Progress Report

Bella and I went to our second class last night. Most of the class was spent doing drills in the heel position, but we also were shown how to teach the dog “front” and “side”. We were also told to work on a spontaneous sit and down command. So in the middle of a sentence we are to give either command and have the dog do it no matter where either one of us is. Apparently Bella and I really need to work on this one because she refused to down several times while doing this in class. She also is developing a bad problem of wanting to sniff the ground while in her down. This poses a problem when she gets bored with the immediate area around her and breaks the stay to stretch to get that extra few inches of smells. I have to work on a “no sniff” command with her.

A really good point the trainer brought up is that we need to work not only in different settings but at different times of the day. He told us about his first dog that he would train every evening after work and the dog was awesome at it! But when he tried to show the dog in the day at an afternoon show she wasn’t having any part of it because she wasn’t used to working in the day light. This was an interesting and valid point because when do I usually work Bella? After work when it’s dark outside. I guess once the time changes it wont be as much of an issue, but something I still have to keep in mind I guess.

The others in this class are so much more advanced than we are because they have all pretty much already done intermediate obedience at least once so it was a bit discouraging for us to be so behind everyone else. I had to remind myself that we are still very new at t his and that I don’t have the time to spend several hours each day on training so we will just need to relax and have fun with it. There really isn’t any set time limit so we can take our time and we will get there eventually. Just need lots more practice and patience on my part! Dog Whisperer always says you get the dog you need, not the one you want. So I guess maybe her purpose is to teach me patience and to stick with it instead of giving up so easily as I have done in the past.