First Class of Dog Training

I’m pretty excited today. Last night was our first night for Stella’s training class. I was a little nervous, but excited. The three of us left, and Stella was completely excited. I did feel bad for leaving Heineken behind though, and it didn't help that she was obviously bummed out.  We get to the class early because the trainer needed to size the pinch collar. There were already 2 dogs there, and Stella was barking and jumping like a crazy animal. We had to wait while the dog in front of us got fitted. It felt like a long time even though it was only a few minutes, because Stella was pulling, barking and jumping. Then it’s our turn. The trainer gets Stella fit and teaches us about the collar (it basically applies pressure evenly around the neck when the leash gets pulled), and then we go find a spot in the yard. Before we got started, all the dogs had to get fit so we were probably standing there for about 15 minutes. Stella barked about 13 minutes of those 15. All the other dogs were sitting there being normal and quiet, but not our Stella. She was definitely proving to be the clown of the class.

Now we were ready to get started. The trainer tells us that we will start with heeling. Basically we will walk back and forth and if the dog gets ahead of us then we do a 180°. He decided to use Stella for his demonstration to both Stella's and my happiness. He’s walking with Stella and as soon as she gets ahead of him (the dog’s nose should be in line with the human’s knees), he turns around. Stella lets out a squeal, but he kept going. He said that it didn’t hurt her (I believe it, Stella is made of steel), but that she was just complaining about turning around. Then as they were walking, Stella started to drag or as the trainer said, “Now she’s trying to plant roots on me.” But he just kept walking and of course she had no choice but to follow. Then it was our turn. At the beginning of our exercise we had to turn around every couple of steps, but after a few minutes Stella was getting the hang of it.

The trainer continued to use Stella as his demonstration dog. She did well too. She seems to be a quick learner so she probably was a good demonstration dog. I was grateful because it was that much more training for Stella and by an expert too! We continued with our exercises. Next was to have the dog sit when we stop walking. Overall I think Stella was receptive to the exercises. She still barked a lot, but she wasn’t barking when we were moving so at least it wasn't 100% of the time.

We end the class with doggie socialization, so the dogs get to run around and be dogs.  Stella is of course done barking at this point - she's off the leash and moving.  The dog that was next to us started barking as soon as socialization started.  At one point he got in Stella's face and was barking at her.  Brian and I felt that was good pay back for Stella!

We will be continuing the training at home this week. The goal being once per day for just 15 minutes or so. I’m anxious to see how Stella takes to the training when she’s on familiar turf as opposed to the class yard, but I’m also excited to keep working with her. Our classes are weekly so hopefully every week we’ll have more progress to share!

Benefits of the dog park

We took Heineken and Stella to the dog park for officially the first time. (We had gone there before, but Brian and I were too much of chickens to let them off their leashes). Stella was obnoxious from the minute we touched the leash at the house until we got her inside the fence. It must be that the excitement just boils out of her. It’s only about 15 minutes away from the house, but Stella whined the entire ride so it felt longer. Then when we got out of the car, she let out her typical high pitched whine/bark to announce to all the other dogs and people that she had arrived. But that dog park is magical. As soon as Stella was close enough to get a different scent she was distracted enough to stop the racket. Thank goodness.

I was in charge of keeping an eye on Heineken, and Brian was responsible for Stella. Heineken is quite boring to keep an eye on actually. I decided that she must be socially awkward or an introvert or something. She was more interested in the smells on the fence and trees than in meeting other dogs. She was concerned about the security of the park, because I saw her do her perimeter walk. This is where she goes right to fence and runs the edge. I think to make sure there’s no squirrels or other creatures that don’t belong. Eventually Heineken did make a friend. She found a dog that would chase her so she had fun running around like a maniac for a few laps. Then she got excited when a small dog showed up. Heineken has always preferred the little dogs.

Stella was far more entertaining to watch. She loved chasing the dogs around. It was almost like there were so many dogs she didn’t know what to do or really which one to go after first. Stella’s preferred play method (at least with Heineken) is to run straight at Heineken and plow into her. I think she’s comfortable doing this with Heineken only though because I didn’t see her doing that to her new friends. At one point, Stella saw Heineken and she took off presumably so that she could plow into her. At the last minute, a new dog ran by. Luckily for Heineken, this new dog distracted Stella from her original plan.

It was a little muddy at the park and there were some puddles. I was thankful that Heineken and Stella are somewhat prissy. They consciously avoid the puddles and the places where it was very muddy. We saw other dogs that would just go lay in the puddles. Heineken takes the relaxed method of walking around the mud, and Stella takes the Stella method of flying over the puddles. Stella found a nice German Shepherd to chase around the park. The German Shepherd was not bothered by the puddles and ran through a big muddy one. Stella was chasing him, so she jumped over the puddle, but she didn’t clear it! She ended up right in the middle of the puddle with an Oh Crap look on her face and a wet belly!

We only spent about a half hour there, but that was enough to completely wear the dogs out. They slept the rest of the day and they were still tired on Sunday. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them so well behaved!

Stay tuned for the next post. We start doggie training with Stella tonight which I’m sure will result in stories.

Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged. Too long. I can tell because I have multiple dog stories to tell. But one at a time!

Brian and I went to Florida for Christmas. My parents have a condo there and we spent the week with them. My parents brought their dog, Molly, to the condo for the first time. The condo has a lot of mirrors. One of the main mirrors starts at the top of the stairs and goes back to towards the sitting room. An illusion to make the place look larger. The bedroom closet doors are also full length mirrors.

Molly got to the condo, saw the mirror, herself and went ballistic. She does not handle other dogs well, and this one in the mirror was especially wicked. When Molly showed her teeth, this other dog showed its teeth. It was Molly’s worst nightmare – a dog that won’t back down. We thought for sure that Molly was going to either break the mirror or her teeth. She was getting ferocious with that other dog there. Molly sported the Mohawk all week and had a hard time walking past the mirror without getting snarly. Once it was especially bad when I was sitting in front of the mirror applying makeup. Molly walked by and noticed that this other dog was awfully close to me and she got defensive. I had to walk away before she would calm down.
Here: the picture says it all.  (In case your reality is blurry like Molly's is - Molly is on the right and the other dog is on the left).