Today is a rainy Saturday - perfect time to try to catch you up on what I've been doing for the past few days. Thursday mom went and bought some annuals to put in pots on the front porch and on the back patio. Our super nice neighbors had given us a gift card to a local gardening store, so everything mom got was free for us! The flowers look little in their pots right now, but they should grow and be big and beautiful in a couple months. Mom also planted canna lillies in several places in front and back and also along our neighbor's house. I helped by being good on my leash in the front yard and by doing a stellar down/stay in the backyard. (Mom prefers that kind of help from me rather than the barking and excited circling that I would do otherwise! I mean shovels and dirt and watering cans excite me, what can I say?!)
Mom decided that we would take my trainer Deb's off-leash advanced obedience class again - we took it in August/September last year, and we thought maybe since I am a little older and mom is a little wiser we might get more out of it this time. The first class was Thursday night. There were only 5 pups - we knew two of them from our foundation agility class and one of them from a class field trip. I was thrilled to see Deb! But my performance in the class left something to be desired. It started out with some ok on-leash heeling. But then we lined up for recalls and when the first person called their dog, all 5 of us jumped up and started running. I admit it, I was confused. I kind of looked to the left and to the right and at mom and thought, "well all the other dogs are running, guess I should be too!" And after that, I just couldn't hold a stay for the life of me! I knew that mom was getting frustrated but so was I! Deb started wondering if there was a full moon! And one of the mom's that we knew from agility told mom that I was a dog that seemed to be better at agility than obedience! Come on, it was just the first class and I wasn't used to the room and the pups and people that were there! And the class is at 8:45PM and frankly that's past my bedtime! I know I am making a lot of excuses but we plan on proving that I can be a good obedience dog too - for example, I did an excellent stand for exam, and I gave mom a lot more attention (ie. watch me) than I did when we took the class before. I do awesome sit/stays and down/stays at home - it's hard to practice the effect other pups and people and floors (my back feet slip a lot) have on me unless we practice in these classes. But we are really happy to be a part of Deb's class - it's a great alternative to the advanced novice class we postponed taking at the club. Also I get to see Deb each week!! Hurray!
Gotta zoom!
Ricky
