People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing. Dale Carnegie
With Camp one being so great, there was lots of pressure to make camp two even better! Monday afternoon arrived and the camping field was filling up with posh caravans, motor homes and Delphines luxury, 5 star tent (which came with a free ‘Inu heater’).
With no time to hang around, the jam packed schedule kick started with a learning theory and agility handling presentation. The first evening at camp is all about getting to know everyone, so to the pub we headed (this pub just loves our large groups ... not!).
Our first trainer, on day one of training, was Sian Illingworth. Words our ‘campers’ used to describe Sian after training were: fun, motivational, great people skills, inspiring, confidence building and consistent ... these attributes combined make for a great trainer! Sians training focused on handling jumping sequences. The evening entertainment was an Indian takeaway, the entertainment being ordering it (have you ever tried ordering a takeaway for so many people, to be delivered to a place you don’t know and with a phone with little signal!)!
Day two of training and Lucy Osborne arrives as the trainer. Lucy’s morning sessions focused on contact training. Starting at step one with shaping the end position and then onto building whole contacts into short sequences. In the afternoon Lucy focused on handling including foot-work; a new focus for many participants. It was really great to have Lucy stay an extra few days at Camp and get into ‘camp spirit’, there are certainly no silent moments when Lucy is around! All the participants loved Lucy’s training and learnt so much! A fun and filling BBQ made for an enjoyable evening.
Day three, was Munnings day. Not only was he teaching but it was also his birthday (and Lucy’s). Dave’s sessions put together everything the participants had done throughout the week into courses. Wow, these dogs were looking great! Most of the campers regularly train with Dave so only quietly told me how much they loved his training, in fear he may up his prices!
The last night is always so fun at camp as it’s our farewell meal at the pub and ..... AWARDS! Ranging from most dramatic to sweetest person, the awards were taken in good humour as laughter took over the pub!
I have to say a big thanks to the trainers but an even bigger thanks to the participants for being so fun and easy going. Bring on next year J
