Last night was Chi-Chings first obedience class and he was AWESOME!! When he first came in, he was a little nervous and grumbly but I started working him and letting him smell everything pretty soon he was super comfortable. Along one wall they have the entire wall covered in a mirror(so you can see what your dog is doing without directly looking at them) anyway, Chingers LOVES himself, everytime we would walk by he would jump up and look at himself! LOL Very honestly, Chingers did better then most of the dogs there and he is the youngest one there. There is this Beagle that would not quit howling, lol, it was so funny, and then there was a Standard Poodle who kept barking at the other dogs, and there was psychotic Border Collie who couldn't sit still if she tried. It was so much fun. But Chingers also made a HUGE breakthrough. We are trying to teach Chingers not to jump up but with a stranger, we really let him do whatever because typically he doesn't get that close. Chingers walked right up to the trainer, jumped up and was taking food from her! He was not freaked out or anything, now she couldn't pet him yet but that was more then he has ever done with anyone(that he had never met before) I was SO proud of him. He also tried to see another girl that was in the audience area. Me and hubby are definitely going to try to get him into obedience trials and then, once he gets past this little fear that he had, we are going to go and rub his big furry butt in the face of that evaluator. LOL I am so very proud of my boy!!
Sounds like fun. I loved it when Oscar was in puppy kindergarten. It was so funny because Oscar would alway bark and have attitude towards the trainer. I can't wait to get another pup until we have another pup so I can go back to obediance.
Way to go, Chingers. It's so much fun to watch your dog succeed. If you really want to show the others up, do all of your homework every week. Most people don't keep up with it, so you and Chingers will be able to leave the others in your dust.
Paige--You don't need a new dog to take another obedience class. You can keep going with Oscar, including just repeating basic training. Repeating basic puts the dog in with new dogs and new people, so there are new distractions to work through. If you enjoyed class with Oscar, take another one.
Argus is currently taking basic for the third time so that we can work on tightening up some things while she is around bouncy, untrained dogs. At the start of the first class, you never would've believed she'd had a day of training in her life, even though she's been at this stuff for years. She was so excited about all of the big puppies in the class that I had trouble keeping her attention, so the class is helpful even though Argus already knows all of the commands that will be covered. Kittysmom repeats basic with her dogs as well because they have a good time. Give the idea some thought.
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"Thought is an invisible and subtle power that mocks all the efforts of tyranny." Alexis de Tocqueville
Or you can even do what me and Koda did, he went through Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced, after the puppy goes through his training, I will probably do another Advanced class, just to get Koda back on track and then maybe take the next class up.
Way to go! Sounds like Chingers really enjoys it! That's the main reason I keep going with Farley & Chloe - they look forward to it so much & the training sure doesn't hurt!
Paige, you know, Oscar could probably TEACH training on how to sleep right.......You know, you have to get it JUST right. LOL It takes LOTS of practice before you have the perfect technique! LOL
"Thought is an invisible and subtle power that mocks all the efforts of tyranny." Alexis de Tocqueville
