Master K9 in Cherry Valley, California, hosted a Sit Means Sit Seminar in June of 2008. I was at Master K9 the night before the seminar when Fred arrived in his “Hummer”, followed by Dave with Ashton. The weather was hot and it was a long drive from Las Vegas. I had talked to Fred several times on the phone setting up the seminar and had watched most of his videos, I was nervous about the meeting. After meeting all three, they immediately brought out their dogs and began working. Watching the dogs work on the videos is no comparison to watching all three working dogs at the same time on the training field. I was a little less apprehensive about the seminar. Being a retired K9 handler for a large Law Enforcement agency, I knew that although there were approximately 20-25 K9 teams signed up it was probably going to be a long three days of “This is just another seminar for my resume, but show me what you got”. The next morning was nerve wracking as I watched the teams roll in. Everyone gathered and waited for the seminar to start with crossed arms and eyeballs rolling. Then the show started. Again, Fred, Dave, Ashton along now with Luciano and Lenzy brought their dogs out and began to work. After the first few minutes, bodies leaning and slouching, stood and sat up. Arms that were crossed began to extend pointed fingers at “wow, look at that!!”. And the “This is just another seminar for my resume, but show me what you got”, turned into “show me how to do that”. After that, the ball was rolling. There was just too much going on to describe here, but, I have to give my thanks and respect to all the SMS instructors who showed up. The weather was hot, but no one complained and every instructor was on the field ALL DAY LONG, helping the teams during these three days. This was not missed by the teams. Everyone had a good time and I was told that they were extremely impressed with the results. After the seminar was over and the dust settled, I felt confident in my choice about becoming a SMS instructor. Thanks to all, this is an outstanding team.

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Have fun Training. That is the most important aspect of training your pet. No matter what mood your pet is in, when you are training you should be having fun and for 99% of the time enjoying the antics of your pet as they try to please you. If your pet is trying to please you, then they are paying attention to you, and you should understand that. Imagine being in a foreign country and not understanding the language. Now imagine how you would act if someone was getting upset with you because you do not understand them and what they want you to do. Now, on the other hand, most of us have played "Charades" where someone acts out and you try to interpret what they are trying to communicate to you. Are you having fun, or do you get frustrated and try a different tact? As you can see, YUKI is having fun, though she has to work through some distractions. And as she does this, she is rewarded. Let’s have fun training.