Thursday, December 10, 2009

What I learned from Marco Mouwen

On Tuesday I took Rampage to a Marco Mouwen seminar.  It was for puppies/foundation, but I think it was a bit too advanced for him.  Or I guess it started out at the right level but then got too advanced.  But I learned a lot in that seminar.  Not about agility, foundation or puppies but about Rampage.  He started out well but he gradually started getting slower and slooower and slooooower as the seminar progressed (it was only 2hrs, so it's not like it was over-long for young dogs).  I kept things upbeat and he seemed happy enough when it wasn't his turn, tugging away and giving good attention.  When we had a break I put Rampage in the car so he could get a little rest and if I were a good trainer, I would have left him there and audited the rest of the seminar.  But noooooo, I had to get him out and watch his increasing slowness progress.  So I'm sure no lasting harm was done except to how I think of myself as a trainer, but I definitely will be more aware of Rammy's 'mood' in the future and I have once again made my mental note, "Rampage is not Icon."
 

On a side note, Marco is the most efficient seminar giver I have ever seen in my life.   And quite good looking too, but maybe I'm just saying that because he's so tall.

3 comments:

  1. I have found that the Kindle/Bezel boys often need more time to mature.

    who is Marco Mouwen?

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  2. Welcome to my world of getting used to the difference between Slider and Steam... Steam = very much like half brother Rampage. :-)

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  3. Marco Mouwen is a judge/competitor from Switzerland. He's judging at the invitationals and came here for some seminars before. He also went to Colorado the week before.

    Rampage is definitely slow to mature, but he is misleading because he LOOKS really mature. Icon was more mature than Apollo when he was 8 weeks old :).

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