Tracy did another seminar in Honey Creek IA at Christy’s place for 4 days at the beginning of November. Monday was the last day of the Susan Salo seminar. Tuesday I went to work and then went to agility class at 9pm. So home about 11pm. I figured I would get up early, like 3am, to do the 5 hour drive to Honey Creek. Well, the drive is actually more like 6 1/2 hours! I should have checked earlier! The seminar started at 9am. I was not working on Wednesday but I hated missing any of the lecture and everything Tracy has to say is worth hearing. As I was driving through Ramsey in the wee hours of the morning a herd of deer ran in front of my van. I hit the breaks and thought I was ok but they kept coming and one ran into my fender. I was so worried that she got hurt. I pulled over and looked around to see if she was in the ditch or standing somewhere hurt. But I did not see her anywhere. My van got a ding in it. No big deal. On the drive to IA there were so many deer carcasses on the highway. The highway workers just shovel their mangled bodies off to the ditch. It was very sad. I eventually made it to Christy’s but I was a few hours late.
Wednesday was skills day for baby baby dogs. Even though I was late I still got lots of good notes.
Thursday was Open Handling day. I had a working spot with Vada. We had fun. Lots to work on but we are making progress. I am understanding the system better. I was able to get a few runs video taped. Not the last one which was awesome and earned me the praise of “bitch!”. 🙂 I should find that tape and watch the runs. It’ll be nice to remember what agility on grass looks like too.
Friday was Masters Handling day. They did European style courses. It looked like alot of fun. The morning courses were hard and everyone aced them. In the afternoon they worked on rear crosses and everyone had alot of trouble with them. Next time I will register for Masters. I left it up to Christy on where to put me this time but she thought I should be in Masters. 🙂
Saturday was Graduate Skills. I had a working spot with Seven. I think he enjoyed it. We have issues to work on. He was brilliant on some of the exercises too. There were only 2 of us that were not on contact equipment yet. I felt a little behind til I saw everyone demonstrate their contact skills. So we’re still on the board and I’ve got lots of exercises to work on. I just need to kick myself in the butt and get working on them. Not sure what my mental block is but I’ve been working on them for years now. And I enjoy trialing Seven and could enter more classes with him if I’d just got his contacts done.
Christy is a great host. She has a nice house, barn and yard. We can work inside or outside depending on what we are doing and what the weather is like. She makes great lunches. And she has a mowed walking path around her property.
I stayed at a Motel 6 in Council Bluffs. It was ok. Very small room. Good customer service. I brought Seven’s crate in the room in case he got snarky with Copper. But they were all very good and got to sleep out on the bed with me all 3 nights. Next time I will drive out the day before and stay in a hotel or camp.
I left after the seminar on Saturday. I was really worried about deer on the way home but there were none. I was very lucky!
I went to bed after I got home. Got up the next morning and Karl drove me to the airport to fly out to Phoenix.
I can’t wait til spring when Tracy comes out to Christy’s again!