaching assistant, um, at my university for the osteopathy.
So I've always enjoyed teaching and that's something that just, it's a bit of a passion for me.
Christoffer Endresen: So what is it about teaching that you find enjoyable?
Dave Munnings: Mm dunno really. Maybe 'cause I can be really bossy boss people around. If you ask my friends, they'll probably tell you I'm quite bossy. Um, I can always be [00:24:00] right.
People can't argue. And I do love being right. Um, yeah, I think it's just, I really do. I love seeing partnerships improve. It gives me so much joy seeing people do what I'm intend to do and then improve from it. And, you know, and I just love seeing the happiness that people get and the dog. I just love training dogs.
I always have done, you know, nowadays I've got to the point. Nowadays I love competing, but I just really love training. My dogs always have loved it and I love teaching 'em new things. And if there's a problem with our agility, I like to think now how could I solve that problem? What could I do to fix that?
And just, I'm a real problem solver in life as well. If there's an issue, I'll have a stop about it for a while and then I'll think, right, how do I fix that issue? What do I need to do to make that better? So I'm, that's how my brain works. I'm a very methodical kind of thinker with stuff like that
Christoffer Endresen: thing.
This love of training, how, how important is that been for you in order to be able to perform at such a high level for many years?
Dave Munnings: Very [00:25:00] important because I def I never wanna give up training. I always loved, I never wanted to give up training my own dog. I've just really, like, I never have enough of it.
Like lots of people say, oh, bored of rigidity after the whole year of it. I just don't get that feeling. Like I might be bored of going to show every single weekend. So then I have a break. But training, like that's why one of the reasons I have a lot of dogs 'cause I love training them and I don't want to overtrain one dog, so I'll get a few more.
Not like I've got hundreds, but you know, I've only got two competing at the moment. But, um, you know, I'd rather have more dogs to train, um, and not have to overtrain one because I don't, I'm a bit not a fan of with my osteopathy background and not really a fan of doing too much too young. You know, there is no too much too young who knows what's right and wrong, but.
I try and do as little as possible young and not overtrain them when they get older either. I like to give 'em a lot of breaks and don't wanna trash their bodies.
Christoffer Endresen: And have you also, with your background in education, have you felt that that has been a, an asset for you?
Dave Munnings: Oh, definitely. Huge asset. Obviously [00:26:00] I treat my own dogs.
I treat my friends' dogs. I get 'em treated by other people as well, just because sometimes I think, well, I hope I'm, you know, do you trust yourself always? I like to have a second opinion. Um, but definitely just understanding of how they move. I did my whole dissertation at university on warming up agility dogs.
Like, um, did they, they had to do a line of jumps with and without a osteopathic warmup. Um, and were they faster? And every single dog was faster with the osteopathic warmup, so I kind of did a whole dissertation on warming dogs up, um, before they do agility. So I've, I've used that for my whole life, that, that warmup routine.
Obviously I've changed bits of it, but, and added onto it. But, um, I've always used, I've always been into warming them up and making them as fit as they possibly, as they possibly can be for, and that's, and because the osteopathy knowing like what cause are bad for them, what movements are bad for them, how their bodies work, you know?
Oh, sometimes you'd think you know too much and it can be quite scary knowing what they do to themselves. That's why I think I've always been [00:27:00] such an advocate for more open courses, bigger distances. Just let your dogs give them more space to be able to fix, sort their bodies out and not have been twisted and turning into, um, horrible shapes.
He had a dog, my doby, my one I got a silver medal with. He was the best dog I ever had, and he retired young. Um, he was only six when he retired. That's why he needed the world championships once and, um, because of a bad back, he had a disc in his back. Um, and I truly believe that's the start of courses we had to do at the time, and I just didn't know any better.
Apart from the osteopathy, I didn't know any better about the course designs. Um, so nowadays since ever since then, I've been so much more up on what they do young, how they move their bodies, how to keep 'em fit for it, you know, he was a huge, uh, what happened to him was a huge thing that made me think right.
I need to be way more disciplined on what I do with the dogs and how I keep 'em fit and everything, even though I don't think I did loads with everything hid that line had a weakness in their back. But it really made me, I think about everything I was doing.
Christoffer Endresen: And taking more responsibility to [00:28:00] ensure that it doesn't happen in the future.
Dave Munnings: Exactly. I'm always terrified of it. You know, dogs, I think back issues in dogs in agility, dogs is a huge thing these days. Like what we put 'em through, the speed we put 'em through it and what, how they, we keep breeding all these dogs, so we want them more flexible, but um, you know, does that create more issues, uh, in their back because they're bending and they're flexing so much?
