Below are snippets of what I wrote in emails. A few things have been omitted… to protect the innocent, and probably myself :), a few things added, but all accounts of MY agility experience I have left in.
9-8-2012:
Today was full with learning. Time management seems to have been thrown out the window! Which is pretty cool! Working time was 7 hours! It is a small group for her camps, I think, about 14 of us and everyone is getting plenty of one on one. Started off with a full course of 24 obstacles with every imaginable handling challenge… Well probably not every challenge but plenty! Then we broke off in two groups and worked with both Stacy and Sonja individually going over parts of the course. It is fun and funny, these two do not necessarily agree on handling moves for a particular “puzzle” which makes for good entertainment and even more learning.
I hesitate to go too much of what was being taught because I am still processing. There were a couple of places on course where you actually have to create a longer path for a safer entry which ends up being faster overall. See, not sure how to explain it…yet. There were hints of similarities of what Dawn Weaver writes in her book, using your outside arm as a “brake” was shown at one place, as was a shaped path in another area. Though not described as Dawn has, but enough to where I want to ask Stacy or Sonja how these ideas have become integrated into what they are teaching. I am reading it all as a bit different then what we learned when Stacy was in Hawaii in March. I am a bit in a spin by it all, but figure I will have more understanding by the end of the three days (?).
Unfortunately, they made up the course this morning so don’t have course maps. I took pictures of several angles in hopes that we can play with the pieces when I get home. I look forward to your feedback and thoughts on it all. Yahoo, Gail, one of the participants drew out the course and I took a photo of it!
I ran with Wally today. I think he is 7 and is pretty damn fast and I had a very good time and think he did too. He is very sensitive and can decide not to work if he is feeling stressed. Taz taught me well… he stayed right there with me thru most of it, unless he needed to go say hi to mom, but he would not leave the exercise, he would wait til we were done to run over to Stacy :).
Really, it was such fun and I get it… the theme is to RUN… and Wally made me run hard :). I think there were parts of the course where he was the trainer and did a great job training me :).
9-10-2012:
Ok, today the course had 35 obstacles! And whatever puzzle was missing from yesterday was amplified for today. We did not run this one first but did walk it and then spent a bunch of time discussing various parts of it. Oh boy, do I have some fun things to share!!! We then broke into 2 groups, each on half the course, then we ran the whole course. It was truly a wonderful day. I learned so much. I got to run Maze at 26″ but after a few runs his rear toe started bothering him (a somewhat recent injury that Stacy thought was healed) so ended up running with Sonja’s Jaxon for the rest of the day. Jaxon is a hoot, his default behavior is to go into a down, head on the floor, quietly watching the other dogs run, hard to interrupt him he is so focused on them… it is actually his reward after a run…let him do his down thing and watch, very odd. He also likes to watch TV :). Sonja is hoping he never goes blind. Maze is just the most awesome and sweetest of guys, I am sorry I can’t run with him any more, he gives the best kisses all over the face and is a super guy to play with. Jaxon and I ran clean on the 35 obstacle, twisty, turny, challenging, hard running course and it felt pretty darn good. Sure wish there was a video of it :(, would have liked to have a visual keepsake.
Short version. Had a chance to talk with Sonja during lunch where I asked her about her handling style, basically asked if she has always handled the way she is showing us and me explaining that I attempt to handle with the inside hand only. Where she laughed and said no she has gone through a few different styles but last year did a Dawn Weaver seminar and it made so much sense to her that she has started to incorporate what she learned. Ha, I was not far off. And not far off from what I think of Dawn’s handling style regarding communicating clear handling for the dog’s understanding of where they are going next.
Elena, I don’t think it is completely dissimilar but is different. I have not studied LM enough to be able to answer your question. Sonja definitely incorporates the pre cue using the outside arm but she was showing someone the foundation for showing the dog what the “break” arm means in front of a jump and it was pretty profound. We are talking super fast BC needing collection for a tight turn. There are a few super fast BCs here, one who reminds me very much of Hana and one who reminds me very much of Hapa in body type and head, actually she is Wally’s daughter, the super guy I ran yesterday. Her name is Kite and she did not inherit his sensitivity. She is unbelievable!!
Stayed for dinner at the facility and then hung around to watch Stacy and Sonja work their various aged dogs. You should see Sonja’s girl’s running DW, holy cow, if it’s more then 1.1 seconds I would be amazed. Good story about this but you might have to remind me :). Stacy was working, the soon superstar, Journey on her foundation for running DW and we were able to have a good discussion about it (more learning). 6 months old, running the full length of DW on the ground, and FAST.
Sorry guys, but I am feeling even more isolated living in Hawaii in regards to agility learning and exposure. Karen, I’ll be saving my money too for another agility learning trip just as soon as I can!
Day 3 will be starting earlier tomorrow, today went from 9-5:30 with an hour lunch break. Can’t imagine it being more intense then today, but know it will be :). One thing consistent with when Stacy was over in March…I am running really hard and fast anytime there’s a place to do so! She will not take no for an answer.
9-11-2012:
I didn’t write soon enough, now in Grand-daughter mode… day 3 seems to have blended in to the whole 3 days :). I think it was information overload :).
The course was tough! I forgot to take a photo of Gail’s drawing and only have videos to remember the course. Actually I remember the whole thing (how could I forget :)), just not the proper obstacle spacing.
I got to run with Dash, Sonya’s younger dog, and what a fun, sweet, over the top guy he is! I loved him :). We had some learning time together. Whereas Wally and Jaxon are so well trained, I kind of wondered if they were covering my butt… Dash, like me, is still learning, so we had some silly times together. Thank you Sonya! I sure hope I get to see you again sometime!
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