The Fifth Class

Well, last Saturday was Pippa's fifth class in her training at PetSmart. In this class she learned to stay and shake. Sophie wasn't able to make it as her parents had a conflict at the last minute, but Latte was there and ready learn. 

Since both Pippa and I and Latte and his mom were early, we were able to get started early and were also able to ask Linda about some of the other classes offered at PetSmart such as Click a Trick - I'm a big fan of pet tricks. She told us a little bit about it and at some point I might take Pippa back for more classes but I think first I may just try out You Tube and see if I can teach her some tricks from there. The Pip's main issue is that she is easily distracted and so when there are a lot of people or other dogs around, she doesn't perform so well. The next class available is one that helps with this but I haven't decided yet if I will take it or not.

Pippa was very uncooperative last Saturday. For the first 10 minutes or so, she did okay with Linda, but then lost interest in the treats Linda was offering and so I started working with her and she was having none of it. Linda said that there is always one class in which the dog just doesn't want to participate and clearly this was going to be the case for Pippa. I began to wonder if she might need a bathroom break and when Linda suggested I take her out for a minute I did just that.

We walked out the front door and I headed towards the back of the store where the delivery trucks come and there is a grassy knoll along the roadway. I thought I could take her over there in case she needed to take care of business. Well, apparently she couldn't wait that long and she pooped all across the parking lot. I, of course, had no baggies with me so I just had to leave it in hopes that no one saw us. Thankfully it was not an area where shoppers are walking around. We finally made it to the grassy knoll where she finished her business and we then returned inside.

After we got inside, she still wasn't all that into the class, but eventually we got her to cooperate with "Stay" and eventually she also did "Shake". We've been practicing "Shake" a lot since last Saturday because it is one of my favorite dog tricks and I want to make sure she is a pro. Since there were only two dogs in the class, it went a lot smoother than it usually does, although we were still both very tired by the time we got home.

Pippa has just one more class which includes the graduation left in her puppy training. It's supposed to be this coming Saturday, but since I'm taking my impromptu trip to Dallas, I will have to reschedule after I get back. I'm sure putting a graduation cap on The Pip will be a trick unto itself.