Uh, you know, I think if you, MRI every dog at two and then every dog, your dog at 5, 6, 7, they're gonna have changes in their spine, in their lumbar spine, especially in their L seven kind of area. They, they're gonna have some sort of bulging discs, you know, most humans do as well if you m mri them all at 40 odd.
Um, but what we put 'em through in agility, I think most dogs will have changes in their spine, is whether that change is bad enough that it's. Actually gonna cause 'em issues or not. But if you watch dogs jumping at two or watch dogs jumping at seven, eight, there's usually quite a, a difference. Not always, obviously I'm generalizing, but there's quite often a difference in how they move.
And I think that's usually [00:29:00] because there's something going on in the spine.
Christoffer Endresen: Yeah. And one of the things that you mentioned there, which I noticed the first time, um, I entered a, uh, agility competition, um, and also talked with it about, with Kurt, um, when we had the podcast is warming up. Uh, how I wouldn't, how should I frame it?
It's, uh, underutilized by both handlers and, and dogs
Dave Munnings: definitely is. I, I don't probably warm myself up enough. Don't tell Kurt you'd get mad. Um, but I always warm my dogs up and my friends do as well. We're all very into warm. 'cause I think, you know, partly from where I came from as well. But we're all very into warming our dogs up.
Um, I used to do like presentations on it around the uk. Don't really do that anymore, but so much more online about warming up the dogs before duty these days anyway. Um, but yeah, we're very much, they, they get a proper, a warmup before we, before they ever see a jump. And I wouldn't ever just bring my [00:30:00] dog out the van and do agility with it.
And I see people do it all the time, stresses me out. And I wouldn't ever finish agility and lot of 'em straight back in the van without a call down. My dogs are very much warmed up and called down every single time they train, which is why training takes ages. 'cause you got that takes almost as long as the actual training half the time.
Christoffer Endresen: Definitely. Um, and it's, I think that the. The dog walk is such a great, uh, metaphor for warming up and cooling down, that you have to have a gradual slope up to the heights of the dog walk in order for it to get the optimal performance. Absolutely. And then also cool down to the, to the ground so that you, they can go into rest.
Dave Munnings: Yeah, of course. And people just, people do forget it. I see it all the time. I think, how are your dogs not broken? I see you get 'em outta the van. Nothing except a we and then jump go around a speed of light around the ility course and I think if I did that, all my dogs would be crippled. I dunno, but I just, I wouldn't be that lucky.
But there will be obviously issues going on and things [00:31:00] that I dunno about, but um, yeah, it, it drives me mad when I see that, especially people I train and I always tell 'em off if I see them doing shit like that because it's just not good enough. You know, we, they are athletes at the end of the day and what we expect from them, um, they need more than just out the van too.
Agility and back in.
Christoffer Endresen: Yeah, for sure. And you mentioned. That the dog you won Silver with, what was the, the name of that dog?
Dave Munnings: Which one, sorry? Doby. Yeah. Dobby Silver. Yeah. Yeah. Doby, like the house of, from Harry Potter.
Christoffer Endresen: Okay. Yeah. Dobby. Great. And when you had to retire him at the age of six Yeah. And knowing that he was probably the best dog you've had till then.
Yeah. How did,
Dave Munnings: how did you deal with that? That was really hard because he, he just won a silver medal. And then I went to Krafts, I think in the march after the app. And, um, well he won a silver medal, but he'd gone lame just before the world champs that year. That's why I pulled out the team event. So I'd managed to get, he went sound and he was fine, but I [00:32:00] thought, I'll just do the individuals, not the team, because I don't wanna overdo it with him.
And he won his silver, so obviously he was feeling pretty good. Then he just started doing weird things, like he was, he'd pull out weaves and he'd never pull out weaves. He wouldn't go in the tunnel. And he'd always, he'd loved tunnels, like he just was doing unusual behaviors. He never went, he wasn't lame or anything, and I thought, I need to test, take him to the vet.
I, I knew with the, with my, I was doing IOP at the time, I thought I needed an MR mri, so I took him for an MR mri. The vets didn't even want to m mri and I was like, I, I want him mrid. No. Yeah, it was quite a bad disc. I had to, um, he didn't have an operation to start with. They said, arrest him, do this, that, and the other tragedy again, I did like one session.
He went lame and I thought, that's it. I need to retire him. He had a massive operation, you know, a hold. A metal thing put in his back. It was, it was horrible. And um, you know, I was absolutely devastated because he really was and probably was now the best dog I've ever had. This brain. He was just an absolute genius dog and just fast and brilliant.
