Strong's 15 pts to go

As promised, but not quite on time, info from the Greg Strong handling seminar the crew and I went to in mid-June.  It was a long week for the dogs and myself, they spent the week in the kennel while I was in Virginia Beach helping my mom.  I had decided to skip the seminar since I wasn't sure when I would be back from moms.  But the club contact insisted that I come to the seminar even if it was only for the second day.  So after thinking about it for a few days I decided to miss most of Saturday morning and drive to NJ instead of springing the dogs from the kennel late Friday afternoon and immediately driving another 3.5 hours (that would have been over 11 hours on the road and I knew that there would be no way ANY of us would get a good nights sleep).  So I picked the dogs up Friday afternoon, we all took some time to decompress and the gypsies hit the road bright and early on Saturday.

I arrived at the fairgrounds (these are the same fairgrounds the club uses for their shows, I remember going their once with my Welsh Springer friends) and the participants were in the ring outside working on stand stay.  Ok, Swing has started learning that for obedience... guess I could use it in breed stuff!  Duh!  I opted to watch this particular exercise and join in once lunch was over.  Greg took everyone inside to do a little more talking before we took a lunch break.  In the afternoon we were outside doing some stacking and with 23 participants that took a while.  He showed each of us how to relax/connect with our dogs and show off features and improve our presentation so that the "essence of the breed" came through.  Swing acted like she was bothered by some gnats so by the time our turn came she was a bit stiff and hunched up.  Greg gave me some instructions on what to do and she relaxed enough to present herself well (ok, what did I do?  I stroked her from head to tail and I reached under her crotch and stroked upward to her tail).  We finished the afternoon with some more lecture and some stories and before we broke up Greg asked that I bring Swing out one more time to show some slight tweaks you can do to really show off neck and shoulder.

Day two built on what was discussed on day one (using your "magic wands", aka your fingers, to sooth and manipulate your dog, etc.).  He covered gaiting, courtesy turns (when and why you should do them) and he also talked about what speed is natural and right for your dog.  We went outside to work on these thing and the last part of the day he talked about showing, how many times you should show to a judge before you write them off, good sportsmanship, being gracious, and if you intend to stick with showing how you should establish credibility.  He touched on conditioning, both for the dog and the handler (mental conditioning for the handler) and the use of bait.  The day ended with some free baiting and presentation.  We did not stay for the competition portion since I wanted to be home in time to get a good nights sleep.

A lot more could have been covered but as Greg said, you would need a few days just to concentrate on gaiting and presentation alone (and conditioning would take at least a day).  He had some good stories and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him put his hands on dogs.  It is the main reason why I wanted to go to a seminar of his.  Swing was mentally exhausted by the end of the weekend and she ended up in a bit of a mood which is another reason that I opted out of the competition.  If she isn't going to present herself (and I will admit that I do need to actually train her a little more) then there was no point in participating.  I am sure that Amy would concur.

Next on the agenda, an obedience seminar with Bridget Carlsen.  I will probably have a TON of notes from that one as I'm auditing versus having a working spot.  My trainer Nancy raved about her the first time that she saw her and I've only heard good things about her methods.  If I have any tips I'll gladly pass them along.

Until next time, get out there and train in whatever discipline you love.  Me, I'll be working on breed/obedience/agility/tracking (if/when the weather breaks) with my M&M pup!