ABCTC Camp 1

Wow I can't believe I'm back :-) When I was on the road leading to the complex it felt like I'd never left.

This time round in Camp 1 I've run multiple dogs. The picture that I've up loaded is Sydney a border collie owned by Karen Holik and her partner Eric. I've also run Karen's sheltie Sizzle and Ann Braue's Scream.

It's been great, though challenging for my handling, running so many "different" dogs.

Sydney for example has quite a late commitment point which forces you to support the bar longer and occasionally take a deeper step into said jump ....... the down side to this is that Sydney is EXTREMELY fast!! And so makes it challenging to get to the next obsticle. LOL

Scream on the other hand is very much ..... you point and shoot :-) Don't think though that this gives me more time to get into position. He is incrediably powerful and feels like a steam train coming towards you!!!

The sequences and courses have been great for handling. We've covered things like forward motion front crosses, threadles, pushs for a tunnel discrimination (HIGHLY stressful for one who has broken her leg, especially "seeing" the dog running FULL speed at you!!) and we've done a blind cross on a jump!!! YES !!! you read right a blind cross!! Even to one that does blind crosses all the time on tunnels it felt weird and as though you're disconnecting with your dog. Karen Holik assures me I'm not :-) So we'll see if it feels more natural by the end of Camp 2.

This year there is a new instructor, Jennifer Crank. WOW for someone so young she is a WEALTH of information and has left my head spinning. I'm glad I have a day off today before Camp 2 starts tomorrow ....... though saying that I can't wait to do it all over again!! :-)