It was so, so upsetting. He was my first border colie I'd have from a puppy. Um, it was, it was really hard to get [00:33:00] back into it. Then I had, uh, my next dog boss, that one in the corner. He was a good dog, very good dog, but he was hard work. Like he wasn't easy like, like Dobby, that's Dobby the red one. He wasn't easy like Dobby.
Um, he was a much, and I thought, and he was young at the time, so when Dobby retired, he was a real baby. And he just wasn't the same. He couldn't turn, he wasn't bendy, he was fast, but he was hard to motivate. He was just a hard word dog. Spooky, nervous, not easy at all, but, um, lovely in the house, but just not easy for agility.
And at the time I thought, oh, can I actually cope with doing agility anymore? Do I want to do it anymore? It was so depressing at the time as well. I was actually starting up my relationship with Dan and I think 'cause he was so in a duty at time, that kind of kept me into in it. Um, which was nice I think, but I hadn't been doing that.
I might, might have had a little break, but then, then when I realized the boss wasn't my doy, that's when I started changing my handling toos before, before boss. It was like, no blinds. Don't take your eye off the dog, blah, blah. It was all very [00:34:00] old school and boss made me realize that I needed to do some changes.
So that's when I started bringing in blinds and Lisa was doing well at the world Championships, obviously, and I thought for someone who's won it twice now. She's doing blinds and all sorts of crazy fancy handling. How can that be wrong? How can it be wrong when you're doing so well? So even though UK at the time was very much anti any kind of Europe, what we call European handling, I thought I need to make a change.
As soon as I changed my handling with Boss, that was like the making of him. And he turned into brilliant dog. He won loads in the uk. He competed, um, internationally and got a fifth at the eos one year. It was probably his highest, um, thing. I was on sand. He was good on sand, he was terrible on carpet. So we never did too good on, um, at the World championships.
But he was, he turned into a cool dog and the handling that was from there, that on that reignited my love for agility, which changing the handling style. Um, and just started doing new things and now we're just, I would never say, I will never do something ever again. 'cause you never know what might happen in the future, how courses might change.
I was always like, I will never blind, I'll never do that. 'cause [00:35:00] people in the UK doing that did look really bad doing it. 'cause our courses just did not suit that style of handling. So when I changed, made the change and I had Lisa over, we did some seminars with her. It was so exciting because it's like starting agility all over again.
Christoffer Endresen: Yeah. And in terms of that, let's say, call it like a belief that was in the uk, um, when, like what year did that start to change and what was the reaction when you changed your handling style?
Dave Munnings: That was probably at 2000 and or W one is Melbourne in 2010, so it must have been 2011, 12 ish. Um, and yeah, it was, it wasn't easy 'cause all of a sudden I was my students because I had a lot of students at the time.
All of a sudden I was like, right, we're doing blinds, we're doing catch s, we're doing this, that and the other. They were like, what? No way. Because I'd always been so anti it and anyone who'd ever tried to put one in before I was like, do not do that. It's horrible. So, um, yeah, a few people obviously weren't in the UK doing it, but does not, not particularly [00:36:00] well at the time.
And I think when I started doing it, he boss just started winning everything and then it kind of just mm, kind of just went on and people just small more people started doing it and my friends said, started doing it 'cause I was doing it. Um, and they started winning as well and it just kind of snowballed from there.
So I'm not saying I was the catalyst for it. I think Lisa Frick was the catalyst for it looking so cool doing it all. But I definitely think I helped get it all going in the UK with the, a new style of handling because I used to do so much teaching back then, so I was taking it all over the country. And then my friends also doing teaching.
They were to started taking it around the country. It was, um, an exciting time because it was definitely a huge change when, when the handling changed because we'd always been very much, and I'm not saying Greg was wrong, his system was very good for a long time all over the world, but courses changed and, um, all the whole of the whole do not blind, didn't take your rides off the dog, all the rules he had just came a little bit.
They were very consistent. Um, and his consistency was great, but they were a little bit outdated if you wanted to speed to get around the course style that was starting to come in.
Christoffer Endresen: And, and that's [00:37:00] an interesting thing because you mentioned, um, the demand of the courses changes, which means that your handling style has to change.
And it's usually when you look at other sports like football, um, rugby, whatever, they have certain specific demands that is required of an athlete to perform at top level, level. And this is usually very static. And it's decided by how well each team, uh, performs. But when it comes to the demands and, uh, in, in agility, that is set by the judges and how they design the courses.
