Dog Class

Since Sprinkles is not actually in puppy class anymore, I've decided dog class is the better name for it. If you could care less about me bragging about my smart pooch, ignore this post. :-) We had our first dog class last night. First off, it was 2 dogs from our old class (another will be there next week) and a new dog I don't know. For one, all dogs in our class are over 50 pounds, and to make it more interesting the new dog things Sprinkles is a night time snack, so he keeps lunging at my poor baby. (Step back: if you know me at all, you know that I don't really like dogs lunging at me or my dog, nor do I really like large dogs I don't know if they're doing anything but standing still or laying down and very very still!) So, we've got that beside us when we go into class.

Then Chris puts us all down parrallel aisles (sort like parrallel universes...but not) and he has us put the dogs through the series of commands they should know: :sit, down, stay..." In the middle of "sit", the maniac dog comes around the endcap and lunges at Sprinkles AGAIN (his poor high school chica owner is just being drug around).

So now Sprinkles knows quite a few things for such a small dog:

1. That dog is just one aisle over.

2. It can get to him easily.

3. He has no doubt in his little doggy mind that he's next on the menu.

4. He has no intentions to "stay" at one end of the aisle alone while mom walks away.

So "stay" didn't go so well.

We spent the evening working on getting everyone back in shape. Go figure pyscho dog wouldn't or couldn't "stay" to save his life, so Chris (the trainer) spent a lot of time working with him. He actually told me he felt sorry for Bert (the rotweiler who has gotten HUGE) bc he stayed on track and was doing all his commands right. I mentioned to him that Sprinkles knew how to do it all as well until he got put on the menu. He smiled and agreed Sprinkles was nervous and gave us the task of "stay with a distraction." That meant I had him "stay" and went to the end of the aisle and played with a squeaky dog toy while he had to sit there. He did it! Whoo hoo! Of course at one point when I walked away he went around to where Cisco (the now GIANT boxer) was and took his toy and started playing. LOL. I guess I forgot to tell him "leave it" on all toys, not just the white lamb. He's smart like that. Anyways, class went really well, and although we were both really tired by 8:30 when we left, it was really really fun. Monday nights are really going to be fun from now on. :-)