College and Wales

Well college was great, made progress with practical training, Dinky does full backwards circles round me now. The Inappropriate Canine Behaviour Lectures were all on aggression, different types, identifying them and what you would consider in a treatment plan. We stayed at Robeanne House which is always nice and good to get together in the evening for a glass or wine or two and a chat with other students.

This weekend me and Jon when down to South Wales as I was asked to do a clicker demo and training session for the Polish Lowland Sheepdog Club of Wales.
As we have not had a holiday for over a year and looks like we are going to be far too busy over the next 6 months to have one, we decided to make a weekend of it. So Friday night we set on the lovely journey down the M6 and M5!
Surprising the only bad traffic was coming out of Manchester and we arrived in Tintern Village at 9.30pm. We had booked in The Old Rectory B&B as they were happy to accept 3 dogs. The owners were really nice and have dogs or their own. Our room had its own entrance which led to the garden, this was very convenient. We also had Sky TV and a bath as well as a shower, I was impressed!!
We took the dogs a walk down the lane but didn’t go too far as it was very dark, then we settled down and had a few glasses of wine. The next morning we had arranged to have breakfast at 9am, so took the dogs a good walk first. When we went for breakfast it was really quiet and no one was up!! There was a bell so we rang it and eventually the owners got up, apologising for sleeping in. Then they announced they had no sausages and they would either give us extra bacon or if we waited they would go to the shop. We opted for extra bacon. Then the owner put on some music as she went back to the kitchen the CD started jumping. We were laughing by this time and I think Jon made some mention of faulty towers. Then the owner came back and asked about clicker training, Jon told me afterwards I was rather aloof with my answer. I told him I was thinking to myself at the time, my breakfast is late and I have no sausages and now you want some free dog training advice!
Anyway we went off to the next village called St Arvans to the AGM. I did a demo and then somehow we ended up discussing dominance and pack theory. I started with someone asking about the dog believing its in control of its rewards and is this good, I went on to discuss perceived control as a stress reducer and what learned helplessness is and then it went on to dominance and training. We had a short training session and I did some hand targeting with the dogs. I was a really good day and everyone was really nice and friendly. We then went for lunch in the pub and more chatting dog stuff. The secretary asked me if I would I consider doing the same for the UK Club and of course I agreed.
We took the dogs for a good a walk along the river, Tintern is really a lovely place. When we arrived back to our room, there were wine classes (we used cups the night before) and also some flowers, which was lovely, also in the morning we had a full breakfast with sausages and the owners gave us some Tintern sausages to take home as a gift.

Next weekend its water rescue training!!