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    I'm calling this "Part I" because it's dawned on me there will be many more Parts to come . . .

    Moments after posting my earlier blog on lessons learned at the Rusch Park match, Spur and I went out to practice a few things.

    As is always the case in training, there were a few rocky moments.  Spur didn't respond to a hand signal to heel.  He didn't rush to the article pile on my first command.  He looked at me with curiousity when I asked him to "get back". 

    It occurred to me that each of these things also happened in the ring at the match.  Yet, when I wrote about the match, I noted none of them.  I had - conveniently forgotten?

    This is a key problem with dog training.  In my case, at least, I am so thrilled with success that I tend to forget certain minor non-successes.  And then, when we get to the ring, am so surprised when all does not go quite perfectly.

    If we are to reach the goals I have in mind, I must learn to be more observant, more honest with my dog and with myself.  I must train with a true eye to what is happening.

    It sounds so easy.  And yet it simply isn't.  I had honestly intended to note the key errors in my earlier blog.  I fully thought I had done so.  And so, it struck me mightily when, minutes later, I realized that no such thing had happened.

    How do I get this true eye?  A matter of training myself to what may be some painful truths, I expect. 

    Enjoying training and the thrill of seeing Spur perform is hugely rewarding.   But the acknowledgment that those accomplishments are real comes through earning titles in a fully objective setting.  That would be the obedience trials which now loom on my calendar.

    I've been thinking about all the work I must do with Spur.  I'm now more aware of the work I must do myself.

    If we're to do the things I'm hoping for, I need to cultivate a true and honest eye.  It's a challenge I may not have been fully ready for at an earlier time.  I am now.  For myself, and for Spur.