Thursday morning is our normal social agility morning for beginners. Starts at 9.30 when we set up and finishes around 11a.m. when Georgie usually comes with Molly for Flyball training, and sometimes joins in the last of social agility and sometimes the social agility people stay over and train with Molly.

We had Rose and Miska, Helen and Jett and Vilna and Buttons this morning. Control went quite well and we are working steadily away at Miska's lack of attention to class, Rose and just about everything, Jett's over distraction about anything that moves 'over there' rather than concentration on what is happening 'here'. Plus Jett has discovered that she can scare the living daylights out of people with her bark, it is sudden it is loud and it is focussed on the person in front of her. Buttons is normally easily distracted but in fact it is just air-headedness with him, no malice intended, he simply doesn't want to know what is happening with his handler. So we really pushed the dogs to obey even the smallest command during our 'control' session today, and we insisted on better heel work and better sit stays and better recalls to a sit and better send away recalls. If they put a bend in their recalls we made sure they straightened them out, and it worked and everyone felt better about the amount of control they had at the end of the session, so then we had a nice cup of tea,coffee and Chris arrived with left over biscuits from the weekend's tournament.

These are no ordinary biscuits they are made by club member Gloria (who trains Bear and Teddy) and they are absolutely delicious, and everyone there this morning who mostly don't know Gloria, agree that her biscuits, both the chocolate chip and the shortbread are mouth watering. No wonder my waistline is hard to control. Anyway the dogs had a wander and a play and we had bikkies and coffee and then went back to work on a bit of straight course work which we did on lead in a heelwork fashion something akin to Rally-O and this was just wonderful. Working the dogs on a loose lead over and through really made handlers think, we got some great rounds out of all of them and Chris did Boston as well and he loved it and was spotless in his work. This is feelgood work, work that always succeeds, it is great for dogs and handlers to feel a sense of success instead of always feeling that they are struggling. Dog Handling and Training can be so hard and, on occasion, lacking in short term reward. Long term benefits are fine but we all need to feel heartened that our dogs are achieving on a day by day basis. Nothing is harder than to say to a handler, ' Keep at it and in about twelve months he will be doing everything you want'. I usually do say words like this though and my trainees say to me ' Its been fourteen months now - what do you think' and of course they have made it, they are functioning in the sport of their choice with their dog and things are definitely coming together. That makes me feel just great. The new handlers have stuck at it through the hard times, they have learned amazing amounts about their dog and how to get it to be compliant with the rules they have laid down. It is not what I want for the dogs that counts, it is what the handler/owner wants to achieve that is important, and it is my job to get them to where they want to be.

Chris is now competing in New Zealand Flygility, Kennel Club Agility and NALA with her two dogs Bootz, who is a fluffy micro companion breed and Boston who is a maxi farmdog breed. She thought it would be quicker but twelve months on it has come together for her and we are still at it putting the final touches to her weaving with both dogs and generally encouraging her to succeed. Chris' new world of dog training is very exciting for her and that is so good for my soul. For every Chris I get through twelve months training there will be ten or twelve who fall by the wayside. Nobody realises the time we need to put in to make it succeed and how much energy it takes to train dogs, even if you just want to walk with them on lead under any circumstances in any place, like on city streets or in the country paddocks where there are horses and sheep, it all takes training and time and energy.

There is also a reality check needed for parents who want their child to do agility with the family dog. Unless they are very small, most dogs are too much for children under the age of 14. Getting the family pet to concentrate long enough, and the child to concentrate as well to get a working bond going is very hard. Late this afternoon I had Logan aged 9 years and his dog Sheshah again, but I think it will be the last time. They are a great team but Sheshah is so big and pulls Logan over all the time and it makes him cry. He loves his dog and he has the capability to train a dog and the concentration, but when she sees something and wants to go she just goes and it breaks his heart. I know if we keep going that this partnership can come together but I really don't think Logan can see that far ahead, so I suggested to his Nanny today that he think about whether he wants to continue.

Controlling the dog around other dogs is a big enough nightmare for adults, but for children it is all but impossible most of the time. However, it has been just delightful to be with Logan over the last couple of months and reminds me how much children are really just smaller versions of adults with their own decision making capabilities and budding traits that will carry them through their lives. No matter what he does, this young man will go far. He is a great sportsman and a sensitive loving human being. You go Logan.

So ends another day of dog training, must mention though that Fae the Fat Fairy seems to have given up toileting in the house. Marvellous it only took 10 months. Eight of them spent here. Piddles have been an outdoor event for about three months now, but poo has taken longer and could be found in corners and under tables and various other spots. But for the last week we have not been able to find one in the house. Fae has learned about the Dog Door now and loves sitting inside batting it with one foot or sitting outside hitting it with her head, but it does allow her to go outside whenever she desires and she has a couple of spots, one on the concrete driveway and the other on a patch of grass right beside the office door, that have become the best place, even in the rain, to do the necessary. Thank goodness for that. Please don't let me get another puppy for another five or six years, I am so exhausted by puppy training over the last two years, that I really want just sensible adult dogs who know how to do stuff properly for a while. Someone please remind me of that the next time I get tempted,,,, please. :-)