Jo Sermon Seminar

Last week I attended a seminar on Extension and Collection.  I learned a lot about jumping.  Actually, I'm a bit overwhelmed by how much I don't know and didn't know I needed to know.  Jo Sermon is a fabulous instructor, both funny and informative.

Some of the things I found amazing:

• Dogs are taught Left and Right.  Good Grief, I forget which way is left and  which way is right, how do people teach this fabulous skill?  I suspect, I'll be the dorky person with the letters L and R on my shoes.
• A lot of dogs in the seminar know Turn as a cue.  Amazing, I didn't even know I needed a cue for turning.
• Jumping can be a dangerous activity.  Allowing your dog to jump incorrectly can cause long term damage to their bodies.  After learning this I started to panic, I've only focused on getting my dog to jump on cue never thinking about how she is jumping.  

After the seminar I must have looked a bit shell-shocked because our instructor came up to me and reassured me Marley was doing fine.

Odd things I've noticed:  

• Is there an unspoken rule that all dog trainers are blond?  Our obedience instructor, our current agility instructor, Jo Sermon, Jen Pinder, Nancy Gyes, Susan Garrett...
• Whenever I'm around somebody from England for more than a couple of hours, it rains.