2-4-2022 What a day Roxanne and Hannah had today!

 Due to the Ladies Bible Study starting again, Friday mornings at 10 am, our Marysvale Friday adventures are over. BUT Gayle/Olive, Kim/Kara and Dawn/Nellie are all a part of our Ladies Bible Study Group, so they brought their dogs also to do QT this morning. I picked up Hannah at 9:30 am, took her to Lions Park so she could run a smidge (less than 10 minutes), then we headed straight to our group.

Took some doing to get Hannah settled as when I arrived, I had to use the restroom. This was the 2nd time I took Hannah into the restroom (the first time was at ACE, and she struggled with being in a stall), and although apprehensive, Hannah got over herself and relaxed. Got her settled into QT and today was the first time she actually quickly settled into a Down position. Of course, her fellow working class was also present, but still, she settled and relaxed.

After Bible Study, we headed to the Park by the Visitors Center. 

Of course, we needed time to get the dogs ready to work after doing QT for so long. So, "Hup" and down the slide we went. Really!

Hannah and I went first!

Then Gayle/Olive

Then Kim/Kara

And finally, Dawn/Nellie

Time to do some work.

I did Hannah's Week 3 EXAM # 2 just to see how she'd do. It was tough as she had Nellie in front of you, Dawn and Gayle to her left side AND Kim/Kara AND Olive backtied to a tree behind her.  

 THIS IS A PASS, but I will redo it as I believe Hannah can do better. 

 Kim/Kara practiced this EXAM also, she will have to upload her video. Kim struggles with these mechanics, like everyone else learning does, so I asked if she wanted me to work Kara? I did work Kara, but she sure likes to rubber neck, so every time so looked elsewhere, I made a turn. And when she knocked over a PVC Pipe, she got "Outed!" Didn't take her but several minutes of corrective heeling on my part for her to figure out her BEST move was to pay attention to me and not to everything else. 

 I do NOT enjoy constantly correcting a dog, but a dog like Kara (or Hannah) they can take the constant corrections and they do BETTER. If I did to Olive what I had done with Kara here, Olive would have been a pile of mental mush. And being a soft dog, she would have quit on me. Do notice Kara gets BETTER, WAY BETTER as a result of the timely collar corrections. And Kara believes me and that is 95% of the training. 

But no one, no one EVER gets this good with a dog like Kara when they are just themselves learning the mechanics. And we all have that 'first obedience dog' we have to learn on. Sugar was my first obedience dog, and I made a ton of mistakes with him. But he's a very forgiving dog and didn't care if we kept having to relearn stuff because I didn't know what I was doing. Still, he's my heart dog, he knows it and so do I. Kim, dogs like Kara and Hannah are tough minded, they don't take offense at the constant corrections, and still, they love us. 

So, breathe and know you are not being cruel to Kara, the two of you are learning together. It's a journey and a process, one every beginner with their green dog HAS TO GO THROUGH to get to the other side of being a good working team. And every struggle and trial and frustrating moment is WORTH WHAT IT TAKES to get to the other side of this training where you can look back and go, "We DID IT!" And both you and Kara will be better, FAR BETTER, for this training journey together.

 Here's the first video  

 And here's the second video

DO NOTICE KARA IS PAYING MUCH BETTER ATTENTION AFTER SHE UNDERSTANDS I WILL INSIST SHE PAY ATTENTION. SMART DOG.

Everyone had a chance to work their dog and work on their current EXAMS.  Then, it was time for a late lunch.

And homeward bound. Hannah did VERY well at QT today, both at church and during lunch. She was JACKED UP during the training at the park and got corrected for her inappropriate behavior choices.  By the time we had lunch, she was extremely relaxed at the Bar 86 and when I got her home, she didn't even want to get out of her warm kennel in the car. I took her inside and she ran for her kennel, curled up as if to say, 

"I AM DONE!"

LOL and she was.  Night, night Hannah