obedience I

[Tangosmom]

Tonite Tango and I went to his first obedience class, it's just beginner. He had some private lessons when he was younger so we could live together! He knows sit, down, stay, how to heel and long down. So all day I'm so excited thinking how well he's gonna do and everyone is going to love him. HA! He was a complete idiot!! He payed absolutely NO attention to me, wanted to play with every dog that got within 5 feet of him and refused his treats that he gobbles up at home :( LOTS and LOTS of homework this week! Wish us more luck next week, we need all we can get! Has anyone else ever had this happen to them?

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Malinda
Kody, 2yr old blonde/blue skin kid
Tango, 15 mo flashy brindle boy, cropped, docked and neutered
Emmi, 7 week flashy fawn female, will be spayed and cropped when old enough!

 

[nanabear]

Just want to let you know our male is/was the same way with the food treats. They worked very well in training him - as he is a guy that LOVES his food.
But when he is in one of those *wild* situations.....When he has a dead fish at the beach (I say big YUK, he says big YUMMM) when he finds another dog to take off with, anything really exhilarating - he won't come back for filet mignon!
He will get better - this was just SOOO exciting. It really helps to exercise them before you go - dissipate some of that puppy energy.

 

[MarinaS]

Malinda, does your instructor let the dogs in your group play for 15-20 minutes before the class? All dogs are very young and excited to see each other and eager to play with each other. Our instructor always asked us to come half an hour before the classes so the dogs in our group could play. After such a short play they usually calm down and pay more attention to owners and commands.
Regards

 

[mc0624]

hehe I just had to respond. We just finished puppy class and I guess it was the 4 class or so, the instructor asked if he could borrow my puppy. Well, sure (beaming of course)...OMG! she was all over the place..bouncing from right to left...left to right..straight up..I was somewhere between laughing hysterically and mortified! She doesn't act that bad with me...I think she is just so attached to me and didn't want anything to do with him. She never did fully calm down enough so that he could demonstrate what he was trying to do...he brought her back to me and just smiled

hehehe
Michelle

 

[MajorMom]

Major graduated puppy class about a month or so ago, and the first day of class was very interesting. Just like your puppy, I could have left and he wouldn't have cared. I thought this was a sign, and that he was not going to listen to me at all. But as he became used to seeing those other dogs and being in that situation he was much better. *I think he was the star of the class, but that's not biased or anything!* :p The trainer used him many times as an example, because he liked to *show off* and he liked how she talked to him in a "baby" voice. (I'm not that good at it.)
Anyway, give him time, I'm sure he will get used to it and become the valedictorian!

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Major-4/10/00, red fawn male, black mask, white bib, white paws, natural ears, docked, STINKER! http://www.geocities.com/janet_15851/my_page.html

[This message has been edited by MajorMom (edited 09-15-2000).]

 

[Alisha Mobley]

I have never had much of a problem with any of my dogs but there was a dog in Tyson's intermediate class. I'm not sure what kind of a dog it was, it had long shiny black hair with a little bit of white on his chest and feet. It was about the size of a Golden and kind of looked like one, he was very pretty. This dog from day 1 was very well behaved. It did every thing very good. I loved to watch it when his owner gave the command to "come", it would be in a sit and when it heard the command it would run to the owner then just stop in front of her. Well the last class he was like a different dog. His owner couldn't do any thing with him. He wouldn't hold a down, he kept getting up and running away from his owner. It was like he had forgotten everything. Our trainer just smiled and said dogs have their days, he said the dog acted like it just had lots of energy that he needed to get out. The trainer said there isn't much you can do when they get like that. Maybe Tango was just having one of those days, you never know he might surprise you next time.

 

[Linda]

Been there!!

Our instructor even used Bailey as an example because "she was having the most trouble." :(

It too was just a beginner class, but it was so hard to get her attention. She constantly wanted to play with the other dogs. I took it very personally when the instructor corrected ME.
The last class we did some exercises and the dogs had to do a down, stay and the handlers drop the leash and step back. I was so nervous Bailey would jump up to play with the dog next to her. She did it beautifully and came when called. I was so proud! The instructor corrected us because Bailey didn't come and sit directly in front of me. :(
Needless to say, she didn't pass the class and the instructor recommended we repeat it.
In our case, my expectations were lower than the instructor's.
Hang in there, it will get better. And it should be fun!

 

[Brutus and Amaya's Mom]

Brutus is finally to the point where people say "What a good dog." This is 2 beginners classes (we flunked the first), and intermediate class (which we are retaking next week) and 2 weeks of private "boot camp" training. He is dominant and very confident and took a lot of work to train.

Amaya went to puppy and is almost done with beginner. She is the class star. Everyone comments how sweet she is and good. Different dogs are different to train...like skin kids...you do the same thing with them both and one turns into a lawyer and the other a rock star

Keep at it....Remember it has only taken Bru 4 classes to finally be good :D

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Brutus & Amayas Mom
Brutus 9/23/99 Flashy Fawn
Amaya 3/22/00 Flashy Brindle