I love your Benny!!!!! I have a blue and gold macaw, Jessie. Regarding the course, yes, it is hardcore, that is exactly what it is, very challenging, and about the fourth day all of us students were discussing how we had felt skeptical coming in (can we really learn what we need in 8 weeks?), but after 7 days, we are more and more excited, because we can SEE what we are getting, and all feel very fortunate. Our instructor doesn't mess around, she knows what we need and she has designed the course for it. The confidence the group has as a whole and an individual has grown amazingly in just seven days. Our instructor reminds me a lot of the type mentorship that was between the Karate Kid and his mentor (remember the movie?). Very much the same type thing. She is training our mind and our body. I am impressed, and at age 47 I am very hard to impress.