Not Losing Sight of the Journey

I came across this saying below and instantly loved it. I am going to make it our motto for Sadie's journey. I don't ever want to get so caught up in trying to get to the "destination" that I forget to take the time to appreciate the journey and the wonderful, helpful people we have meet along the way.

"We are so often 

caught up in our

 destination that we

 forget to appreciate 

the journey, especially

the goodness of the

 people we meet on the

 way. Appreciation

 is a wonderful feeling, 

don't overlook it."

I always want Sadie to be this happy girl
and to be with her every step of the way, enjoying every minute of it.

Handling, Grooming repeat....

Anyone that has or had Cocker Spaniels knows that it takes a great deal of time and patience to keep them groomed. As I mentioned in previous posts I have had a couple of lessons so far and I ordered my grooming supplies. So I figured I would try my hand at it. There's nothing like doing it yourself to learn. I started with my quiet buff girl, Lily and then my black girl Lexi. They both were very cooperative and did great. They both came out fairly good for a first time on my own. A couple of days later I tried my buff and white girl, Hope. Well, I'm glad I didn't start with her! She is only 8 months old so she was all over the place. I tried everything. I had someone hold her,  just had the clippers on by her, ect, ect. Finally I found it worked best for just her and I to be in the room and to take a very, very calm approach. I went slow with her and gave her breaks in between. Not to mention the goldfish crackers that were a good bribe : ).  Finally after many hours and my first (I'm sure of more to come) grooming cut to my finger....ouch! those thinning shears are sharp! we were done and she looked pretty good. Both her and I were exhausted after that...lol. I have trimmed Sadie's face and ears a couple of times since my last lesson with Judith but I want to wait until we can get together for another lesson to do the rest of her. I know I can do it, I just want the moral support to guide me through it.

For the first couple of weeks of handling classes there were only one or two other dogs there. The past three weeks there have been six or seven. It has been a good mix of different situations for Sadie. She's not the youngest one there anymore and she has been the demonstrator of how to use the "Happy Legs" for the other puppies. Although even now that there are younger puppies, she is still referred to as "the little baby cocker".  Tonight at class there was a different instructor, which was good because she had some new helpful tips and things to do. Also it hopefully helped get Sadie and I used to the fact that things will be set up differently at shows and there will be different people.

On another handling practice note....my husband made me a set of "Happy Legs" for Sadie to practice on at home. I had looked up ordering them online and they are $200. YIKES!   

Greg Strong Seminar

I was looking at the infodog site when I came across information for a dog handling seminar, Greg Strong Seminar - Only 15 Points to Go! As I read through the description of it, I was immediately intrigued. Everything that was listed was of great interest for me to learn. Yet I hesitated about signing up. One, it was in New Jersey and two, I didn't know if it would be too advanced for us seeing as we just started taking our handling classes. So I began to research my fears. Upon looking up the directions, I found that it was  2 1/2 hours away, but it was a nice drive up RT 84 and then over back roads. We didn't have to contend with going through New York and the New Jersey Turnpike. Next I made a phone call to the person organizing the event, Cathy to ask a few questions. I explained to her that we were new to showing and that Sadie would only be 4 1/2 months when we attended.  She assured me that we would be fine and there would be other puppies at the seminar as well. They had hosted this seminar in the past and people loved it and came back year after year. So sign up we did. And let me say it was one of the best decisions that we have made. It was a two day seminar from 9-4 both days. The time just flew by. I was totally captivated by it both days. I felt like a sponge just soaking up all the info I could. I heard several other people also say they wish the seminar was a couple days longer. There was soooo much great information, tips and techniques. He was a excellent speaker and teacher, both in the classroom part of it and when we did the hands on part. He gave us an outline at the start of the seminar and as I looked at it I immediately thought wow, I can't wait to learn and hear about these topics.

He began the seminar with the definition of a Handler: Knowledge to condition, prepare and present a dog to the best ability and apply that knowledge in the ring. And that's what the seminar was built around:
-Condition
-Prepare
-Present


95% success in the ring starts at home – 5% success is at the shows.

If you are not prepared properly, then you have a handicap and are at a disadvantage.  Someone else in the ring will be better prepared and will prevail.

I Loved his analogy of the Handler and the Dog being a  "complete picture" with the dog being the actual picture and the Handler being the frame. You both have to be prepared and do your part because you can have a beautiful picture but if the frame around is terrible it will take away from that beautiful picture and vice a versa. That is SO true!

We learned that our hands are "magic wands" and how, when and why to use them to comfort our dogs.

Greg giving me some helpful tips with Sadie

Fun at the hotel after class

I've had an exhausting day!

Day Two

I can't stress enough how worthwhile this seminar was. I would highly recommend it to anyone new or having difficulty in the ring. I wish there were more seminars like this to expand our knowledge.

ECKC Picnic

They said picnic rain or shine. We all gathered at a members house for the club's annual picnic  And of course it was rain! But that didn't put a damper on things. Everyone brought a different dish to share and it was a fun, informal evening of good food and conversation. 

Handling Class

Standing perfectly with Happy Legs

Doesn't it look like she is laughing....See Dad I got this

We headed out for another handling class tonight. What we didn't know was Sadie decided it was time to act up a little at class. I think she is getting quite comfortable there. She starts wagging her little tail and jumping around as soon as we pull in. And why wouldn't she.....she LOVES the instructor and the other puppy that was there, she can't wait to get in the building and start playing with him and then go over to Sarah (the instructor) to say hello. So she didn't really want to get down to business tonight. Sarah had us do a once around the ring, then another "to get the willies out" lol. Then it was time for stacking on the table and of course little miss Sadie had other ideas. As soon as Sarah came over to "judge her" she start moving all over not sitting still. Sarah said I'll be right back. Back in the building she came with a box, with what we now know as Happy Legs. The box opens and there are four squares that you can secured to the bottom of the box by magnets. You then place your dogs paws on each on the four squares and that teaches them to stand still in place on the table. Wasn't quite sure about this at first, but I put Sadie's feet on them and it worked like a charm. She stood great! Almost as if to say "I can do this!" Sarah let us take it home to practice with it during the week.

Norwalk, CT Show

Well, Sadie and I ventured off just the two of us (Rick had to work) to a show in Norwalk, CT. I thought it was going to be a quick visit to this show because there were not many cockers entered. But I still wanted to see them and continue on our path of learning all about the show world. There were also suppose to be a lot of vendors and I wanted to see if I could find Sadie a show lead to start using at handling class.  I was wrong about the quick visit..... While we were standing watching the cockers, someone came over to us and started talking. We had meet briefly at the show in Wrentham, Ma the week before. This began our new friendship with Lisa of Pinecliff Cockers. Of course we engaged in cocker talk, which led to shopping at the vendor booths, which led to Lisa introducing me to a couple more people in the cocker world, which led to sharing stories of how we got stared in our love for cocker spaniels over lunch. Sadie had a ball hanging out with Lisa's cocker girl Oliva, who had just returned from Canada winning her championship there as well as here in the US. Hours later we left the show with a wonderful new friend. It was a delightful day.

Grooming Lesson #2

Sadie and I took a ride to a beautiful part of our state, Canterbury, to visit with and get a grooming lesson from our new friend Judith Webb of Soundview Cockers. Judith was kind enough to teach me the art of the cocker show cut. It was a beautiful June day, so we set up on her outside patio. Sadie was a bit wiggly at first, but with a couple of et-et and stop she settled down. Hopefully with a few more lessons I will get the hang of it. After we were done, we sat and chatted about cockers and got to know each other a little more. We had a nice visit.