Hi everyone! I haven't posted in months but still read every now and again So I have a question for anyone who has been to a Michael Ellis course. I leave in 4 days for the Obedience Intensive!! Any advice, recommendations on things I should bring that maybe I haven't thought about? I am so excited!!! and a little nervous too lol Not sure what exactly to expect. And this is the first time being away from my family for more than a weekend! Thank God Capone is coming with me, I would go NUTS all alone!

Hope everyone is doing well! & TIA!!

ETA: For those who knew us before, Capone is doing much better symptom wise with his hips. I don't know if its because hes a little older or a bit more muscular but he hasn't limped or shown signs of soreness in months. Except for when he has swam too much. This dog LOVES to swim. He has a life vest and is pretty much obsessed about it. It almost becomes a problem because he will swim until his whole body is sore and we have to force him out of the pool. I wish we had our own pool, but luckily we have great friends who let us bring him over a few times this summer. His allergies are still bad, but managed with diet and medication. Overall he is doing really well, way too spoiled because we totally let him get away with everything when we initially got his diagnosis, but we are working on his obedience again!

This advice maybe of no use to you whatsoever, but have you seen any of the training videos? I haven't been to a ME course, but I attended a seminar and it was my first exposure to serious dog training. As a result, despite the massive amount of information that was presented, I only retained probably 10%. Since then, I've viewed many of the Leerburg videos featuring Michael and I recall most of the topics in the videos were presented at the seminar.
Bottom line, if you haven't seen the videos, you may want to get some and give yourself a crash course over the next 4 days (meaning that you should view them each about 3 times over) before you attend the course. That way you'll already have a base of knowledge to which to add Michael's lectures.

Of course, if you already own the videos, disregard!

Thanks for the quick reply! Yah I own probably 7 leerburg dvds, can't remember which ones are ME. I loaned almost all of them to a friend. But it has been a while since I have watched them, maybe ill watch a bunch of clips to pass the time and refresh my memory =) Thanks!

and I will be there for two weeks! I was worried about retaining all the info too, but I think since its pretty long it should help. We'll see haha.

I would definitely review the following DVDs if you're doing the obedience intensive:
(1) Power of Playing Tug
(2) Focused Healing

That way you'll already be familiar with what he's going to teach you and you can ask focused questions on troubleshooting that things of that nature.

Have fun! Wish I could go with you!

:P Geeze, I'm jealous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wanna go!!!!!!!

My GSD and I were there for the OB Intensive course April/May of last year.

I bought a camcorder second day of class, it was much easier that way than to take handwritten notes (I still took notes, but the camcorder really helped, especially when ME was working with me, I asked my classmates to take video of myself and my dog, so I could watch it later).

Bring your toys/treats, ME recommended Natural Balance food rolls as treats, which could be bought at a pet store nearby.

It is probably warmer now than April/May, but ME's school had no heater (not sure if that has changed), so it was really cold during class (we were warming up rice bags in the microwave as heat packs). So probably not a bad idea to bring a jacket just in case.

Prior to my class, I watched ME's Training with Food and Playing with Tug DVDs. He pretty much went through the stuff he covered in the DVDs, in fact, when I was in class, I felt like we were going through the DVDs in person =)

Have a lot of fun!

Come with me Kelly!!!! Pleeeeeaaassse!I will sneak you in my suitcase haha!! I know, I am really blessed it all worked out for me to be able to go!

I will go look for my Tug DVD! I don't think I loaned that one out. But I don't have the focused heeling.

I hope its a good fun group of people going! I wish I could just take all of you with me!

 Quote: Melissa Hau

I bought a camcorder second day of class, it was much easier that way than to take handwritten notes (I still took notes, but the camcorder really helped, especially when ME was working with me, I asked my classmates to take video of myself and my dog, so I could watch it later).

Filming during classes is not allowed anymore Can take pictures though.

The best thing you can do is to watch as many of ME videos as you can to get ready for the class.

Have fun!

Wow, didn't realize ME would not allow video recording anymore The videos really helped me.

Like Ana said, watch as many of the DVDs as you can, you will get more out of the course that way.