The exercises covered in the camp are so important for building your relationship (and so useful in everyday life as well as performance training!), but the most profound part for me was the change in how I saw the “big picture” of my dogs and I interacting. I know for a fact that my Jack Russell, and also my Lab who came after, have had better, more interesting, fulfilling and just plain more fun training than they would have had I not decided to go to the camp. Benefit to trainer translates directly into benefit to dogs!

My dogs are delighted with training; they are eager, engaged and absorbed participants in what they see as The Most Fun Game Ever. The principles taught at Puppy Camp lay the foundation for that buy-in from the dog from the very beginning, and I know that has enriched my dogs’ lives.

To borrow a phrase from Susan, I am grateful I decided to go to that Puppy Camp seven years ago! ☺

I think what distinguishes the Say Yes program, especially puppy camp, from many other options is that it is so THOUGHTFUL.

“Thoughtful” in that there is a reason for everything. do this now, so that you will get this later. Don’t do this now, because it will interfere with this later. And…it not only makes sense for us, it makes sense for the dogs.

“Thoughtful” in that the dog is pretty much never to blame for crap. Our partners are respected. There is never a “if your dog blows you off, do this…” moment; Dogs do what they are trained to do, and what they find value in doing. Period.

“Thoughtful” in that my training and handling is influenced by Say Yes principles at almost every turn… because they make sense! Sometimes, my thought is “Well, THAT was dumb!”, or “OMG! I’m so glad Susan didn’t see THAT!”, but hey!

I think ti really helps to enjoy the intellectual aspects of training- the why’s and the wherefores of learning MUST be respected, even if you don’t like to think about them, but it is more fun to operate at that level!

I will certainly do puppy camp with my next generation.

Some points that were made that helped me choose were:

puppy training lays the foundation for proper training techniques where otherwise I might find myself needing to backtrack through poor techniques.

Establish my training style, socialize my dog, and make my wife happy all in one trip.

saving that .27 cents…

I am lucky enough to have the resources right now. And I feel some confidence that this adventure and puppy camp will reap tremendous dividends for the entire family.

Thanks for taking the time to share. If there is still space, Andrea and I will be there with Leilani

I think I have done at least 1 of each and I think they are all amazing. And I will continue to try to get to something with the Say Yes group at least once a year. I don’t live that close to Susan either and have had to travel to get to see her.I did my first seminar with Susan in 1999 I think ( and she came to us that time! ) and will continue to try to get to Say Yes as long as she keeps taking my money!

The thing I like about the Say Yes program ( aside form the great staff) is that it focuses on the small stuff, the little details that we tend to gloss over and then those little details turn into BIG problems later…. ( you will forever after camp hear Susan saying “OH MY” in your head when your dogs do something you KNOW they should not be doing!!).

They start off with the little details in Puppy Camp and then all the subsequent camps build off that. So to me puppy camp is a MUST if you want to get the most from this program. Then you should continue to work thru each camp after that, especially if you have a young dog.Some camps can be done over and over as the skill work is invaluable for any dog’s continued success in the sport.

The other thing is that the Say Yes camps/programs are really for people who love to train their dogs. If you are one of those people who just wants to hurry up and get the dog in a ring as fast as possible, you may not enjoy this program as much(but you would still learn a LOT about why NOT to do that:o) ), but if you LOVE to learn WITH your dog, if you love spending training time with your dogs and if you are a detail/technical type personality then you will LOVE the camps.

If you aren’t sure what type of trainer you are then you definately need to go to camp and find out. You will learn a ton about who you are as a trainer, what you need to improve on to help your dog improve and also where your weaknesses are (they are MORE than happy to help you identify your problems!:o) ).

What I really like about the camps is that there is so much stuff that can be learned by sticking close to the instructors and LISTENING, whether you are working a dog or not. You can audit any one of the camps and still get TONS out of it.

I just shake my head when I see people at camp who work thier dog and then just go away and chat til it’s their turn again. I can’t believe how much people miss, and how much more they can get out of the camps than what is on the surface.

Susan is great at identifying “general” problems that may crop up in a particular group she is working with,the topic may not have been on the “agenda” but she makes time to talk to the group about it, telling us how she maybe had an issue with that as well at one time, and what she did to make that “problem” go away. Those are the golden moments to me, the little pieces of valuable info you get in between the huge amount of other stuff you get.

So should you do puppy camp – YOU BET, should you do all the camps? Most definately! Should Susan clone herself so she can be closer to everyone, Absolutely!

Kim ( who is lucky enough to get to work with Susan for a whole 10 days in March in Vancouver!!YA!! )

Puppies are like sponges and just seem to soak up all if the great things you are teaching them at camp.

Susan has really perfected the process with her camps and her instructors. They are all so in tune with how long the sessions should be for puppies (and the people). They remind us of things we need to be doing when working with a puppy (it is so different than with our adults). Yes, we know that but we need to be reminded.

I did not do a Say Yes PC with my 2 year old and it was the worst decision I made. I WILL NOT make that mistake again! I feel like I really missed out on something special with him. His mother got 2 PCs and he didn’t even get one! The guilt is overwhelming….

I started Export on foundation training at 7 weeks old, when I took him home. After all, he was going to be learning every waking minute (and he never slept as a pup….) so why not teach them what *we* want them to know, to save them from a world of confusion or punishment later on for incorrect choices?

Puppy Camp will teach you how to shape your dog’s behavior… and it will teach you how to listen to and learn from your puppy. All of my dogs have been great teachers – and it took Susan & Lynda & Penny & Blanche to help them get their point across to me

Not surprisingly, the 2 best-trained dogs in my home are also the 2 that have gone to puppy camp: Samson (several puppy camps, LOL! Samson had a whole lot he needed to teach me) and Export. I am looking forward to bringing baby pup to camp, which is probably the 15th or so puppy camp that I’ve either attended as a camper or an instructor or kitchen girl

Sure you don’t wanna move to Australia, beautfiul weather…Winter – Whats that? also lots of fantastic wild life…