Puppy Class #2

Dog Blog Post #147: Yes, I'm late posting this, but I just haven't had much "quality time" with the computer. Henry is awake a whole lot more yet not trustworthy enough to alone for more than a few minutes. While he does ask to go out, you still have a pretty narrow span of time before he gives up (or his bladder gives out) and he tinkles in front of the slider.

So - class. Henry's actually been doing pretty well in class, which means it's time for the wheels to fall off.

So far we've worked on Sits and Downs - the former being trivial, and the latter, while not a thing of beauty, wasn't too bad once he "warmed up".

Once again I was sitting in chair with Henry (now 13 weeks old) on leash. Once again, puppies on either side, and once again, yo-yo dog started to range to the end of the short leash, turning immediately when he reached the end expecting click and cookie.

Since Wendy puts out a nice mat in front of each chair so dogs don't have to sit on prickly tan-bark, I thought I'd try to teach Henry the Stay-On-Mat game. If "played" correctly, he would then never even hit the end of his 4' leash.

This meant that when he turned around I didn't click until his paws were back on the mat. I wish I had thought of it earlier in the class time, as just when I think he was getting the idea, the class was over.

Still, I think we're on to something here, and barring Brain Fade, I'm going to give it a try again next week. I'm also going to add clicking if he stops (or at least hesitates) near the end of the mat.

He was much more comfortable during puppy play time, zooming here and there either chasing or being chased. He didn't seem to take offense to anything, didn't seem to offend anyone, and even checked in occasionally.

He's still cautious of Wendy's assistant. There appears to be no reason for it, and I can't seem to reproduce it anywhere else, with anyone else.

Weirdness.

As it's about time for Wendy to start working on Come (uh-oh) so should be a lot more to talk about after this week's class (thinking about those afore mentioned wheels?)

I'm also hoping Wendy starts doing Visit Other People's Puppies to see if Worried Puppy appears again - although he was more than happy to greet the Observer (no, I have no idea what she was Observing) as I was leaving, so...

Again, I can't attribute it to anything other than weirdness at this point, and hope it's a singular incident!