The week-end is over...thank goodness.
I organized a seminar for Avery Sporting Dog put on by two fabulous guys...Danny Farmer and Kenny Trott (Luckiest Man Alive).
It was a fun time and I think everyone learned and came away with something.
When the cat herding was over (Danny and Kenny being the cats) and a date was put in place, it was pretty straightforward to manage. Avery is a great organization and they are very supportive of our dog sports.
We hope to have another one next year, but on a better date that isn't competing with two Texas Field Trials and a local hunt test.
It must have been intimidating to run under the watchful eyes of Danny and Kenny. Both are great teachers though and put everyone at ease. We had 12 handlers and a number of spectators. I was the one who volunteered to get the bird rack and got sidetracked...as you can see.
There was a morning review the first day of Danny and Kenny's basics programs. Very helpful to most people I'm sure. The guys had demo dogs at the actual level of the topic for parts of it.
Basics are everything...this is the NUMBER ONE thing I've learned in the past few years. Basics doesn't just teach go, stop and come. It teaches guts. It teaches try. It teaches a dog to be a team player. It trains a dog HOW to be trainable.
A dog will never meet it's full potential with bad basics.
All the review and re-review of Basics doesn't overcome basics that were not done right the first time around. It is hard to break bad habits, and sometimes impossible.
You have an issue with your dog? Where is the hole in Basics? It is truly that simple most of the time.
Basics are everything.
I dare anyone to argue with me on that one...I'd send you to Danny and Kenny for a follow up discussion.
