Class in the Morning, Flock and Fiber in the Afternoon

This morning, Lyn, McCoy and I went up to the Boring campus and learned about the new fine-tuning of the FIR (food-induced recall) and food protocol (used for behaviors like dog distraction, fear of surface changes, over-excitement, etc.). My eyes were opened and I left feeling very good about positive reinforcement methods. I don't think it's any secret that I've never liked the frequent collar and neck corrections. I think that puppy raisers and GDB trainers will be more in sync with the goals of training and I think we'll be up on campus frequently for classes, which I like a lot.

I got some instruction on new handling techniques for McCoy and I will now handle McCoy sitting on my knees where I'll be much higher than McCoy and have better control of him. I hold his collar on both sides and never exert more than light pressure to control him. I act calmly and don't let up on the collar pressure until he calms, at which point I can start gentle massage on his chest and neck area. I'll be looking at ears, paws, etc. later. The idea behind handling is to let the puppy know who is in charge, and that's what we're working on for a little while.

We learned a lot and I'm excited to get started on these new techniques tonight.

We came home from Boring because I thought I should skip Flock and Fiber, but had second thoughts after we got home and so we ate lunch and then drove to Canby for the last 2 hours of the day's activities. I stuck to my budget and was pleased with what I brought home:



The green yarn is lace wool/Tussah Silk lace, 712 yards, dyed by Wolf Creek Wools. The turquoise lace is Shetland wool by Sporfarm, and the fiber is dyed by them as well. It's a Shetland and Fine Wool mix. I got a needle case, some Zephyr ice blue merino/silk lace and a shawl pattern at the Acorn Street Shop booth (the shawl size starts with 890 cast-on stitches!).

I went to the festival by myself for the first hour, and McCoy and Lyn joined me around 4:30. Lyn carried McCoy and we walked around the outdoor booths. Lyn couldn't get far with McCoy without drawing a crowd. We ran into Lyn's supervisor, Sela, and we talked wool and spinning for a bit. She was there with a friend who just bought 4 alpaca and who now wants to learn to spin. Anyway, it was fun, the weather was great, and I look forward to going to the festival again next year. Hopefully, I'll have used everything I bought by then, but I won't hold my breath!

I'm doing another dog-walk shift tomorrow. I may start walking regularly on the Sunday afternoon shift.