a brief respite, a mountain of laundry

Six lovely dog trainers from Cincinnati left yesterday afternoon after a 4-day, 4-night training retreat.  They checked into cottages on Monday, trained 4 hours a day with Bud, fixed group lunches in the cottages, came to our house for group meals late afternoon, and had evening training sessions in rally and obedience with their own instructors.

They were supportive and kind to each other and to their dogs. It was absolutely delightful having them here. MaryAnn Chappalear was the organizer of the group and managed their registration very efficiently.

Our training retreats and resort visits can present complex pricing schedules, and MaryAnn and I waded through several options before arriving at the one that suited her group the best.

Once folks step away from the public or private camp format, the options are endless. You may choose the days of the week and the number of days/nights you wish to stay, the number of hours each day you wish to have instruction, and the time of day you wish to have instruction. The building, with agility and rally equipment, are available to you all day. You may prepare your own dinners or purchase group meals from me. You may choose one or two cottages, and  you may put your overflow people (or married couples, or that lone guy in your group) in a guestroom in our house.

All of these components are purchased separately. They provide your group with a custom vacation with everyone’s needs being met, and everyone getting the most training possible.

But enough with the advertisement. <g>

Today is my brief respite from cottages and guestrooms filled with dogs and people. Bud is in Columbus at a USDAA trial, for just one day, showing Hazard and Blue.  I’m crossing my fingers that the girls have a good day. Hazard is coming out of a period where she’s been shy around big dogs. I think she felt threatened by a couple of big galloots we had here in the building over a year ago, and now she’s afraid of all big dogs.  Blue, on the other hand, associates the sounds of electronic timing systems with the sound made by her former owner’s underground fence collar. I’d like to dig a hole and bury all electronic collars.

Both girls are challenging to show and will, hopefully, outgrow some of their issues. Bud also took Kory as a travel-mate. Thank goodness. That pup is doing really well with his training exercises but sometimes his 24/7 energy is overwhelming. It boggles the mind. I try to keep hands off, to ask if advice is welcome before giving it, so Kory and I don’t really do much training.

Our relationship is becoming defined with belly rubs, “settle,” calming touches, and mopping up of puddles. I also do a bit of ring-side and ex-pen training while Bud is teaching. Kory no longer barks while other dogs are running, so long as daddy isn’t doing the handling.  If Bud’s working another dog Kory is a crazed canine. We’re working through that with distractions and rewards for calmer behaviors.

While Bud’s away I’m working through a mountain of laundry and cleaning 2 cottages and a guestroom for our next guests — Katie and Dave arrive this afternoon to stay in the red cottage and attend tomorrow’s workshops, then our June 8-11 campers arrive Sunday evening and will be staying in both cottages and 1 guestroom.

Because this was a week of nearly constant rain and cold, my mountain of laundry includes 6 dirty rugs, countless blankets, 2 dozen towels, and 5 beds worth of sheets. I started the laundry yesterday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. and worked on it until midnight. I was up this morning at 5:30 unloading the dryer and reloading with more towels.

My Mom and sister plan to arrive this morning to assist with cabin cleaning, so all the linens have to be washed, dried, sorted and folded before we can start.

I’m off to unload the dryer!

Tags: 2-Minute puppy training, agility camp, basic dog obedience, Bud Houston, dog agility, dog performance sports, Marsha Houston, puppy training, rally obedience, sport obedience