My weekend with Emily Larlham

I feel so lucky to have attended one of Emily Larlham’s seminars! Emily Larlham is such a great trainer! Out of all the trainers I know of, she is the only one I have yet to disagree with. I’ve liked all her training tips and ways of training, and it has been a true honor to finally meet her! 

The seminar was all through fantastic! After this weekend I am left with great motivation and inspiration, and I have learned so much more than I expected to. Emily possesses a huge amount of knowledge and she is very skilled in teaching this to others. The different subjects talked about were backed up with examples, either in live showing using our dogs, or via film clips from her computer or in told examples that were easy to understand. Not only is she good in teaching, but her personality is also sweet and easy going. That makes it easy to relax around her, and it also makes it easier to ask questions, because you don’t feel stupid for not knowing.

It feels like I’m glorifying her right now, but I am so amazed after this seminar. I don’t feel like I’m exaggerating.  She is such a great person and great trainer, and she really deserves all the credit! If you ever get the chance of attending a seminar or a lesson with Emily, I urge you to take it. Really! You will not regret it!

Emily Larlham went through a great deal of different topics during the seminar. It spanned from basic teaching and progressive reinforcement to dealing with shy and/or reactive dogs. I am not able to remember all the things she talked about, but I know it will stick to me when I am in these different situations myself.

My plan was originally to bring Hugin one day and then Luna the other day, but I knew Luna wouldn’t be ready for this. Training is so highly reinforcing for her, so she is yet not able to stand still and watch when other dogs are having fun training. She will bark and howl and jump uncontrollably around while lunging forward to where the fun is, and her stress levels will rise above the sky. We are, however, working on this, but it is quite a slow progress. It’s fine, cause I am in no hurry. Hugin is such a sweetheart, and I don’t mind bringing him with me for these kind of things, even though he doesn’t appreciate training as much.

Hugin was very tired after the first day. I didn’t even have time to unleash him when we got inside before he collapsed on the bed and stayed there for the rest of the evening. He was even seriously tired the next day. I barely managed to get him up in the morning, and getting him to work on the seminar was out of the question. He just wanted to sleep, so I let him. There is no point in pushing him to do something he doesn’t want to. I don’t want to ruin the fun of training, so we’ll take it in his time. No biggie!

«Oh my, gimme that treat. I want that treat, give it to me!»

We did manage to try some of the practical work, though! We managed to get him to look at a specific point, getting him to somewhat enjoy being touched on the top of his head (well, WE didn’t.. Emily did!), and nose- and shoulder targeting. Or, at least the beginning of it! One need a lot of patience when working with Hugin. He is so easily distracted and he’s really slow, because it is very hard to motivate him. I am not complaining about it, though. I am very happy with my loving whippet. He is so well behaved, so calm and so friendly. Who cares if training tricks isn’t his thing? I have a bed warmer and he is my best friend. And now I’m off topic!

To not make this blog post too long, I will end it now. Below I will post some of the pictures I took from these two days, and I might post another blog containing pictures later. I took so many pictures, and it will take me a very long time to edit them all.

Thank you, Emily, for inspiring me so much and for taking the time to visit Norway. I wish you and your family (both four-legged and two-legged family) the very best in the future!

To visit Emily’s website, click HERE!

The chin rest
Nose targeting
Hugin is getting a well appreciated neck scratch!
Limping on cue
Rear end awereness