The Blue Planet again!

It has been a busy day. First I had some work stuff, that I needed to do. Then my car needed to be transformed from a dog van and into a people's car. Hero's crate was taken out and a passenger seat was put in.

We went to buy some stuff for the weekend, the dogs had a little run and off we went to the Kennel Club building, which is 45 mins drive from here. I used to work in the Kennel Club, so I have lots of friends there and it was good to see every one.

At 2 pm I went to the airport to collect my 2 friends Kath and Lesley. They are here from England for the Judges Conference, which starts tomorrow.

We went to The Blue Planet, which is Northern Europe's largest aquarium. I was there with my nephews not long ago, but it was a different experience to see it with friends. We had a good day.

So today it is not dog training - it is sea lion training! We saw a demonstration of ths staff's training of the sea lions. They train them, so that they will be able to handle them and check them over without stressing them - also in case a sea lion get ill and needs a vet. In this picture the trainer is checking the sea lion's teeth.

They trained them exactly the same way as we train dogs - positive reinforecement = rewarding wanted behaviour and ignoring unwanted behaviour. They used a whistle to mark the wanted behaviours - we usually use a clicker or a clicker word, but besides from that, there was no difference.

There was an adorable little 10 mth old sea lion pup, but unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of it.

More fishy pictures here!

My friends took me out for dinner, before I took them to their B&B and went for a rainy walk in the woods with the boys.

The International Judges Conference will start tomorrow. It will be an interesting and exciting weekend.

See you tomorrow.
Emmy and the Hazyland Boys