Definitely. And looking at the development that has been in the courses, the last, let's say just 10 years has been huge. Yes. And what do you think will be the future trend when it comes to course [00:38:00] design?
Dave Munnings: It's so hard to say because it, I, at the moment, they're very open, they're very flowy. Um, a lot of layering coming in at the moment.
Obviously, um, people are trying to, these fancy layering skills and having an incredible independence and all these amazing verbals. But I do think for Stu, for a time straight after COVID, we kind of lost a bit of the handling. I think it was just fastest dog getting around an easy course where all the lines were very natural for the dog and it was just fastest dog wins.
Whereas I do feel like the handing not, didn't get lost, but it was definitely not so important. Whereas I think it's coming back in a little bit now. More people are starting to make, I think someone like Tamma sets such intelligent courses because he's, they're fast and they're open, but they also require handling.
They're not just run around as fast as you can. You know, it's nice to have that sometimes, but we do need a, a mixture and I do think it'll maybe go back a little bit and have a more, not tighter distances, because I think FCI distances are not massive anyway. Um, but it'll just be more handling involved.
Again, they're not just skills and there's a lot of. Focus on verbal skills at the moment, teaching [00:39:00] independence, teaching discrimination on verbals. You know, it's a huge thing, but I don't know. I'm interested to see where it goes again, but I'm up for the challenge of trying to be a good handler again and not just run round and give 'em verbals because they're not that great.
Only sometimes.
Christoffer Endresen: Yeah. But that's also the interesting part. When, when um, you kind of set to a new standard, then the good thing is to change it up. And I think that's, uh. The game of agility.
Dave Munnings: Yeah, I'm, I'd never want to be someone who's static. Like I've always wanted to change and learn new things, learn from other people.
That's why I go, you know, I was training with there today. Um, I just, I always want to be someone who wants to learn. I'm a very inquisitive person. I want to find out what could be better, what I could do better, um, and how I can train my dogs better and give them more information. Um, you know, at the time when I was, that's why my business QE agility, 'cause I was one of the only people in, in the UK that was doing a lot of verbal cues at the time, you know, with um, Greg system, it was very much handling handler [00:40:00] focused, not so much verbal focused.
As you starting to add in a lot of verbals, really early on I had direction cues, cues for every bit of equipment. And I did I right. Early on I was liked to teach discrimination with verbals. Um. Which is where the, the name came from. 'cause I was queuing the dog, uh, verbally rather than just physically. So I've always liked do teaching skills on verbals, but I do think handling is also incredibly important.
You can't, you know, when people say, oh, I said this, that, and the other. Well, yes, though your dog should do that. If you've taught it absolutely amazing to completely ignore your boy language. But if you haven't, then you need to back it up with some avoid language as well. You can't send to us and turn left and completely sprint off to the right and expect them to do it unless you've trained them Absolutely brilliantly.
And I don't think many people have to be honest. It's hard to teach that.
Christoffer Endresen: Yeah. And it goes back to the, um, the same principles with communication that you communicate both with your body words and tonality. Uh, and that has a huge influence. Um, ab Yeah. Hundred percent. [00:41:00] That's interesting. And you, you talked about.
When, um, back when, when you won the silver medal and um, and then you had to retire the dog and motivation was slow. How important, you mentioned it a little bit, but how important was the support system around you to keep you going through a difficult phase?
Dave Munnings: It was obviously my friends were always all there for me.
Had damn at the time it was all new relationships. It was all exciting. Not like an old relationship is boring, new one, new relationships, always fun. Um, uh, but yeah, no, it was, yeah, I needed the support, but also I'm quite a strong person mentally I suppose. So, you know, I, if there's, there's a problem, so I had to fix it.
What do I need to do to fix it? Work on the dog. I had look for another dog, um, maybe try and breed doby. At the time I didn't realize the back problem was so, uh, in these genes rather than just what I'd done. Um, then obviously other dogs in his line got [00:42:00] similar back issues, so I was like, well, I'm gonna forget that idea.
Um, so. Um, found a new dog, which was fame, that one who I did very well with. Um, and she, yeah, so it was important. You've got to have a support system. Rigidity, 'cause everyone, everyone moans, everyone gets upset. You need people that are gonna listen to you and, you know, say, yeah, it'll be fine. Disagree with things you're saying.
Um, and I, you know, I've always had a really good, strong group of friends doing a agility with me for many years now. S sha Lingard, she's, you know, we've been really close for so many years, a long time. You know, we brought other people into our group, but she was probably one of the originals. Um, and yeah, it is, she's always been there for me.
