Dog trainer Sibylle

Personal IntroductionPersönliche Vorstellung

My name is Sibylle Selm. I would like to shortly introduce myself and my personal career.

Ever since I can think, dogs and other animals have accompanied me on my path of life. I grew up on a farm and have always had a strong connection with animals. I spent a lot of time caring for them, playing with them, watching and understanding them. So my choice of work as a veterinary assistant was quite obvious. I have been in this line of work for over 20 years.

Besides that, my dog sport hobby took over more and more time. In 1989, we started to practice Agility in a little group as the first Swiss-Germans. At first we learned through videos, then we recruited trainers from Belgium, England and France, who showed us how they trained their dogs. After that, it all went really quickly. The first Agility club was founded. I went to several seminars and courses and became practice manager in the club. We were literally swamped with questions and I realized soon that something was forgotten due to all the enthusiasm. The dogs became faster, but hardly controllable. The basics for the engine work, the basic training was missing.

I took on this problem and started to educate myself in this area. But it was pretty difficult at the time. Courses and education the way we know them nowadays did not exist back then. I fought through stacks and stacks of book about dog behavior and nature etc. Besides that I went to several courses from Linda Tellingten, Eckard Lindt, Hans Schlegel, just to mention a few.

In 1996, I founded my own dog training school. I wanted to have more time and depth for the basic training. Without a solid foundation, it will not work in sports nor in every day life.

In 1998, I brought my greatest teacher into the house: Rusty. This dog taught me something that no human being could have taught me.

He taught me to think integrally with dogs and respect their natural regularities with compromise. This dog opened my eyes to a completely different way of thinking about the dealing, keeping, feeding and training.

He taught me how natural intelligence and human theories work together or not.

He taught me to communicate with all senses and lead me to possible solutions that are not conveyed in books nor courses.

• Natural leading instead of instrumentalization!
• Leading is not a privilege, it is a duty. It is a law of nature in every social structure. Whether with dog or wolf packs, horse, cow or sheep herds etc.
• Leading conveys security and trust.
• In my work with people and dogs, the following relationship cornerstones are the most important points: communication, clarity, respect and trust.

90% of all problems are based on lacking, unclear leading. Once the human realizes his task and changes his behavior, then the dog can also get rid of his problem.

Dogs are unselfish, persistent teachers for us humans on our way to ourselves. Let’s give us the chance.

My companions:

• Gremmy and Dwayne: Border Collies
• Playgirl Boggie Quarterhorse - Mare
• Wicky and Holly - my pussy cats and
• Mägi and Max - the pygmy goats