We been Training

Sunday 24th February.

Not long after we qualified Autumn for Crufts I saw that James Newton (Patamoke Handling & Training) was running a Pre-Crufts training workshop and even better is that it was close to where we live too.

I attended one of James’s workshops back last year and we learnt so much from the workshop back then so I decided as Autumn is still so young she and I would benefit from a training top up. i set off a bit earlier as when I looked at the map for the venue location I could see that the hall it was in was surrounded by large fields and thought this would be ideal as I could give Autumn a good run about prior to the workshop starting. We set off a bit earlier to take advantage of this and arrived in plenty of time to get set up and settled in.

The workshop started and the training set off with handlers and dogs receiving great advice and tips from James and some useful suggestions from attendees too, James has a good vibe about him and is very relaxed, all the dogs respond so well to him. By the end of the day it was amazing to see how all the dogs and handlers had improved and with all the tips and trick to take home and work on, for me it gives a great boost in confidence helping to get ready for that big day in March running on the green carpet at Crufts. I still consider myself as a novice in the show world and as I’m a bit older I tend to forget some of the best tips on how to get the best from the dog in the ring so for me these workshops and the ring craft training sessions we attend are invaluable, so I end this post passing thanks to James Newton and not forgetting Claire and Lee Sharp for keeping us fed and watered throughout the day.

Keith Whiting.