My Junior Handler

We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today. ~Stacia Tauscher

I'm so proud of my daughter. She's really found her niche working with dogs, especially in agility, but outside it, too. We have one member of our advanced class who is fostering a Jack Russel mix pound puppy who is sweet as can be but has few manners. She's been bringing the dog into class with her, but can't watch her and participate. It's the class in which I run Dakota, so DD takes the foster and has been working with her, teaching her basic obedience (sit, down, stay, leave it, off) and has been walking her to help her with manners on leash.

She also runs other dogs pretty regularly. We've had instances several times when owners have been out of town, but boarded their dogs where we run agility. And, they've asked if their dogs can be pulled and have DD run them on class night. She has been so lucky to work with different dogs of all sizes and temperaments and I think it will really serve her well. I suspect she's going to want to work with dogs as an ongoing thing... we'll see. Kids change.

Here's a video of her running a dog, Candy. She's one of the dogs of out-of-towners and DD ran her both classes. It's VERY poor quality (taken with my cell because MY CAMERA IS BROKEN).



DD really keeps her cool with dogs -- you'll see when Candy runs off course for a second, DD doesn't panic, just stops and calls her. She's calm and confident. I really think it's helped her self-esteem to see that she can do things this well.

This fall, we're going to attend some real agility competitions and see how they work, and then I might start competing for real, now that the AKC allows mutts to participate (I'd have to register Dakota with them, but that's no biggie).

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In other news, we got the schoolroom organized yesterday, and I put together all my teacher materials. It's going to be a challenging year for both of us. I still need to divide our 170 days into weeks and set up a schedule allowing for the time off that DH takes in November and then time off around Christmas. We don't want to school until the end of June again. That was no fun.

School starts next week. Oh. Boy.

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You Are a Cat

You are agile and mysterious. You have you own way of navigating the world. You enjoy exploring new ideas and places, but you also like to be able to retreat quickly. You are a bit standoffish and aloof, but you aren't shy. In fact, you are brave and courageous. Always resourceful and fearless, you can handle any situation. You are a survivor.

What Origami Animal Are You?

Blogthings: We'll Tell You The Truth... Someone Has To!

That's remarkably close to all correct!

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