So proud!!!
So... tonight was Keiko's first puppy obedience class. I've been nervous about it for weeks for a few reasons.
1. She LOVES LOVES LOVES new people and dogs, and goes absolutely nuts when she sees them... making it hard for her to even remember I'm alive
2. We go to the same place for socialization (and have for 5 weeks) and it's in the same room - they just run free for an hour so I didn't think she would understand why all of the sudden she had to be on a leash.
3. She goes to "small dog socialization" since our trainer thinks it's better for her than "puppy playtime" because of all the large breed puppies that attend that particular class. So, aside from our friends Great Dane and German Shepherd mix, she's had little experience with larger dogs/puppies.
Well... she put my mind to ease tonight!!!!!!!!!
The members of our class (all 4-6 months old) were:
Sheltie (not cheese /sadface)
Collie
Border Collie (... I wanted to dognap... it was a blue merle BC
)
German Wire Haired Pointer
Lakeland Terrier (only other 'small' dog - the Sheltie was quite large for his age)
Well... she was amazing in the small off-leash section at the start of class. In fact, she was SO much less submissive and way more playful - especially with the pointer.. they're buds now
)
Then it got time for sit - as you probably know there was a lot of talking on the first day of class... have to explain to people who've never trained exactly what to do/expect. I kinda cheated and taught her sit and down as soon we brought her home, so clearly she was good at it - but what impressed me was her focus on ME - not the other dogs and people in the room!!!!
Anyway, it was great, I'm super pumped for the next class. She's such a smarty that it's going to be very fun to push her to learn new and hard things!
1. She LOVES LOVES LOVES new people and dogs, and goes absolutely nuts when she sees them... making it hard for her to even remember I'm alive
2. We go to the same place for socialization (and have for 5 weeks) and it's in the same room - they just run free for an hour so I didn't think she would understand why all of the sudden she had to be on a leash.
3. She goes to "small dog socialization" since our trainer thinks it's better for her than "puppy playtime" because of all the large breed puppies that attend that particular class. So, aside from our friends Great Dane and German Shepherd mix, she's had little experience with larger dogs/puppies.
Well... she put my mind to ease tonight!!!!!!!!!
The members of our class (all 4-6 months old) were:
Sheltie (not cheese /sadface)
Collie
Border Collie (... I wanted to dognap... it was a blue merle BC
)German Wire Haired Pointer
Lakeland Terrier (only other 'small' dog - the Sheltie was quite large for his age)
Well... she was amazing in the small off-leash section at the start of class. In fact, she was SO much less submissive and way more playful - especially with the pointer.. they're buds now
)Then it got time for sit - as you probably know there was a lot of talking on the first day of class... have to explain to people who've never trained exactly what to do/expect. I kinda cheated and taught her sit and down as soon we brought her home, so clearly she was good at it - but what impressed me was her focus on ME - not the other dogs and people in the room!!!!
Anyway, it was great, I'm super pumped for the next class. She's such a smarty that it's going to be very fun to push her to learn new and hard things!
Comments
& Blue Merle Border Collies = THE awesome. Also...Shelties & Rough Collies are way cool too
I really enjoyed the class that we brought Tsuki to, I think she was the smartest there, but I had already taught her a few commands at home. I think we'll be doing puppy kindergarten again with Hachi very soon - i think that is at her level for people socialization.