One of my favorite nights of class ever, I had two very enthusiastic classes working on basic skills with no serious problems causing distressed humans.  We worked on really challenging recalls, walking, leave its. And somehow came up with really great excuses for poor behavior.  The best was “His previous owner taught him that.”   By the end of class, we were using that for every silly thing the dogs did.

My excuse for today:  This little guy has been sitting right next to the one little corner of the field that I need for Griffin’s agility training.  Finally I moved the calf away when his mom wasn’t looking but they’re still too close to the equipment.

We do need to be held accountable for our training…. but it’s also important to have good excuses.

In competition classes, I’m pretty picky with students about which hand they should be using to feed their dogs, depending on the behavior and the goals.   When I prompted one student to switch hands, commented that she “knew” I would say that and then held up a bandaged finger.   I’ll be borrowing that next time I take Griffin to agility class…   “Look! My left hand is injured! I’ll just have to feed with my right hand!”

Even though our excuse today was valid, I’ve moved the equipment to the other side of that fence and we can now practice without distressing any large, dangerous animals.

Categories: Uncategorized

2 Comments

Samantha Speegle · April 7, 2012 at 4:31 am

Hey now, I offered to show you the cut on my finger too! It was a legitimate excuse, I swear!

    afmd7525 · April 7, 2012 at 4:55 am

    I believed you! And -I- may be using it as an excuse at some point!

Comments are closed.