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    On Monday nights, if I can sneak away from work early enough to make Alan Miller's lively advanced dog training class, you can bet that Spur and I will be there.  Alan offers beginning, intermediate and advanced dog training classes at a couple of locations in the Sacramento area, and they are more than worth the price of admission. 

    Alan's own interest centers on larger breeds used for protection and safety, and his personal focus is on competition and training in those specialty areas.  But the same man who is a pro at teaching Rottweilers and his gorgeous new Belgian Malinois to bring down evildoers is also expert at shepherding a group of ordinary citizens through a training session that makes us all feel we are really getting somewhere.

    Alan specializes in helping people whose dogs have problems with aggression, but he is every bit as expert at getting a normal group of folks to have a joyous hour teaching their dogs to retrieve, heel, respond to signals, and get along together.

    Two things about Alan are especially terrific.  First is the fact that he orchestrates every one of his hour-long class sessions for maximum activity and maximum results.  There is no wasted time.  Every moment has been choreographed and planned.  From  heeling to retrieving, from scent discrimination exercises to jumps and moving stands, Alan has thought it all out in advance.

    To the observer, the result of all this movement and action is, in fact, a kind of guided chaos.  It is exactly what Spur and I are seeking these days.

    Which brings me to the second thing that is great about Alan.  He is not, as some trainers tend to be . . . well, the best word I can think of is dogmatic.  Alan totally gets the flexibility that is needed for effective training, he understands that every handler and every dog are unique. 

    These days, when Spur and I go to Alan's, we do our own work alongside his busy class.  This is the environment we will encounter at shows. 

    The rings at dog shows may be bordered by babygates, or perhaps only by ribbons at waist height.  To Spur, who stands 15 inches at the shoulder, that is no boundary at all.  I have to be sure he won't react to a dog running by, a handler shouting commands in the next ring, the sound of applause for awards or other dogs (or him!), or any one of a myriad of distractions that might occur.

    If Spur will respond to the signals I give him from 50 feet away when there's an entire pack of dogs and handlers practicing retrieves directly behind me . . . . then by gosh there's a chance he'll do it in the actual show ring as well.

    We've now been getting ready for Spur's first entry into the Utility ring for a solid year.  No wait - we've been getting ready for it for four years.  We've been focused on it for a year.  We have 12 days to go.  I do not know if we are ready.

    For these last days I am taking every opportunity to take Spur anywhere I can to reinforce the notion that Utility exercises are fun under any and all circumstances, and that there is no more joyous experience than immediate response to the commands I will be allowed to utter only once.

    If I am grasping at straws as we approach the big day, then Alan's class is definitely a lifeline.