More from the road
Another airport, another blog entry. Today was Columbus, Ohio to come meet with my marvelous development team. The weather is really nice and I'm sorry I brought a jacket, although last Friday when I was in NY, I was sorry I hadn't worn layers because I was freezing all day.
Ebby had another fabulous class this week. When we get to class these days, I switch from the big heavy hemp leash that we use for normal walking to this teeny tiny leather leash that's intended for toy dogs. I still take her by the collar during parts of class when we're in tight quarters because she'll snap that thing in a second if she hits the end of it excitedly, but it's amazing to me that this is the same dog who years ago I doubted would ever be able to simply walk past other dogs without going nuts. I have her signed up for another Rally Obedience trial in May and this time around, I'm hoping that we won't just qualify but may also make placements (translation: you need to score 170 points out of 200 to "Qualify", but placements means getting a first through fourth place ribbon. Any number of dog/hander teams can "Q" but only the top four scores "place". Three "Q"s and you earn the "title" for that level of competition. We got our 3 Qs but we weren't in any danger of winning the class any of those times.)
We're in a very frustrating place with Indie. We're still working on his reactivity with other dogs, and we're making progress, but I'm in a place where I want to see improvements more quickly than what is realistic. I've really been having to step back and remind myself to take it slow. It's easier to give that advice than to take it though. Last week I'd been advising someone that they needed to take a particular training exercise much much much more slowly than they were doing it. "Slow and steady wins the race," I said. "Practice the easy stuff before you push the harder stuff so you can build a strong foundation," I said. "Take what your dog finds easy and practice one step *easier*," I said. I got home and realized I really need to take my own advice. Sheesh, don't you hate when that happens?
I'm looking forward to the Dulles Pet Expo this weekend. Our local Shiloh club (ISSDC/SE -- International Shiloh Shepherd Dog Club, Southeast) has a booth, so I'll be spending quite a bit of time on booth duty. I'll probably bring Ebby out for a little bit if it's not too crazy in there.
Ebby had another fabulous class this week. When we get to class these days, I switch from the big heavy hemp leash that we use for normal walking to this teeny tiny leather leash that's intended for toy dogs. I still take her by the collar during parts of class when we're in tight quarters because she'll snap that thing in a second if she hits the end of it excitedly, but it's amazing to me that this is the same dog who years ago I doubted would ever be able to simply walk past other dogs without going nuts. I have her signed up for another Rally Obedience trial in May and this time around, I'm hoping that we won't just qualify but may also make placements (translation: you need to score 170 points out of 200 to "Qualify", but placements means getting a first through fourth place ribbon. Any number of dog/hander teams can "Q" but only the top four scores "place". Three "Q"s and you earn the "title" for that level of competition. We got our 3 Qs but we weren't in any danger of winning the class any of those times.)
We're in a very frustrating place with Indie. We're still working on his reactivity with other dogs, and we're making progress, but I'm in a place where I want to see improvements more quickly than what is realistic. I've really been having to step back and remind myself to take it slow. It's easier to give that advice than to take it though. Last week I'd been advising someone that they needed to take a particular training exercise much much much more slowly than they were doing it. "Slow and steady wins the race," I said. "Practice the easy stuff before you push the harder stuff so you can build a strong foundation," I said. "Take what your dog finds easy and practice one step *easier*," I said. I got home and realized I really need to take my own advice. Sheesh, don't you hate when that happens?
I'm looking forward to the Dulles Pet Expo this weekend. Our local Shiloh club (ISSDC/SE -- International Shiloh Shepherd Dog Club, Southeast) has a booth, so I'll be spending quite a bit of time on booth duty. I'll probably bring Ebby out for a little bit if it's not too crazy in there.
posted by Erica at
7:04 PM
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