Sunday, August 16, 2009

A class of her own

I enrolled Sophie in an advanced obedience class. Our first class was last Monday.


The trainer was hesitant to let Sophie/us stay, but Sophie proved to be a good student. Sophie has some training but we don't know exactly what. When we adopted her at 6 months, she knew the basic commands of sit and come and loose-leash walking. Since then, we have taught her 'stay' and 'off'. And 'let's go!!'. That is her favorite. When I signed her up for a class, I didn't want to start back at the basic and waste the time going over what she already knows.

In our first advanced class, we trained on heel. This is a tight heel style, where her head is not to get in front of our leading knee. It is a hard lesson to learn!

Sophie has acquired a backpack to carry all her/our 'stuff' (house keys, garage door opener, cell phone, trash bags). We are required to train with a quick click leash, the kind that cinches around my waist. I work with her hands free! All our training is with a clicker - a tool that I just can't remember to use.


Our trainer told our class that often the dog passes the course but the human does not. I am holding my breath - for me!

And after our first class, Sophie was the teacher's pet!


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful face.

I think my boxer learned a perfect heel after two lessons. My lab has yet to learn it, after at least 700 walks. But I clip the leash to my belt loop so I don't get irritated by the constant arm pulling.

Brenda's Arizona said...

Is it a lab trait? Our lab, too, just doesn't get it!!!