Today wrapped up the last-but-one obedience class for Curly Joe. I feel like we just started and learned absolutely nothing, but obviously that's not true.
Next week is graduation! Bring your family and your cameras! Quinn says she has lots of fun stuff planned, and she makes the dogs wear silly graduation hats. After the pirate mishap, I'm pretty sure Curly Joe won't want anything to do with the hat, but we'll see.
Today, we went out into the store and practiced all the things we've learned so far; mostly the proper way to greet people and dogs, and the "leave it." And, most important, loose-leash walking. Curly Joe is aces at this inside the store, but when we walk outside, he's pulling like he's gunning for first in the Iditarod. As usual, there was nobody in the store except for employees and our classmates, but that's fine.
Once we were back in the "room" (rink), Quinn had us work on three new activities, all involving the Stay command. First, we had to put our dogs in the Sit position, then tell them to stay. Then we were to turn around. If the dog moved, we say "uh uh," put them back in stay and repeat the command. Curly Joe did really well at this. Then we did the same thing except crouching down and tugging on their leash. If they stayed, that was good. If not, try it again. Third, we crouched down and messed with our bags or a chair.
After that, Quinn talked about grooming, nails and ears. She had us sniff our dog's ears to see if they smelled bad. I sniffed Curly Joe, not wanting to get into that whole "I have no sense of smell" thing. I'm a little jealous because says one of her dog's ears smells like chocolate. Okay, I'm a lot jealous.
She asked how often we trim our dog's nails, and I said every couple of weeks. "I either get him while he's sleeping, or my sister holds him on his back." For some reason, everyone thought this was hysterical. Every time Quinn looked at Curly Joe, he would flatten his ears. She said, "I love how his ears fall when I look at him. He looks like Yoda!"
I think she's sweet on Curly.
As for grooming, she went through brushes and combs and said how much she loves the FURminator. Heehee.
At the end of class, we had Play Time. There was a black lab puppy present for the entire class. He belonged to the trainer-in-training, and his name was Happy. He had on a little vest that said, "In training - please don't pet me," and pretty much slept the entire time. Quinn let him loose to play with the others, and Curly Joe immediately latched onto him. Happy was probably around seven or eight months old and was still bigger than Curly. Ava (the Boston Terrier) launched herself at me and landed on my chest. Then she ran off and drank water the rest of the time. Curly Joe was the most annoying dog there, and Quinn had to keep breaking them up. And here I'd played fetch with him before class and everything!
Anyway, that was pretty much the gist of it. After class, I got worksheets (and coupons) for weeks 2 and five, which I'd missed (and made up). Curly Joe was so worn out, he slept the whole way home.
Next week is graduation! Bring your family and your cameras! Quinn says she has lots of fun stuff planned, and she makes the dogs wear silly graduation hats. After the pirate mishap, I'm pretty sure Curly Joe won't want anything to do with the hat, but we'll see.
Today, we went out into the store and practiced all the things we've learned so far; mostly the proper way to greet people and dogs, and the "leave it." And, most important, loose-leash walking. Curly Joe is aces at this inside the store, but when we walk outside, he's pulling like he's gunning for first in the Iditarod. As usual, there was nobody in the store except for employees and our classmates, but that's fine.
Once we were back in the "room" (rink), Quinn had us work on three new activities, all involving the Stay command. First, we had to put our dogs in the Sit position, then tell them to stay. Then we were to turn around. If the dog moved, we say "uh uh," put them back in stay and repeat the command. Curly Joe did really well at this. Then we did the same thing except crouching down and tugging on their leash. If they stayed, that was good. If not, try it again. Third, we crouched down and messed with our bags or a chair.
After that, Quinn talked about grooming, nails and ears. She had us sniff our dog's ears to see if they smelled bad. I sniffed Curly Joe, not wanting to get into that whole "I have no sense of smell" thing. I'm a little jealous because
She asked how often we trim our dog's nails, and I said every couple of weeks. "I either get him while he's sleeping, or my sister holds him on his back." For some reason, everyone thought this was hysterical. Every time Quinn looked at Curly Joe, he would flatten his ears. She said, "I love how his ears fall when I look at him. He looks like Yoda!"
I think she's sweet on Curly.
As for grooming, she went through brushes and combs and said how much she loves the FURminator. Heehee.
At the end of class, we had Play Time. There was a black lab puppy present for the entire class. He belonged to the trainer-in-training, and his name was Happy. He had on a little vest that said, "In training - please don't pet me," and pretty much slept the entire time. Quinn let him loose to play with the others, and Curly Joe immediately latched onto him. Happy was probably around seven or eight months old and was still bigger than Curly. Ava (the Boston Terrier) launched herself at me and landed on my chest. Then she ran off and drank water the rest of the time. Curly Joe was the most annoying dog there, and Quinn had to keep breaking them up. And here I'd played fetch with him before class and everything!
Anyway, that was pretty much the gist of it. After class, I got worksheets (and coupons) for weeks 2 and five, which I'd missed (and made up). Curly Joe was so worn out, he slept the whole way home.
Once we got home, Sis and I took all three dogs for a walk together. I love a good, mismatched set of mutts.
See you next week!
1 comment:
Samus's ears smell like chocolate! Oh my god. I thought we were just crazy.
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