The Clinic, etcetera

I audited the Patrick Shannahan clinic last weekend (only on Sunday, 'cause I had agility :) ) and it was awesome! I really wish two things, though.

1) That I had been able to go for both days, and;
2) That I would have paid for a working spot.

It was a really fun time, and as always, Patrick and Dianne put on a great clinic. I always learn so much from watching other dogs work, and other people work their dogs. Because this clinic was geared towards young dogs and novice handlers, everyone worked in Dianne's indoor arena. Good for fine-tuning things up close, but bad for photos!

It was great to see Carolynn again-- and she let me try out her new camera, a Canon 7D *drool*. What an awesome piece of equipment... I want! (*pssst.... Joe, are you listening?).

She also let me use a nicer lens on MY camera, which was pretty sweet too. I managed to get some decent photos, considering that we were all in a dark barn :) Here's a few photos I took, of:

Ruben, Moss's littermate






Spirit, owned by Autumn Brooks
(not bad for a mostly black dog in the dark!)






Link, Autumn's new puppy (also a full brother to Moss, but from the most recent breeding)




Moss is still with Dianne, and doing amazing. She has him started on whistles and inside flanks already! Guess that means I need to start practicing my whistles again. I've been avoiding it like the plague. Why couldn't they design an easier whistle? So far I've been having a lot of trouble with reaching the right note of the "come bye" command. Guess I need a lot more work before I'm actually ready to use this around any dog (or person!):



Isn't it pretty? I got it from Amy Raymond of Raymond Silver. She's an awesomely talented chick :)

I'll leave you with a particularly cute headshot of Mossy... taken at the clinic. Look how beefy he's getting!



P.S. Lora, I've started reading The Nine Secrets of Perfect Horsemanship, and it's great so far! I'll post about it sometime soon. Thanks so much!