(VICT) Re: Happy 4th of July
- From: "Ann Edie" <annedie@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <vi-clicker-trainers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2011 05:59:17 -0400
Hi, Christy and Everyone,
Happy Independence Day to you also!
Panda and I are still here and doing fine, although very busy. Panda is now
10-and-a-half years old and she has been guiding me for 8 years now. She
just gets sweeter and more lovable with each passing year, and more
confident and settled as a guide. She is still eager to go out and do new
things, and our communication is more intuitive than ever. And perhaps the
most wonderful part of having Panda, a guide horse, is that, at ten years
old, she is just coming into her prime, and she will be able to continue
learning and growing as a companion and guide for decades yet to come.
What a great reason to celebrate Independence!
In the meantime, I am still working full-time as a teacher, although I did
seriously think about retiring after the end of this past school year. It
was a hard year schedule-wise and with too much new paperwork and travel
between students. But I decided to stick it out for another year or
several. At the same time, my friend Alexandra Kurland and I, along with
another clicker training friend, have finally realized our dream of buying a
piece of property and building a barn and riding arena for our own equine
clicker training center! Actually, the barn and arena are still in the
process of being built. But today, Independence Day, is moving day for
Alex's 2 horses and my 3 horses, from the boarding barn where they have been
living for the past decade or more, to the new clicker center, which is
still only about a 10-minute car ride from my home, although not within
walking distance, as the old barn was. The 3 horses of our other friend are
already in residence on the property. We'll be roughing it for a while
until all the amenities are completed, but it will eventually allow us to
hold clicker training clinics in our own facility and to bring in any guest
trainers, educators, and presenters whose philosophies complement ours and
whose work we want to explore ourselves and offer to others. It is an
exciting and much-anticipated step into the future for us!
I hope all of you have special reasons to celebrate independence this day,
whether it is travel independence with your guides, or independence from
force-based training methods or from the "correction" mindset--or all of the
above! Happy Independence Day to All!
Best,
Ann
----- Original Message -----
From: "Christy Hill" <care4k9@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <vi-clicker-trainers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, July 04, 2011 1:17 AM
Subject: (VICT) Happy 4th of July
> Hi everyone. It has been such a logn time since I've seen anyone post
> here, I thought I would drop in and say hello. I hope all your pooches can
> handle the loud noises of 4th of July and they enjoy the excitement.
>
> THe only thing I have been doing is still doing precision training
> with competition obedience. I"m progressing quite well. Keeping true to
> the science of clicker training and how I learned it, the best I could,
> I"m doing the best I can. I guess it is working and hope to be showing
> thing. That will be the real proof in the puding if I really do succeed.
> NOthing like something to test or check your training ability right?
> Mickey does really well with distractions as a service dog, but when it
> comes toparks, many dogs and the likes under a different setting,
> distractions with Mickey is a challenge. So, in this type of environment,
> my training is put to the test again. Shape and reinforce for attention.
> My biggest challenge is to let it go. Meaning if Mickey is not engaged to
> do obedience stuff, I drop the criteria way down and work on attention. I
> tend to jump too far ahead and wonder why isn't he doing it? Then I hit
> the palm on my head and go duh, remember your basics of
> training and I"m on my way again to success.
>
> I hope all of you are odiong well and having fun out there. Have a
> safe and wonderful 4th of July.
>
> Christy Hill
> (Obedience - New)
> Mickey - CGC
> Divine - Graduated from Hearing Dog Program www.hearingdogprogram.org
>
>
>
>
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