2 posts tagged “dog training”

It was a big day for Penny yesterday as she completed and graduated from her Family Dog I class.  For the past month and a half or so, we’ve been working on sitting and staying and heeling and coming when called – all the things that are needed to be a good dog citizen.
 

I will have to say that Penny didn’t really love the classroom environment, because she couldn’t quite conceive of a place where there were half a dozen nice dogs and that she wasn’t supposed to play with them.  What else could they be there for???
 
Still – when called on to do her series of behaviors, I have to say that she did really really well and passed with flying colors.  After the final class, there was a little graduation ceremony and all the dogs received their diplomas to everyone’s cheers, though I’m pretty sure Penny was everybody’s favorite (not that I’m biased or anything).
 
After the class, Penny got an extra treat and then got to go play with her BFF Roxy the Vizsla at dog beach.  They ran and ran and ran together and just had a great old time.
 

Afterwards, we all tramped over to a dog-friendly café in Del Mar for a late breakfast, relaxing well into the early afternoon over good food, pleasant conversation and tired pups.
 
Good job, Penny!

Over the last couple of weeks, there have been a number of posts here and on fb by parents about their child’s first day of school.  For a parent, this can be a traumatic day – a sense of time passing too quickly and anxiety about whether their fledgling can handle the classroom.  Of course, there’s also a feeling of pride seeing your little one move on to the next level.

And so it was at The Aerie this morning as Penny began taking her first class – Family Dog I.  She had never taken  “Puppy Kindergarten” because of her age when we got her and when she finished getting her shots.  Now, she’s done pretty good around the house and on walks, but we wondered how she’d do in a more formalized setting.

We stopped off at the dog park on our way over to class to let her burn off some steam.  It was a foggy early morning and we certainly appreciated how quickly one can lose a white dog in a fog bank.

Soon we were at our class (held at a great local pet-store) with about seven other really nice seeming dogs, aged a few months to a couple of years.  Penny seemed to be right in the middle age-wise.

The early lessons – including “sit”, which she’d already gotten pretty early in her stay here  -- were pretty easy and Penny did pretty well.  She was pretty easily distracted by the other dogs and passersby, but could usually be called back to attention.  After some time, she began to whine a bit – being on a short leash and not being able to play with her new friends seemed to be the issue.  Oh, the drama of growing up!

Afterwards, we were off to dog-beach so she could really run out some of her excitement/frustration.  And someone even got a Texas Toothpick treat after her big first day of school.

Good job, Penny!