About Dawn Weaver & FAB
Ultimately, Dawn is all about dogs, so you'll find much more information about her under the 'Dawn's Dogs' tab! Here, however, is a short summary of her vision, methods and achievements.
Dawn began her career as a veterinary nurse, moved onto dog training and dog grooming and now teaches agility full-time. She takes seminars both nationally and internationally, having taught extensively in the USA, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden to name but a few. She has also written an agility training manual entitled Knowledge Equals Speed! which has been printed both in the UK and the USA, and more recently has revealed her contact methods in the long-awaited To Run Or Not To Run.
Dawn handles differently to most in that she believes you should use the dog's handling system rather than a set system designed by a person for the dog to learn. Surely using their preferred natural way of being directed is better than enforcing an unnatural system upon them. So if Dawn's dog goes the 'wrong' way then she rewards them regardless and learns from it, asking herself how she just directed her dog in that direction, rather than blaming the dog for a 'mistake'.
She believes that a dog gives you unconditional love which never varies no matter how many handling mistakes you have just made in the ring! This should be a two-way street and if her dog makes a mistake in the ring, or in training, her love is equally unconditional and her treatment of him does not change.
Using this natural handling has resulted in her dogs achieving some major accomplishments as follows:
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Summer is an Agility Champion. Winning 3 Championship Tickets within a month.
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Vegas won 3 Gold Medals at the 2020 IFCS World Championships!
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Vegas won the 2019 Crufts Singles (Medium)
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Dawn and Vegas became the 2016 14" National Steeplechase Champions at the 2016 Nationals in Arizona
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He and his sister Summer also were chosen to be part of the 2017 Team GB Squad
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Vegas, Summer and Cherry all qualified for Olympia 2016
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Vegas competed for Great Britain on the IFCS team in the Netherlands in 2016 at just two years old;
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Vegas, Cherry, Puzzle and Breezer were all on the podium several times at the 2016 USA Regionals in Arizona;
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Chelsea is the only dog to have won Olympia 4 times;
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Puzzle is the only Papillon ever to have become an Agility Champion in the UK;
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Promise has won the major final the Crufts Singles;
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Breezer has won the main Crufts Agility Championship which made her an Agility Champion;
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Freeway, Minky, Chelsea and Puzzle have all won Gold Medals for their country at World Championship level;
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Chelsea, Puzzle and Breezer are all Agility Champions with Chelsea holding 15 Championship Tickets.