Why Not??

Lynn...Dog walk Turns...it's coming together, seriously :)

My first instinct is to say, to quote MEB "SWEET JESUS" she's finally getting it!! :)

BUT...in reality, it's not that...it's more "I am able to now show her"...the reasons she wasn't getting it were not her issue, they were mine. I wasn't communicating in a way that made sense to her. NOW...she and I are speaking the same language.

IT.FEELS.SO.GOOD...

The more I train dogs, the more I realize I don't know much...seriously. They continue to keep me humble and adaptable. They help me look good, and will also show my weaknesses for the world. I think it's great...it keeps me balanced.

The sun was setting...just got done with a phone conversation with a friend regarding her dogs running Aframe, helped set her on the right path a bit more. She said to me "I won't give up"...I think that is great. I've actually seen a few people laugh when people say that. I am not sure why?

If I would have given up on the running dog walk when Lynn was having issues, like many people SAID I should have...look at all the things I would have missed out on learning? It's REALLY helped me understand all my dogs better, not just my personal dogs, but my students dogs too! It's made me challenge my handling, my physical fitness, my mental toughness...it's made me question what agility really was to me. So many things I would have missed out on.

So...keep trying...why not??

Tonight I worked some sequences with Lynn on the dog walk just to see how the training has been settling into her brain. What I saw tonight really REALLY made me ecstatically happy. I saw a dog that was CONFIDENT, knew her job and nailed all these with not just a foot in, or two feet in the yellow...but all four feet in. They were not just "so-so" dog walks...they were gorgeous. There was no worries about going straight, or turning or anything. Just a happy confident Lynn. Doing her job. Because she is sure of the job description. She's a hard little worker. Very motivated to do the right thing. My job is to just tell her what it is :) And I think I am getting there.

 Wanna know what gets ME going...this stuff...the journey of knowing my dog. The journey of all the ups and downs of training, communicating, bonding, etc.  With each dog that journey becomes so much more important.

Sure...there are times I want to beat my head against the wall...but that's just a time to work on reflection to figure out what to do next. I do a LOT more thinking about dog training than actually DOING it. I am a thinker...but I do all my thinking before or after training...not during.

Now, when Lynn gets this she KNOWS it...she actually growls as she hits the contacts on these tougher ones :) Like she is saying HELL YES! TAKE THAT!! Gotta love it!!

Worked the two older dogs today as well, Klink and Gator didn't put a foot wrong. Worked jump grids, contact rewarding and WP's. 22's are good now.  They are as polished as they are gonna get :) And they look perty shiny ;-) 

We will be heading out on Monday for Colorado. Until then lots to get done, but   that's how life is :) It will be fun to see everyone I haven't seen since last year :)

Good times!