Whatever your "skill" is, whether it be dog training, wood carving, snow-boarding, or miniature golf, if you want to do well at something, or achieve the goals youve set for yourself, then you need to practice, practice, and practice again. Remember the old adage, "If you dont use it, you lose it." Well I was living proof of that today...dog training every day, mini-golf, uh, not so much.
I cant recall the last time I played miniature golf - its been years, I know that. Well, my good friends, (Wild-Web-Women Lorrie Thomas, Emilia Doerr, Nicki Gauthier, and Pamela Sherman) came south from Santa Barbara today to celebrate Emilias BIG 3-0 B-Day at Golf n Stuff here in Ventura. It was a great time! I think I shot about 100 over par...but hey, it was about having fun, not scoring...good thing because Lorrie even mentioned how it had been so long since she used a pencil and paper (versus computer) that she wasnt sure how the scoring was done, so we decided not to...thank goodness. I think she and I both tried to cheat at some point, and couldnt even pull that off! Duh!
Anyway, having the club in my hand just reminded me how not keeping up with any skill can make you forget... however, the good thing is that it started to come back towards the back nine. So I know that if I stuck with it, Id probably do better each time.
Mini-golf isnt as important to me as some of the skills I teach my dog training clients. I explain that taking one class is great to get started, but it certainly doesnt stop there. Of course they dont have to continue taking classes forever, I dont like to add that type of pressure in. But lets face it, "life is training". We humans go through 12+ years just to graduate high school, then onto college or some type of training to get a job... then as we get older we might go back to school for some reason or another - career change or just for fun...Regardless, obtaining skills takes practice!
So, if youve already taken your dog to a dog training class, go practice those behaviors. If you havent, think about signing up at the inquisitive canine... Or, teach them how to golf! Poncho would have been able to retrieve our golfballs today when we accidentally hit them into the brush - good think Lorrie enjoyed the rock-climbing.
