We're Home

I'm back from my trip and it was fabulous, the best ever.  The only downside was not having Miss Gimme to snuggle with and play with and walk with.

My flights up and back were uneventful.  I had arranged to share a room for the duration and was pleased to discover Doris and I are sisters who never met.  We were instant friends.  Every night we stayed up late talking and talking and talking.  I never thought I'd meet someone that could talk more than I do, but now I have.  It was awesome and I am inspired to new talkative possibilities!

The whole seminar followed that pattern.  My practice partner on the first day was Sherry, who it turns out I'd had email list conversations with.  Midway through the second day we joined up with our teams and I had full working partner Megan and auditor partner Naomi.  We would work together throughout the rest of the seminar.  Megan is another awe inspiring talker.  Two in one week, who knew! 

Our team leader was Ellen.  Ellen is the kind of person who can dish out a large helping of criticism in such a way that you walk away feeling good about it.  That's a talent that too few people have.  The hosting group were great and kept us all well fed and well cared for.  The site was great.  I ate so much and so often that I should have gained several pounds - instead I think I kept it from sticking by laughing my butt off all the time.

The seminar itself was great.  Grisha Stewart has become a very good presenter since the time several years ago when the 2 day seminar DVDs were taped.  She's very approachable and pretty darn funny.  She kept things moving and disseminated a ton of information.  We had practice sessions all the time, so it worked well to learn something, then get up and do it.  There is a lot more to BAT now than when the seminar was originally taped.  We were the 8th BAT Instructor seminar, so teaching that level is still an evolving process.  I have some suggestions and thoughts, but will be saving those to share with Grisha and Ellen when I have the time to write them up.

The written examination was very thorough, a combination of short answer and multiple choice.  I used all but 8 minutes of the 2 hours we were allotted.  It wasn't that I didn't understand the material; rather, as you who read my blog regularly know, I can't write anything briefly.  Can't believe I wasted 8 minutes when I could still have been writing on my little novella.

On the evening of the fourth day, I gave a presentation following the pizza party on the Fatal Fifteen reasons why people continue to use compulsion-based methods for dog training when the science and evidence shows that reward-based methods work better.  I ran over time, but everyone was so engrossed that Grisha allowed me to finish.  I got a lot of positive feedback about it.  I plan to write up the talk and will share it on this blog.

I had so much fun at the seminar, that it was hard to leave.  At the same time, I was eager to get home to Gimme.  I flew in at 1:30 a.m. on Thursday morning and got home an hour later.  By then I was so wired I stayed up another two hours.  Then got a few hours sleep before going to pick Gimme up from Camp Ursula at 9:00 a.m.  We spent the day snuggling on the couch, sleeping and watching old movies.  Since then we've gotten in two walks and a lot more snuggling.

All reports were that Gimme did fine, especially given she is 3 years old and had never been to a kennel before.  I'm sure I was more bothered by our separation than she was.  Gimme ate well and wasn't obviously stressed.  Sadly she did not get to play with any other dogs, since there weren't any suitable playmates there during her visit.  I understand Gimme did try to convince Ursula and Dave that their dogs could fit into her kennel, so she could be in the house and show them how a real dog snuggles. 

As it turns out, she got a lot of training on grinning.  She would grin at anyone who walked by her run and then they made a big fuss over her.  So when I got there I got the biggest grin I've ever seen.  In the past I've only seen the occasional small grin in the bathroom... this one was reminiscent of Sigourney Weaver and the Aliens movie. 

Since then she has been a little clingy, believing she is due all my attention when I am home.  She was fine on Friday when I went to work for 7 hours - then all evening insisted that I needed to devote every breathing moment to her.  She also has decided that if I'm not giving her the requisite attention, it is now entirely appropriate to indulge in misbehavior, such as trash diving and counter surfing; behaviors I haven't seen in a year.  Again, this only happens when I'm home and she "needs" my attention.  Envision me on the phone and someone getting a candy wrapper from the trash, to wave it in front of me.  As soon as I take one step toward her she drops the wrapper and leaps onto the couch, stopping just short of patting the couch beside her to indicate where I should sit. 

What's not to love?