Marco Mouwen Masters Handling workshop

In celebration of Marco Mauwen coming to us from Switzerland, it snowed here in the bay area. We were lucky and Java Dogs had an alternative place for us to train. We were able to train at the super spectacular indoor facility. It was COLD outside and nice and warm inside.

Marco is all about the dogs line. He wants you to think about where the dog is going after the jump and set up the line so if the dog is turning that you "shape" the turn using a "pre-cue" so that the dog decelerates prior to the jump turn on the jump and then takes off to the next line. We did alot of stuff with our arms that I've never done before and I must say that Fin did start to turn tighter and tighter. A very interesting day.

Fin paid attention as Marco spoke. She pretty much hung out in her green chair if she wasn't running. By the afternoon she was actually taking naps...first time I've seen her so tired that she needed naps between runs at a seminar. I felt that Marco did a GREAT job of having a plan and keeping the seminar moving. We took a few breaks and rebuilt courses a couple times, but the day flew by with alot of practice. I had a great time and the concepts were really interesting.

Here is a sample of one of the exercises that we did with the pre-cueing. You can see that the second time Fin was turning tighter (although I think any system I used would have gotten a tighter turn at that point, it is fun to see. It goes against everything that I have learned to pre-cue and blind cross, but I thought it would be interesting to try it out for one day. I am most proud that I didn't fall down once during this seminar even though he had me running backwards, grapevining, using arms that I never use, and blindcrossing after tunnels! When I wasn't struck by lightening after the first blind cross, I was amazed.

On the way home, I found the light poles decorated with pigeons. Very festive. I wonder whether the pigeon that got the center of the pole was a special pigeon.