Puppy classes!

meritaten

Heh Heh Elsien - You should have seen that coming! having lulled the class into a false sense of security, next time Gitdog will reveal his true nature and cause chaos - you mark my words! lol

meritaten

NAM? you ok?

neveranymoney

I have literally just sat my rump in a chair, son overtired and accidentally forgot to let us know he had knocked a full toilet roll down the loo this morning - but that's a disgusting story for another day.

Well, shadow was one of 8. A collie, a big boxer boy, a spaniel, a jack Russell, a ridgeback, and a shitzu cross and the trainers new sausage dog. Madam had a gay old time bouncing round, I initially felt sick what with scampers flash backs.

I felt genuinely sorry for the shitzu cross owner, he hasn't had any training at all and was growling and SERIOUSLY humping and barked and cried throughout. Cue my son saying in an Irish whisper 'mum, that crying is Really ANNOYING'. He got the evil eye from moi but even the trainer was fighting to be heard.

Firstly we had to get them to sit and then eye contact, to be fair, only because of scampers and this forum, shadow did have a bit more training (plus she is a biddable breed) and my husband was asked to show the whole group a watch me, i, on the other hand was told off for giving a treat after she was treated for a good watch as shadow was sitting nicely and not acting the wack...... I always make the effort to reward good, calm behaviour, you can't !!!!!!! win!

With bigger dogs, she wants us to put them out as soon as they transgress, I have done that but will have to do it more. Incidentally, she went to jump twice earlier and stopped herself, did I mention that in a previous post? My brain is fried. I'm not used to late nights out!

They were all mouthy nuts with each other, except the wee collie, shadow loved her the best and I was very proud of her. Our seasoned eyes could see that when it got too much for her, she removed herself ever so slightly. We got in and the poor wee soul literally fell into her bed.

Some of it I disagreed with, but horses for courses, you guys have helped me more than anything but it does us all good to get into it and let shadow meet other dogs.

Next week is loose lead walking, something I am very interested in!

So there we have it. She was no different to other pups, she's not a belly rubbing kind of girl, something the majority of them did but I'm not concerned. One thing she does do, which I noticed her mammy do to the breeder, is come and put her paw on you, I can't explain it, it's like a 'I love you, you're my big love' and that is more than enough for me!

Elsien, you will get there, you are so dedicated! Scampers was exactly the same when the behaviourist came out, he pranced and behaved (in the house, away from other canines only) like a show pony, he was like that when we first met him, but when the behaviourist left, he was mr anxiety. Worse than kids showing you up!

neveranymoney

Forgot to add, every other dog needed to be lured with chicken or cheese, not missy. At one point, she was more interested in sniffing the bags of hills science! They say that owners subconsciously get a breed that's like them. Says it all really.

meritaten

lol - a successful evening then! even if exhausting! (wish I could have been there - with my weird sense of humour I would have found this all hysterically funny!)
and the BEST thing is............NAM you don't own the most untrainable dog in the world! in fact you are getting off lightly!
Whens the next class? I cant wait, and want a FULL report! (do you think you could smuggle in a video camera and post it on youtube?)

neveranymoney

It was a successful evening, I have had one tired wee doggy!

Classes are for 5 weeks, every Wednesday, poor hub has swopped a very rare Saturday off to Wednesday next week as it is doing shadow a world of good and it does me good to see dogs interacting normally! It was amazing to watch them leaping about and when the trainer decided which three were to be let off lead together, just how differently they behaved.

The lucky duck got her first proper bone today, we told the butcher her age and he gave us a rib bone as he said that wouldn't splinter and she could manage it. Didn't hear a peep for an hour and then she trotted around with it in her gob and kept walloping my husband round the head with it as he was down on the floor. She has fallen out with me today as I was out shopping with mother and husband was home, she took herself off to her bed as soon as he went up himself (he's on the early shift this week and has to go up at 7:30)

Another collar fell into my basket today, any bit of wonder my name on here is neveranymoney?! We attached her new name tag, which is silver with a purple paw on it, she hates the thing but she looks very grown up and it really stands out against her black fur.

meritaten

Shadow is just a normal dog! maybe a few training issues but I think this class will help! sounds like the trainer is used to bringing calm out of chaos!
and you have learned so much NAM! you sound so much more 'relaxed' and you may be 'enjoying' this!
and that is what dog ownership is about - enjoying the process! and if you can laugh at the things that go wrong................it helps distress!