Summer Sizzle

Hey Bungee, I hear there's a running frame seminar coming to town, let's go see what all the buzz is about!

Bungee was all for it, so off we went. Yesterday Bungee helped me audit the Skills Day of a 5-day seminar that's become an annual event here called: "Summer Sizzle". (click on the link to read more)

There were 6 different skills workshops yesterday and as an auditor I was welcome to float around and visit each, but, I only watched 2.

Rachel Sanders was teaching her running frame method in the morning, and that was the main reason I went. The workshop was was interesting and content-rich.
I believe I got a very nice overview of training the whole method. It was nice to see an honest presentation that this is very much the ground floor of the system, and they are learning as they go in developing the method. Rachel's was, like all of the workshops, an extremely pleasant and supportive learning environment. Always a bonus!

The key piece of equipment for training this method is a PVC box shown here on the ground:


Same PVC box shown here on the frame as the training advances:

Above you will notice a little black loop on the PVC box, that is a cable tie to use in the corner to anchor it down to the frame, by tying behind the frame with a cord.

However there is quite a lot of work and staging that goes on before the box goes on the frame, and if your dog has already learned stopped contacts, then the box goes on the frame in a different order and onto the frame in stages, literally a different way, step-by-step, than if the dog has never done a 2o2o or whatever else it was taught.

Here's a blog I spotted (but have not yet read) on the seminar host's website links about Rachel's running frame method http://www.finchester.org/dogs/dog_diary/2008/01/rachels-running-frame.html

Bungee spent much of her time hanging out in her tent, shown below:

Picture above taken on another (sunny) day as there was no sunshine or "sizzle" to be had yesterday - it was cloudy and rainy and all we could do to stay warm! This tent was a birthday present to me & Guinness, and I was delighted to see how warm it stayed inside with the windows down. I guess it's the silver coating that reflects the dog's heat or the sun as it also stays nice & cool in moderate sunshine with the windows up.

We spent the afternoon with Jen Pinder auditing "Sizzling See-Saw's." It was just right for us and lots more of what we're doing right now, and the only workshop next to a terrific big tent to find a dry spot to crate Bungee under! :-))

Now you have to know how really fun any workshop called "Sizzling See Saws" is going to be with dogs literally sliding in speed over those teeters! We had plenty of that. That's what Yanks of a southern influence (like my dad) sometime call "Rip snortin' good fun"! Yep, some really "slippery teeters" were to be had there! (the only kind we like :-)) and I don't mean they were greased~but you might think so if you didn't know any better!)

Jen did a really nice job presenting this topic. Every really good instructor brings an educated perspective to their presentation to make it worthwhile and Jen was terrific. Any instructor worth their salt, also has a great eye for seeing what the dogs are doing, and it seemed Jen was very helpful to dogs working through some teeter problems too. So again, time well spent.

Most of the see-saw work I remember as right out of my the old SY play book at my 1st Skills Camp. So kudos also to Susan who should be very proud of the tremendous influence she has had on this sport!

Back to Bungee, she was welcome to stay with me at my chair or wherever throughout the day, so that was nice for her and I too. We did lots of that! I was hoping to do some work with her on the lunch break but lucky for the seminar, that's when the sky opened up and really started to pour, so our work was cut a little short. She waited in the warm car while I went inside for lunch.

It was really fun to see so many familiar & friendly faces there. I think almost the entire alumni of my 1st foundation class with Guinness at SY, some 5+ years ago was there. Many folks I hadn't seen in a full year, and few of that crowd had met Bungee. As well, they had new dogs I'd never met, so it was fun catching up and meeting the many new pups. All in all, a great way to spend a day.

The seminar was held at Campaign Dog Academy. Another really nice training center in our area.

Oh - almost forgot, running frame - all very interesting, as are other methods too, but right now we're still training 2o2ow/nt. :-)) Meanwhile, we'll continue fact finding on other methods with an open mind and watching them progress.

A closing thought about seminars, if you can even come home from a day at a seminar with one, new, helpful piece of information, much less several things or even just being reminded about good training habits, then I myself consider it time & in this case $75.00 well spent.

Gem for the day from Rachel Sanders (on shaping):
"I'll never forget one of my best lessons, the note Bob Bailey wrote in my training book: 'Good behaviors come to she who waits'." For me, that might be that one gem of information that I will long remember after this seminar is a faded memory.

As Bob & Marion Bailey always reminded: "BELIEVE in yourselves!"

Happy Training, and remember...It's About Love! (what is? IT ALL IS !!! :-))