Back to (puppy) School

I finally went back to the pet supply store and told them to either use my puppy school fee or give it back. They owe me interest and an obedient Dogger.

To my shock the counter guy said that class is going to start back this coming Tuesday and was supposed to start this last Tuesday but they didn’t have class since the TV said it was going to snow and they lost my number. Whatever. Were they just going to start up class again and not tell me? I get the feeling they were thinking I was just going to be spontaneously cruising the parking lot at the supply place and just kind of end up back in class.

I had Dogger all prepped to go the last time Puppy School was supposed to start back, we worked on sitting and staying and downing – all her Puppy School lessons. We had it down before class started and stopped last time, approximately forty minutes after it started - almost two months ago. I was all excited about class starting again, I had Dogger all dressed up in her little sweater and she as so cute! And then the new puppy showed up and sucked all the available cuteness out of the atmosphere like a fuzzy little vacuum. A fuzzy vacuum with a little round puppy tummy and a tiny tail. The bastard. It got worse after the puppy’s’ Mother decided her small and tiny baby was cold and needed a sweater too. The puppy was so sweet in his little sweater that everyone of us present lost all our teeth to rot, right there in the pet supply parking lot. I kid you not. I do not have any of my natural teeth left. Dogger? I have to freeze Jell-O in plastic Leggs™ eggs just so she can have something soft enough for her to play with. Very sad. You don’t want to see your dog gnawing on Jell-O. She can’t bite any more, she just gives really vicious hickys.

But anyway. Its back to school for Miss Dogger. We are going to spend the weekend working on sit and stay and down. There is also heeling, which she used to be very good at. Actually, she was very good at following the dog heroin I carried in my glove. She would follow that stuff anywhere. It looked great though. The German Shepard’s Mother was very impressed by that, “Does she do that all the time?”, “Oh, yeah. All the time”. Big Lie. She did it all the time I had treats in my hand. She did it for the trainer guy but I think that behavior was treat induced as well. Dogger doesn’t do anything spontaneously. No treat, no trick.

So today on our walk I worked those commands, she did a pretty good job. I didn’t have any treats with me so she didn’t do a great job – but still. She did not want to do “down”. “Down” was a problem. Sit, Stay – no problem. She can do those. She sits and stays like a champ. “Down”? not so much. She got better as our walk progressed but it was a battle.

So this weekend we’re going to work those skills. I want to go back to class and look like we took Puppy School all ready and we’re ready for Dog School. I don’t want us to end up in the Dog House.