Earlier this evening we attended our third puppy training class. Judging by the attendance, we'll be the last one's standing. That's right, the same two who missed last week skipped out again and another one dropped out. We are now down to the German Shepard, the Corgi and of course Bella. The dogs got some play time in. Bella is definitely not scared to be around other dogs. In fact, all it seems she wants to do is attempt to engage them. The German Shepard, as previously stated, is very shy. She seemed to want to come out of her shell this evening but didn't quite know what to do. Bella seemed to be drawing something out of her, but then got a little bit too excited and caused the Shepard's owners to panic. As we separated the dogs and calmed them down, Bella peed on the floor. That's three classes, three accidents and two of them by our darling Bella.
After a review of the previous course, where we took our dogs through the store to practice "Loose Leash" walking, we sat down to learn this week's lesson which included "Leave It," "Take It," and "Drop It." "Leave It" was easy. Chassie taught Bella that at least two weeks ago. She performed extremely well at that task which segued into "Take it." We would tell her to leave it and then give her the command to go ahead. After three or four of these exercises, she knew that we wanted her to wait before she got the treat. Then we got to "Drop It." She got a new toy and was done playing with it by the time the instructor had finished the lesson. When we got to practice the lesson, Bella was tired of the toy and wouldn't hold it for very long. To her defense, the toy wasn't that appealing, if I was given it I'd probably give it back in a few minutes as well.
Again, Bella excelled in the skill asset of the class. I still think she needs work on the socialization part of school. To anthropomorphize again, she seems to be the extrovert that really puts the effort into introducing herself and making everyone like her. Ask Chassie if that's the way extroverts operate, I wouldn't know personally. I only call it like I see it.
So here we are three weeks into the course. After the first class, I may have dropped out like our other compadres. However, I know how important the Canine Good Citizen is to Chassie. So we forged on. The second class was beneficial. The "Loose Leash" walking, while it's still not "loose" I can see will pay dividends. It still takes about five minutes before Bella gets into the groove of it, but she gets it. I wouldn't have thought to walk her like this type of instruction dictated. Now that we've learned it and implemented it, I wouldn't do it any other way.
In this third class, we learned that "Leave It" may become our best friend in the coming weeks. I tried to implement the command as we fed her after class. I'm going to chalk it up to the fact it was twenty minutes past her normal feeding time and she was extremely hungry, but she was soooooo excited to get to her food, she may as well have been deaf when it came to the command. As we work on it, we should be able to control her completely. Anything that may distract her or draw her attention away from what we want, we catch it before she sees it and.... "Leave it," we're back in control.
As much praise as I heap upon our puppy, I do know her faults. If any of you faithful readers stop by for a visit, you will not see the same puppy myself and Chassie see. She will be bouncing off the walls. We will ask her to sit for you, she will jump in your face. It's something that we are supposed to contain, control. If there is any type of outside stimulus to reach her, her self control and attention span shrink to the size of a gnat. I'm hoping that the more we expose her to exciting (they're all exciting) situations, the more accustomed she will become. If our weekly excursions outside of our comfort zone are any indication, we have a long way to go before she thinks it's just another event.
All in all, I'm glad that we're doing this puppy class. We're halfway through and then we get to move on to the Intermediate class. You can read books and attempt to put into practice what you read. You can read books, gain an understanding of the concept, then practice that concept in an acceptable setting. I never would have done this route if it was only myself and a puppy. That's probably the introvert in me speaking; it's a good thing I have an extrovert as an adviser.
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