She's been really great. And it was, you know, they understood how upsetting it was losing Dobby and not losing him, losing him in agility, you know, and had so much rehab to get him just being able to run and walk again. And for him, he loved agility so much. It was really sad to see him not be able to do it.
So it was really hard. And like I said at the time with Boss, it was, he was, you know, having that support system around me for helping with the handling [00:43:00] changing as well was also really useful. And everyone was really up for it. You know, we all, you know, we just, I remember being at a field once, it was Dan's training venue, and I was like, I'm gonna try these catchers.
Um, and they were like, no, you can't do that. I was like, yeah, look. So I just did it. And he, he turned, I was like, my God, look, he's never turned this well ever. Um, and they were like, oh, I'm gonna try it too. And we were just like all messing around trying loads of different things and it was just like, we all felt so naughty.
'cause we were like, oh, we're gonna mess and my dogs are gonna run behind us all the time. We're gonna lose it, lose sight of them. It's gonna be awful, but let's give it a go. Uh, I remember that session. I think we've even got it filmed and on YouTube somewhere. It was so fun. And, um, yeah, it was just, it just went crazy from there.
Christoffer Endresen: Oh yeah. It's, uh, you are doing something illegal compared to the standard. Yeah, it felt like that.
Dave Munnings: Obviously it felt so naughty. Um, but yeah, it was exciting doing something.
Christoffer Endresen: That's fun. But it's always, always cool when you, you challenge your own beliefs. Uh, sometimes you get surprised about what is actually [00:44:00] possible, but it's, of course, it's good to have a system and follow that system within, within the rules, but also challenging the system is probably a next step in order to achieve mastery.
Dave Munnings: Definitely. And it is, you have to be consistent with whatever you do. So, you know, I then had to start thinking I'm new. 'cause I had my, I had like seven rules. I can't remember what they were then, but I, they were like the seven commandments. I didn't ever stray from them. Not, don't take rides off the dog, don't have 'em, flick or cut.
All sorts of things that kind of just didn't go out the window, but they just weren't that necessary anymore. 'cause I was like, well, you know, if it works, we're gonna try it. As long as it's consistent with everything else you're doing, then it's gonna be fine. So to retrain all my students to think like that as well.
You know, I used to put on special seminars like European handling where we would just talk about blinds and catch s and stuff and start, you know, people just weren't doing it in the uk it was nonexistent, really, apart from a very select few. So it was a, it was a huge thing to suddenly change. And people like used to see me handle boss and like, what are you doing?
Like, why, why are you doing that? And I was like, well, that I'm doing it 'cause of blah, blah, [00:45:00] blah and this, that, and the other, but look how it works. And you know, and the people that were still very anti it were very much, you know, they thought it was funny and it would just never last. And it'd just be a quick fad and the everything would go back to how it used to be.
But turns out I was right.
Christoffer Endresen: How, how are the cor sounds in the, in the, in the uk? Uh, compared to like what you see in Europe,
Dave Munnings: it's a hard que they're getting better. The lower levels and the sort of, the smaller shows are still quite, backwards isn't the right word, but still more old fashioned. But they are slowly improving, obviously.
Me and Neil have started up a new organization called Nexus Agility. Agility Nexus, um, where we are training our judges quite a lot. Um, and we've got some slightly bigger distances and stuff, but, and um, the courses there are all really fun. The same as like Neil's iconic shows, if anyone's heard of those in the uk.
Um, so Nexus is its whole new organization, like away from the Kennel Club and yeah, those [00:46:00] courses are all, you go to a show and you can run every course 'cause they're just nice and we're very much on into dog safety and welfare and having fun. Whereas Kennel Club, I've kind of quite often I'll go to a show and run, I don't know half the classes 'cause I just don't like the other half.
It's just we don't, kennel Club UK do not train their judges. They train them to be able to judge. They don't train them to be able to course design. So unless that person has gone away and learned how to course design, they're just making up from what they know and what they've been trained by whoever they've trained with and agility in the uk.
Uk, sorry, is full of agility trainers. Oh, hundreds of them. People who have had one good dog and think, oh, I'm gonna be an agility trainer now. And not saying they know nothing about dog training, but I do think there's a lot of trainers in the UK that are inexperienced, that are teaching a lot of other people that kind of snowballs into that, lots of people thinking that kind of same way.
