Classes Three and Four

Well, Pippa had her third and fourth training classes last weekend and overall I would say she is doing rather well. We have two classes to go, one this Saturday in which she should learn to shake and then one more (which will have to be rescheduled, more on why later) in which she will graduate. I might enroll her in another class some time next year, probably after my vacation in March since I am saving up for that.

 

The third class was last Friday and was a make up since we had missed the week before due to Pippa getting fixed. This class was drop it, leave it, and down. Drop it  is obviously to drop an item and leave it is to leave something alone, and finally, down is to lie down on the floor/ground.

 

The Pip did really well with leave it and in fact is still doing pretty good. We practice this with throwing treats on the ground. I really want to use this command when she is going to town on my foot or arm or any other random thing she should not have in her mouth. She has been "leaving it" with random objects on occasion, but needs some practice and she does really well when I throw a treat on the floor and tell her to "leave it." For whatever reason, we didn't even practice drop it, but I think I can work with her at home on this one. Even The Tide knew, "drop it."

 

As for down, well, that one didn't go so well. She still is not able to get down when tempted with a treat. Her butt always pops back up and she ends up standing again. So, this one definitely needs some work. Sophie joined us for the make-up class since she too was fixed on the 24th and missed the same class Pippa did.

 

We were back the next afternoon for class number four which was "Come"! We used string cheese for this class and it was a big thrill for all the dogs. Sophie was back as was Latte and even Latte, who you might recall is deaf, did a really good job. Linda, the trainer, has been using a laser light with Latte and it seems to be working great. 

Pippa did a good job with "Come!" but this one will take a lot of practice because her attention span is shorter than that of a gnat, I think. We also worked on loose leash walking and "leave it" while walking and she did rather well on those too. After class was over, Linda gave us some free treats which a sales rep had left at the store. It was a full size bag and I, for one, was really grateful to receive them

 

As mentioned, this coming Saturday we will learn shake, which I'm really excited about and I think there is something else too that I cannot recall at the moment. So, we've got two classes left and then she will be a graduate of the puppy training class. Now, if I could only get her to perform these newly learned tricks when there are a lot of people around. That, my friends, will take lots of practice.