Mary Ellen Barry and Jennifer Crank Seminar

Well it was an intense four days! Both instructors were absolutely amazing! This was the first time I have chaired a seminar and was hoping things would run smoothly. I did have a few nights where I woke up in the middle of the night panicked that I would forget to take care of something for the seminar. I would run downstairs to my laptop and send myself an email with a list of items I didn't want to forget to do the next morning.

I learned so much. Although I have been applying the APHS system for over two years, watched the Foundation VOD, read all the handling articles, and worked through the DJS book with both dogs, there was still a lot of information I was missing or misunderstood. The two that really stood out for me was the blending of the arms (and dog not passing the plane) and the importance of the extension RTH.

Although I really worked the other RTH presentations with Summit (collection); I neglected the extension RTH since I misunderstood the importance and Summit extended just fine, thanks :-)

So we'll be working that one starting with it on the flat.

The feedback I received was that Summit collected well and had really nice turns while sequencing. I need to support a Forward Send longer (wait until I see his head turn over the bar) before I turn and leave. I am getting too far ahead of him on the course. I also need to rotate my shoulders more when I pick up an OA to cue a FC. He passed all the RTH drills with flying colors except for the extension one.

I worked Summit in all of the sessions. I did switch out with Sage one day to let her run. She did not have the foundation skills to handle the highly technical European courses but she did well on the Masters course work.


I also learned a lot in the Weaves session. Mary Ellen did a demo of her version of the 2x2's. I am mostly happy with Summit's wp entries but would like more independence. Once he's in the weaves, I can leave and he'll continue to weave to the end. However, he missed several difficult wp entries in Jennifer's European coursework sessions. So Tuesday morning, I ordered two sets of 2x2's and will work on both Sage and Summit's entries. Mary Ellen said if the dog already knew how to weave and you just wanted to train entries, that 2 sets would be sufficient. I also learned some good information on handling entries; mainly that you should be facing the direction your dog needs to move toward to hit the correct entry. This way the dog does not cut across your plane to hit the entry.


I have the dogs with me at work today. This afternoon we are headed to the National Western complex to set three agility rings for the CKC Cluster Show this Friday-Monday. My agility club is hosting the agility part of the show. After the rings are set, club members get to do run-throughs in the standard and jumpers rings with their dogs.