So we're trying to encourage a new, a new way of thinking. Um, more European style, what we call European style courses, even though we are Europe. Um, are we anymore, I don't even know anymore Brexit network. Know I can't keep [00:47:00] up with it all. I'm just in my little agility bubble. I dunno what goes on the rest of the world.
Um, and yeah, so we are trying to encourage more of that style of mo We we're not, we, we are training our judges not to do our style of courses, but to keep their style but make them safer and flow better. And talk about the lines. 'cause obviously it's me, Neil, Thomas, and Petta. All doing the module teaching.
So, you know, we all have our own styles, but you know, I think that's four, the people in the world that are really understand dog lines and dog welfare and how dogs move and course design. So I think it's both really good people teaching on our, our judging course and Nexus. I think it's the best thing we've done is super exciting
Christoffer Endresen: and also likes to break
Dave Munnings: the rules.
So, uh, who does Neil Neil? Me and Neil spend a lot of time together now. Yeah. Cool. Too much really. He's fun. He's good fun.
Christoffer Endresen: And one of the things that I'm noticing especially is, is that the GB team is, is [00:48:00] getting stronger and stronger. Um, it's a very solid team and I would say that they did tremendous effort at the A WC.
And, but you still have the Germans, uh, like, uh, and now the Spanish of course. Yeah.
Dave Munnings: Yeah, they, they're good.
Christoffer Endresen: How, what are you, what are you doing in, in the GB team in order to or in, in the UK as a total in order to, to increase the performance within
Dave Munnings: when the whole team, I think it's really helped that we now have a few indoor training arenas that are purely dog based with Astro, we didn't have that before, so it was a huge disadvantage for us.
Um, we also have a lot, there's a lot more, um, online training. There's a lot more European trainers coming over to train us. I don't know. We just, we were, we, before COVID, we were starting to get good, so I used to be one of the only people that would go and do, and I used to always get to like an EO final because I was best of my country.[00:49:00]
Nowadays I would never get there 'cause of that. 'cause everyone, there's always people getting there and because everyone does really well. Um, so it's changed a lot and, but it's just, dunno, we all train together a lot. Me and my, you know, my, the large team, me, my Nara, Dan, Sean, um, Shannon, we know we do a lot of training together and we think we really push each other to be better.
We talk about training a lot. We see each other every weekend at shows. We are always discussing things and competing against each other. Um, we know what, we know what style of agility we want to do now. So we're very picky with the, with the classes we run at shows. It's hard in the UK 'cause there's always things to qualify for, like crafts and Olympia and so many classes that crafts to qualify for.
So there's always qualifiers throughout the whole year that you kind of need to run. Uh, if you want to be seen at the big events, which is, you know, bigs up your online profile and everything else. So it's not, what I'm trying to get to the point of in agility in, in the UK is that people want to run the classes because they're good courses and good judges.
Not just because I want to qualify for crafts, even though it's a really crappy course, but it's hard to [00:50:00] change everyone's mentality of that because everyone wants to get to cross an Olympia. It's the, the two big things everyone in the UK aims for. It was hard to change their mentality on that, which is why Nexus is, is not gonna be easy here because it hasn't got the two main qualifiers.
Everyone wants to go to kennel club shows to get to those qualifiers. If they didn't have those two qualifiers, I think more people would be willing to change to another organization to do the better. The more, yeah, the better course designs and stuff. So it is in the UK is quite strange in that respect.
So everyone in Europe just seems to go to the great, the best shows with the best judges and the best courses. It's just not like that here. Everyone wants to qualify for the big events.
Christoffer Endresen: But you also have a challenge when it comes to travel because yes, you're a part of Europe, but you kind of drifted away on your own little island.
Uh, and traveling with dogs is not easy. When European open was, was in the uk uh, you cannot fly in with the dog. Um,
Dave Munnings: no. It's hard to, we, we drive [00:51:00] everywhere.
Christoffer Endresen: Yeah. So how is, when you go to European shows and a WC, how, like how, how do you travel? What does it require of you?
Dave Munnings: Well, we have to get, so we, we, since Brexit, uh, we not, we're not allowed dog passports, so we have to get this animal health certificate, which is a nightmare.
It's expensive and you have to get so much paperwork done. Luckily we know some vets that are friends that do agility, so they help us out with those. Um, they can do them for us a slightly cheaper price. Um, I think they're bringing the passports back in, which will help us out so much. But then we usually go to Belgium or somewhere and get our dogs a passport.
'cause you can get passports from other countries 'cause that makes travel so much easier. Yeah, it's expensive to, I'd have to get a ferry across or you have to do the tunnel. And then obviously it's a lot of driving to most places. You know, it was a long way to drive up to, um, Sweden this year. It's gonna be even longer to drive to Finland next year.
