Best Friends Team Instructor

Team Instructor Defined:

Best Friends defines a Team Instructor as the person assisting a Best 4-H Club member on a one-on-one or a team basis in learning canine handling techniques in obedience, agility, canine anatomy and good sportsmanship.

Sympathy versus Empathy; How can I not help but pity and do everything I physically can for Best Friends 4-H Members?:

If you perceive a child with disabilities or life challenged or handicap (call it what you like), as someone who is to be pitied; someone for whom you should wait upon hand and foot; or someone from whom little should be expected or demanded, then Best Friends 4-H Club IS NOT FOR YOU. Sympathy does not help a child learn life's lessons.  Empathy does.

Team Instructors Expectations for Best Friends Members:

Best Friends 4-H Club Leaders and Team Instructors must have very high life expectations for our members. We expect our members (no matter what the age or the disability) to succeed and grow as far as his or her intelligence and physical capabilities will allow him or her to do so.  It may take time and many small steps, but eventually the child will learn his or her canine lessons.

Best Friends 4-H Club leaders and team instructors guide our members in learning to act independently with his or her team canine. Best Friends 4-H Club Leaders and Team Instructors give our members the opportunity for him or her to become successful.

Project Goal:

Best Friends Club Leaders and Team Instructors keep testing the waters by making the Berrien County Youth Fair Canine Competition a 4-H project goal each year.  By using the judge's worksheets, we can assess the child's growth and help in areas that need to be addressed.  Thus we can stand back and watch him or her grow into an independent young person in canine obedience, agility and good sportsmanship, while reinforcing everyday life skills this child will need in his or her adult life.

What are a Team Instructor's Obligations?  (Please note - T.I. will be understood as an abbreviation for the term Team Instructor.)

Team Instructor's obligations are:

1. T.I. must be willing to apply for, be interviewed and be accepted as a 4-H Leader by Michigan State University.

2. T.I. must be willing to give four hours of his or her time every scheduled Monday evening during the months of May, June, July and August.

3. T.I. must be willing to learn about canine training techniques by studying and implementing the American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen Program.

4. T.I. must be willing to pair up and function as a team with an assigned 4-H'er who has life challenges and a canine who may be or may not be T.I.'s own canine, and may have life challenges of its own.

5. T.I. must be willing to learn about the 4-H'er's life challenges and, if necessary, the canine's life challenge as well, so that he or she can adapt and implement the canine training methods and techniques for his or her team members.

6. T.I. must be willing to function as a team with Best Friends 4-H Club Class Instructors with the goal of teaching canine lessons to his or her assigned 4-H'er.

7. T.I. must be willing to enter the Berrien County Youth Fair Canine Exhibitor with Disabilities Competition/Evaluation rings with his or her team on the assigned Tuesday of Berrien County's Fair week.

8. T.I. must be willing to have fun!

What are a Team Instructor's Responsibilities? 

Team Instructor's responsibilities are:

1. T.I. is responsible for the safety of the assigned 4-H'er and the assigned team canine while in his or her authority.

2. T.I. is responsible for learning the art of basic dog obedience, agility and canine anatomy.

3. T.I. is responsible for studying and comprehending his or her assigned 4-H'er's life challenge and the 4-H'er's personality.

4. T.I. is responsible for studying and comprehending his or her assigned canine's life challenge (should the canine have a life challenge) and the canine's personality.

5. T.I. is responsible for demonstrating and advising on how to adapt the basic canine obedience and agility commands into a communication and physical action both the 4-H'er and the canine can understand and physically execute.

6. T.I. is responsible for having a good time while teaching the canine lessons of the day.

Interested in Becoming a Team Instructor?

After reading all the requirements for volunteering for the job, are you still interested in becoming a Team Instructor?  Well then, please CLICK ON TO THE CONTACT PAGE AND GIVE US A RING.

Since 1988 the Best Friends 4-H Club's Team Instructors has been THE BACKBONE of our club. 

Without these dedicated adults and young people, our members could not have the one-on-one experience necessary for the success of Best Friends canine training and therapy program.