First day at school

Well, just when I thought we were going to the Kingston Dog beach, we ended up at this big field where there were a bunch of people with some other dogs. When I was getting out of the truck, my people told me I was going to puppy training school.

There were all kinds of dogs &  humans there. Big ones, noisy ones, friendly and playful and grumpy and standoff ish.  There was one dog who crawled from dog to dog - We wondered if it didn't have any muscles in it's legs, but it turns out it's just really really nervous around the other dogs, and is submissive to the point of rubber legs.

I was in puppy class with 2 Dalmatians (very friendly & playful - a brother and sister), a Red heeler (a bit of a scrapper), a white fluffy dog who didn't like anyone and growled at us all, and an assortment of other dogs who seemed friendly but were at the other end of the line so we didn't sniff each other too much.

One by one we were all walked down the line to introduce ourselves, and then the lessons began. I had the Dalmatians on either side of me. One was relatively well behaved, but the other one just wanted me to play with her, and I was so distracted. We jumped up at each other, and she let me walk over her and we wrestled.  It was good fun, but I think Julie was frustrated with me, and the Dalmatian distracting me. Julie tried her hardest to keep me on track, and for the most part did OK.

Us dogs were told to always stay on the left, which I'm already OK with, and our People told they are supposed to always start off walking with their left foot if I'm to heel, or their right foot if I'm to stay. (Sneaky people code eh?)

We walked around the pen and I stayed on the left, and paid attention to her just like when we walk in the afternoon. Then we did some "sit" work, and "play come to call" exercises.  I didn't pay as much attention as I was supposed to but there were so many dogs to watch. I especially liked the obedience class on the other side of the fence.  That's 2 weeks away.

Any how, I didn't embarrass the family name, and we'll go back next Sunday at 1 to carry on. Graham has been running me through my exercises so I remember them for next week.

We touched on stay (where Julie puts her hand in front of my face and tells me to stay, then we see how long I can stay there for.)  I should be good at that, as she can ask me to sit, tell me to stay and walk to the other side of the lawn with a yummy treat and I stay put. If only I can remember to do that with all those distractions.