You know, it is the same with like when you're down Portugal and Spain stuff. It's a long way. But, um, yeah, the whole Brexit thing was a nightmare because of the passport stuff and getting all these animal health certificates. [00:52:00] It's just, just, it just makes the government more money. I don't really see why they're important when nothing changed apart from the government, Stu said you can't have the passports anymore.
Like, rabies hasn't changed. The vaccinations haven't changed. Like, what the hell did we need to change anything for? Just all those kind stuff just drives me mad. But yeah, I'm not a big driver. I prefer to get a ferry somewhere. I hate just driving and driving and driving. It's just so boring. So, and we never fly.
I, I think we just, 'cause I dunno why you can't fly into the uk, but it's just so difficult to do it. So we always drive everywhere. It takes a long time. We like it when things are close. Next year's gonna be a long way. At least if is in France. I think so. That'd be,
Christoffer Endresen: yeah,
Dave Munnings: that'd be good.
Christoffer Endresen: I was about to say it, but the challenge is that Tour de France is happening about the same time is actually, yeah.
So they're getting close to Paris when? When? Uh, the European openness. Oh, fun. Yeah. But I think it will be okay. It's not like they're, they're having the Olympics, uh, this year either. So, [00:53:00] so that's, uh, it should be. Okay. In terms of, when it comes to all this experience that you had throughout these 20 plus years, what would you consider as your, one of your favorites?
You can also have several, but what would it be?
Dave Munnings: I think obviously medals at world championships has always been, you know, I've got three individual medals with silver and two bronzes. Still can't quite get that gold. It would just be a dream. Honestly, it's my live's dream. Just want one gold medal, you know, Lisa fricking took it from me.
Uh, that year. That would've been the year. Um. Never forgive her for it. Um, but I wasn't doing all the fancy handling there. And if I'd been doing the fancy handling, maybe I would've stood them more of a chance. I was still doing no blinds and the front crosses everywhere. So that was a shame. Um, and she was doing all that cool fancy stuff.
So I think definitely like when Fame got a medal, she got bronze. Billy got of bronze, Doy got the silver, you know those three times they were, they were, I remember the courses they ran. I remember [00:54:00] everything about those three. They were just, it's just so exciting getting in the Medal of the World Championships.
'cause everyone knows what you're there for. Everyone understands the agility they're watching is such a big event. But obviously, you know, winning Olympia crafts at home is really fun too. The courses aren't quite as exciting 'cause they're more for the two events are more for the spectators than the actual agility competitors.
So the courses are generally easier and um, yeah, it's just the pressure, it is good practice for pressure definitely. Um, and getting your nerves and being able to work through that. So just winning big events, but also just, I don't know, other things, big things that stood out. I was changing the handling, um, getting a new dog.
I love getting a new dog and just working through different things and learning that dog, how that dog ticks and how to train that one. They're always fun. But yeah, the big events that stood out for me have always been, um, some of the European opens have been great fun in certain countries. Um, and the, and the times I've won medals at the world championships.
Definitely.
Christoffer Endresen: If there was one thing, and this is probably my favorite question, I ask everyone, [00:55:00] if there's one thing a dog or dogs have taught you that no other coach or human being could have taught you, what would that be?
Dave Munnings: It would be just patience. Just being able to just think through problems and not, not get annoyed.
It's hard when you're, you're human. We, we have emotions. Sometimes it's annoying when they do things, but. There's no point in getting annoyed. It doesn't work. It doesn't make it any better. So, you know, we've all, we've all had those training sessions where you come where you think, why have I got angry?
Why have I got angry at the dog? And it's not the dog's bowl. Not, you know, I'm not a, I'm not a dog blamer at all. I'm very much, um, I'll look at the problem, but sometimes, you know, I've got annoyed at the dogs and I might have shouted, I've never, you know, I don't get physical with my dogs ever. That's not what I do.
But, you know, you do. We, we've all done it. We've all been there and we've all done that. And then you come away and you, I break myself. I hate myself when I, when I've had those training sessions, you know, this is in the past. But I'm definitely okay. I'm, I'm very patient person. I think just teaching in general has taught me patience.
I'm quite, you know, people always said, have, have you got so much patience? I think internally, I'm not patient, [00:56:00] but I'm quite good at putting it out extra internally. I'm like, bug, bug. So you just do it right. Um, but, and not with my regular students. I lose my patients quite regularly with them. But new people I'm very good with.
