Whoops! It seems all my honesty about people’s varied reactions at my seminars has some people in Vancouver a little nervous about working with me. I have gotten a couple stressed out emails from people worrying that I am going to be too hard on them. So just to make it clear, I have no flying monkeys, (little Wizard of Oz humor for you) I actually am a very empathic instructor and I promise we are going to have a blast at all of the workshops I am doing in British Columbia over the next couple of weeks. I for one can not wait, got lots of great stuff planned for all of you.
As long as I am on the subject of people emailing me I have a confession to make. When people email me and have a “quick question” I only read the ones that do not have an active scroll bar. Anything else I am more than likely going to forward on to my staff. So if you have a quick question, I honestly will try to answer it or possibly put the answer on my blog. However if you have written enough to cause me to have to scroll, the likelihood of me reading it is inversely related to the amount of scrolling you have sent. Now that is not always the case. Some nights I have extra time and if it is a student that has been here to Say Yes, I also will try to get through to the end. Just a heads up for you, posting to the blog here has a better chance of me answering than emailing me at home (those emails are too easy to get lost with all the others that come in that day).
I took the girls for a big muddy walk yesterday afternoon and then got Encore and Feature all bathed up for their big west coast adventure. Poor DeCaff, I just hate leaving her behind for such a long time, Buzzy seems to have gotten used to the idea, but D-dog never will. She is a mama’s girl for sure. Breaks my heart to leave her really, but I know she is better off staying here with John where he will take her to the building every day for a “big adventure” rather than sitting in a crate for 12 days while I teach:(.
I am grateful for the fact that I didn’t have any late night packing frenzies last night. All ready to take to the skies at 7:25 this morning!
Too many years ago when I asked if I could email Susan she told me I had to include a joke so my email would “stand out” and she would notice it straight away. In that vein, hope this one makes folks smile…
Yesterday I was buying a large bag of Purina dog chow for Blanche, our hunting dog, and was standing in line at Wal-Mart about to check out.
A woman behind me asked if I had a dog. First thing I thought was “Where is your sign lady,” but decided to go with it…so on impulse, I told her that no, I didn’t have a dog, and that I was starting the Purina weight loss diet again.
I said I probably shouldn’t, because I’d ended up in the hospital the last time. But that I’d lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is; you load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry, and that the food is nutritionally complete… so I was going to try it again.
I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story to say the least.
Totally horrified, the lady asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me.
I told her no, I had stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter’s ass and a car hit us both.
I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard.
WAL-MART asked me not to shop there anymore.
Love the books and Crate Games!
Laurie
Whatever – I have witnesses who’ll swear you beat me senseless. What good is the internet if you can’t embellish stories? 😀 Zephyr and I had a great time and we’re really looking forward to AIDT!
I have the dubious distinction of being the only person to be physically assaulted during the first two days of the Vancouver seminars. At least I didn’t cry! 😉
I’m really glad I’m not the only who has worried about this. I think you’re brilliant Susan, and I’ve wanted to work with you for a long time. I’ll be lucky enough to have that chance this summer. But a part of me has always been little apprehensive and scared, as I’m easily intimidated by tough approaches.
I’ve loved reading your blog, as it makes you more human like and not just an agility god 🙂
So, I can stop freaking out about getting yelled at? That’s AWESOME!
See you tomorrow!
I’d like to second Lisa’s question, I’d definitely benefit from the answer too!
Susan,
What if your dog loves to play with a toy (any toy),
but will not tug. I have tried everything and as
soon as I touch the toy he drops it. He does get
very excited about playing with the toy. Why does
he have to tug?
Flying monkeys – that brings back traumatic childhood memories… those monkeys were really scary (at least to a 5 year old)!
Susan,
I wondered if you could talk about troubleshooting a toy retrieve someday on your blog for the dogs that take the toy and run?
Do you generally have time to watch a quick video if someone send you a link?
Ha ah, that explains the unanswered emails, I am a very wordy person.,
;>)
Oh my – not sure I want a flying monkey anyway but only got part of a post – maybe the monkey’s took it??
K