Back to School time

Yep, it is time to go back to school.  Dog school that is.  I know many of us have had our guys in one class  (or seminar/workshop) or another throughout the year but for Dodge and I, we haven't been in a formal class in almost a year and it shows.  So starting next week we will be going to class to challenge us as a team and hopefully bring back the drive and confidence in obedience that was there versus the frustration and lack of effort that we currently have.  There are just some things that can only be accomplished in a class type of setting.  I'm fortunate to know the instructor well (I've trained with her in the past) and there are a couple of other ladies in the class that have problems similar to what our problems are.  I'm looking forward to the class, I sure hope Dodge is!

Things that I hope to accomplish are getting us back to the place where going in the ring isn't like walking in to take a drivers test or that big finals exam.  I'm sure you know that feeling and if you are like me it is not a pleasant one.  I felt this way with Moose, my GSP that was my Novice A dog, and he did all that he could to lighten up the atmosphere when we were in the ring.  I realized after one unsuccessful weekend that I was the problem and once I corrected that (I was too serious in the ring but not as serious in practice, or in other words I wasn't showing like I trained) our ring experience was much more pleasant.  I believe I'm in that same place with Dodge but the difference is that I know HE knows the exercises so for example, when he messes up and doesn't do his automatic sit my reaction causes him to digress and loose attitude (my reaction is to show and "tell" him to sit which I think causes him to loose focus and when that happens his overall attitude stinks).  So hopefully I'll gain some new tools, or rather sharpen the ones I have, that will help US in the ring (he just completed his Beginner Novice title which I decided to pursue to keep us in the ring so that we could get a bit more comfortable with each other).  We do not suffer from the same attitude problem when we compete in agility and I think it is because I am not as serious (hmm, that word has cropped up a lot in this post) about competing in that venue.  Maybe it is because he is quite talented (I tell everyone that if I would put half as much effort in to agility training as I do obedience training I could go far with him) and I don't put as much weight on showing.  If we qualify that is great but not qualifying doesn't feel like it does when it happens in obedience.  I want to feel that way when I walk out of an obedience ring, if he's given me his best effort and failed an exercise I want to know that it wasn't because of a lack of effort on his part.

Switching gears, the dew crew and I are hanging with our friends the Jordan's this weekend, they graciously let us stay at their place when I have a trial nearby or join them for holiday meals.  Swing likes to visit because they have a big GSP named Sam that she likes to play with (we call him the "big brown dog').  Dirk gets to hang on their couch and Dodge likes to play referee when Sam and Swing are playing.  We are lucky to have great friends like them, not too many people would put up with our silliness.

I am remiss on reporting on the activities of our siblings but part of that is because you guys haven't filled me in on the latest.  I know that Hank/Beau just spent over a week in the kennel while Howard was catching some rays on the west coast (Howard reports that after some intestinal distress for the first couple of days Hank survived and was super happy to come home) and I believe Ella too spent some time incarcerated while her family enjoyed a trip to "The Big Island" (our 50th state).  I hope to have some pictures to post the next time I blog and I'd love to get some from the siblings.  This is a good time of the year to get portrait shots and I think I'll have to pull together our training crew for some updated pictures of the dogs.  I guess that means I better get the camera gear out and in the van because those pictures won't appear on their own!