Um, the regulars get it in the neck and they know, don't annoy. Dave does. He is gonna go mad. But yeah, with the dogs especially, it's just. Learning patience and not getting annoyed, and just thinking through problems. And if you're feeding yourself, get annoyed. Put 'em away. Come back another time because we all can't, you can't help getting annoyed.
You know, you spent, you spent the last year doing Running Dog walk, and then today's the day they decide they can't do get any contact to save their lives. And it's fucking annoying when you put so much work into it. So if you feel that happening, feel yourself getting annoyed, just go away. Come back another day and it'll probably get better.
Christoffer Endresen: If people wanna
Dave Munnings: find out more about you, where should they go? Uh, so my online site, www dot qm e dash agility, uh, dot com or.co uk, whichever one, uh, [00:57:00] say q uh, QM Agility, it's all my ask my online website. It's got all modules on there. You can sign up to, uh, the subscription sites. You just pay monthly and you get all the videos.
And I, you get onto a Facebook page too, so you, I get, I post on there like pretty much daily of things I do and watching me train and all sorts of things. There's a really exciting site and we have load loads of cool things coming up in the future too. So yeah, if you want to find out more about me, it's all on there.
Really. Cool.
Christoffer Endresen: And then for your, like, next adventure, what would that be? Would that be Nexus or
Dave Munnings: The ne Well, nexus is, oh, so many things going on at the moment. So we've got Nexus. We've got, um, Nova, which is a, a, um, site, uh, what's it site like? Um, uh, what's the word I'm looking for? I don't even know. It's a business I run and I don't even know what it is that runs shows.
It's a business that runs, shows online business that. I can't think. My brain's gone blank. So yeah, it um, does, does shows, does online [00:58:00] shows, online entering system, this kind of stuff. So we've got Nova, we've got Nexus, um, uh, and I'm getting a Shelty, so let's, let's see what, yeah, that's gonna be a new adventure.
Definitely. That's, uh, from Martin Reed. He's just spread selfie, so I can't say no really. Like I've never been a massive she person, more of a spaniel person. I think. I like the energy Spaniels give, but I really like selfie, obviously she's brilliant. She's got two one EOS twice. She got two silvers and a bronze at World Championship Championships.
She's bloom and good and um, you know, if you're gonna go for a Chelsea line, Tobias's line, you know, German line is gonna be a pretty good one to go for. So yeah, this, she's been scanned for like four or five puppies, so they should be born in a few weeks. It's exciting. That will be an adventure. I must not get annoyed if it's barking all the time.
You get used to it. Patience. Yeah. Oh, I just go deaf. I'm pretty old now, so I am going deaf. So maybe I just get deafer.
Christoffer Endresen: It's like living next [00:59:00] to an airport. Uh, there are planes flying over your house, but you don't hear them
Dave Munnings: anymore. Well, let's see. I definitely, I'll switch off to it. It is Dan, Dan will be the issue.
He's bar police. He can't stand it. So, um, yeah, let's see, let's see this adventure. 'cause I'm quite excited about it now. Now it's all happening. Uh, obviously they've got me born yet and the fingers crossed, everything goes good. But yeah, I'm, I'm excited. I need another height. I had another height with Boosty, but he was, uh, a, you know, he was just CCROs Corgi or something.
I dunno what he was. He did really well and it was fun. It was fun being in another height and I haven't had that for a few years now, so I'm looking forward to, um, going back to it.
Christoffer Endresen: Agreed. Anyways, it's been fantastic having you on this podcast. I really appreciate you taking the time between. Everything that's happening.
Um, so, uh, yeah. Thank you so much too.
Dave Munnings: It's an online show processor, by the way. I've just remembered the word I was looking for processor. Okay. Really great. Well, thank you for having me. It was really fun.
Christoffer Endresen: Thanks. So [01:00:00] that's it for this week. I hope that you enjoyed this story. I hope that you actually enjoyed this podcast.
If you haven't yet subscribed, subscribe to the podcast and if you can also give it a rating and share it with friends, we would really appreciate that. In the show notes, there's a lot of things that you can look at. Things are mentioned in the podcast, so be sure to check out that if that is relevant and something you would like to look at.
Most of all, I would like to ting thank you so much for listening to this podcast. Starting this podcast was totally new to me and I enjoy the process and it's so fun to see that so many people are actually listening to the podcast 'cause I get to see the statistics and there's more than 2000 listeners so far, so that's fantastic.
Again, have a great week. Do your best. Forget the rest, and then I see you next
week.
