What We Did on Our Summer Vacation

Happy Campers

For our summer vacation, Mike and the dogs and I headed up to Anne Braue's summer camp, where we indulged in three days of intensive focus on various aspects of agility training and handling. My "date" for the event was Samurai, however, Anne graciously invited Taylor to work in her facility during the off hours. Taylor was having some back trouble at the time, so we didn't get to work, but I certainly appreciate the sense of honor that Anne extended to little PNAC Taylor.

I have to say, Anne's facility is probably the nicest I've ever seen. Being in marketing, I appreciate the her sense of "branding" that she has instilled throughout her facility, and her organization. Excellent does show through at every touchpoint.

Anne has one indoor ring and two outdoor rings. All of them, including the equipment, were in pristine condition, and we were lucky enough to run on Anne's newly installed carpeting in her indoor arena. Sam ran really nicely on the carpet and immediately picked up on how to use his claws to get a tight grip on it.

The instruction was excellent across the board, with Anne, Karen Holik and Jennifer Crank leading the sessions. We also got a preview of Karen's fiance's upcoming running and movement for agility training, which will be featured in a soon-to-be-released video.

If you know Karen, bug her about it, because this kind of training could be very valuable to a lot of us "weekend warriors" who could benefit by learning to move more naturally and efficiently with our dogs.

We sampled some of the instruction at a night event, where we all got to try out the moves, and even have ourselves timed to see if by running more efficiently, we could run faster (almost everyone did). We had a lot of fun trying out the moves in what was almost a party atmosphere. The only thing lacking was music!

Some other important takeaways from the event were:

• Learning to threadle. Yes we can do this with certainty now, about as easily as we can serpentine. Thanks Karen!
• Learned the forward motion front cross. Great for working with the more difficult threadle situations.
• Got a new understanding of rear crosses on the flat, and on jumps. Thanks Jen!
• Got a new view of working with, and managing reactive dogs. Thanks Anne!
• Learning some great ideas in course strategy. Thanks Anne!
• Learned how to do push back turns. With our new footwork, Sam aces these now. Thanks Karen!

In general, I can see my handling with Samurai has tightened up a bit from what we learned. We have also improved Sam's ability to come to the appropriate side and to read my intention's sooner.

Thanks to my Champaign club member friends, Mary, Lisa, Dina and Charlotte, who were with us at camp and who started us on this journey.

Thanks to Anne and her wonderful crew for hosting this event. With any luck, we hope to see you next year!