Pirate's agenda
Here's our agenda for June:
I decided to take Pi to the Fenzi Dog Sport Academy camp in June, which will be in Albany. This is a bit frivolous, because I never took any classes through them, and am not familiar with most of the instructors. But I like what I've seen of Denise Fenzi, and wanted to work with her, just haven't been able to. (Joan has her for seminars a lot, but I could never get into them except as an auditor, and I do not audit well.)
I want to do more obedience with Pirate, and I think he's talented, but he's the most challenging dog I've trained. Not because he's unwilling or unable, he's just So. Much. Dog. Despite him being a good boy, and I think our relationship is good, I've never worked as well with him as I'd like, because he's just more dog than I'm used to.
So when I saw somebody post about the camp, I said "hey, lots of that sounds like stuff that would be good for me & Pirate!" I saw that signing up for camp was happening in 3 waves. The first wave was for people who had taken at least 8 FDSA classes, and that I couldn't do, but the 2nd wave was for people who had taken at least 2, and I had time to sign up for the classes starting in December. So, I decided to take a couple Bronze level classes. Bronze level is basically auditing, but since it's online, I at least won't be annoying other people with my inability to audit.
And then the funny part was that the classes starting in December really weren't good ones for us. Most of the more basic level ones (I don't feel we're ready for anything too advanced) seemed intended for dogs that are more worried or reactive, which is NOT Pirate. "Dealing with the Bogeyman"? Not Pirate's issue. I ended up signing up for a foundation tracking, since I'm trying to work with Tess on tracking right now, and don't know much. And a "play skills for FCI heeling", since I haven't used play with Pirate's heeling, and I thought some skills for that might help. But the tracking turns out to be a very different technique than I've already used. And it's not that I'd mind starting her over, but the instructor uses a "target" technique that means laying out about 30 little squares of foamboard with a treat on top of each. Which is probably great for keeping the dog right on the track, but my old and damaged spine isn't going to put up with that kind of set-up. And then you have to pick them up again....
The "play skills" instructor is great at playing with dogs, and I can probably learn from that, but it was really directed towards playing with a new young dog, so again, didn't really help me much with Pirate, who frankly probably already plays as much as he ever will. All the "gold level" students who submit videos have puppies, so it's not stuff that is applicable to me right now.
I'm therefore not getting that much from these classes, which I took mostly to give myself a chance at getting into camp. And I couldn't get a couple of the labs I was interested in at camp, because they filled in the first wave. I signed up anyway, and with the classes I took just to get into this, I now feel like I've spent quite a lot of money, so I hope I get a lot out of it. I do feel pretty good about most of the labs I'm signed up for. The first one I'm not so sure, that time period always had the least amount of labs I was interested in. The description of "Ring Confidence" had something to do with making entering the ring a party, and I'm not sure I want Pirate to be partying any more than he already is. But I asked if it was an appropriate lab for a dog that stresses up, and they said yes. We'll see.
Now, of course, the February session of on-line classes has ones that sound way more promising to me than the ones available in December, but I've spent all my money on camp (and will need to pay for the next session of Mercy's agility class). Camp better be fun.
I decided to take Pi to the Fenzi Dog Sport Academy camp in June, which will be in Albany. This is a bit frivolous, because I never took any classes through them, and am not familiar with most of the instructors. But I like what I've seen of Denise Fenzi, and wanted to work with her, just haven't been able to. (Joan has her for seminars a lot, but I could never get into them except as an auditor, and I do not audit well.)
I want to do more obedience with Pirate, and I think he's talented, but he's the most challenging dog I've trained. Not because he's unwilling or unable, he's just So. Much. Dog. Despite him being a good boy, and I think our relationship is good, I've never worked as well with him as I'd like, because he's just more dog than I'm used to.
So when I saw somebody post about the camp, I said "hey, lots of that sounds like stuff that would be good for me & Pirate!" I saw that signing up for camp was happening in 3 waves. The first wave was for people who had taken at least 8 FDSA classes, and that I couldn't do, but the 2nd wave was for people who had taken at least 2, and I had time to sign up for the classes starting in December. So, I decided to take a couple Bronze level classes. Bronze level is basically auditing, but since it's online, I at least won't be annoying other people with my inability to audit.
And then the funny part was that the classes starting in December really weren't good ones for us. Most of the more basic level ones (I don't feel we're ready for anything too advanced) seemed intended for dogs that are more worried or reactive, which is NOT Pirate. "Dealing with the Bogeyman"? Not Pirate's issue. I ended up signing up for a foundation tracking, since I'm trying to work with Tess on tracking right now, and don't know much. And a "play skills for FCI heeling", since I haven't used play with Pirate's heeling, and I thought some skills for that might help. But the tracking turns out to be a very different technique than I've already used. And it's not that I'd mind starting her over, but the instructor uses a "target" technique that means laying out about 30 little squares of foamboard with a treat on top of each. Which is probably great for keeping the dog right on the track, but my old and damaged spine isn't going to put up with that kind of set-up. And then you have to pick them up again....
The "play skills" instructor is great at playing with dogs, and I can probably learn from that, but it was really directed towards playing with a new young dog, so again, didn't really help me much with Pirate, who frankly probably already plays as much as he ever will. All the "gold level" students who submit videos have puppies, so it's not stuff that is applicable to me right now.
I'm therefore not getting that much from these classes, which I took mostly to give myself a chance at getting into camp. And I couldn't get a couple of the labs I was interested in at camp, because they filled in the first wave. I signed up anyway, and with the classes I took just to get into this, I now feel like I've spent quite a lot of money, so I hope I get a lot out of it. I do feel pretty good about most of the labs I'm signed up for. The first one I'm not so sure, that time period always had the least amount of labs I was interested in. The description of "Ring Confidence" had something to do with making entering the ring a party, and I'm not sure I want Pirate to be partying any more than he already is. But I asked if it was an appropriate lab for a dog that stresses up, and they said yes. We'll see.
Now, of course, the February session of on-line classes has ones that sound way more promising to me than the ones available in December, but I've spent all my money on camp (and will need to pay for the next session of Mercy's agility class). Camp better be fun.