What a whirlwind day yesterday was! It seems like it was three days with everything that happened. Of course, it was Puppy Class day. Oooooooooh, right? I was nervous, I don't think Craig was nervous, and I don't think Jilly was nervous. But I was, oh wait, I said that. Jilly had a busy day, she went to the vet for her rabies shot (we thought she needed it for class, but she didn't, oops. She was getting it Saturday anyway). Then we went to PetSmart to look for a treat pouch, which we found a really nice on in purple. After that we went home.
On a whim, we stopped by the neighbor's house, so that she could meet Mitch, a Pug/Chihuahua mix. He's 3 and a little heavy, but they played great together. Mitch isn't a barker, so Jilly hardly barked at all while playing. They mainly chased each other around the neighbor's house. Man, Jilly is fast! And wiley. She was out manuevering Mitch and after just 15 minutes Mitch was tuckered out. Jilly was still trying to get him to play, but he was done. Craig took her out before I left and that got Mitch's attention. He wanted her to come back when she left, but we still had to eat and give her a bath.
She was very good for her bath and was beautiful and fluffy by the time we left for the obedience club. We got to the club and she peed outside, then we went in and registered. All of the other puppies looked a lot older than Jilly, but they were bigger breeds as well, though the Cavalier Spaniels (there were two) were about her size. She met a few of the other puppies and then we spent the beginning 40 minutes or so of class sitting in folding chairs along the wall while the instructor went over the rules and guidelines and equipment that we'd need.
One of the first guidelines was to not let your dog greet other dogs without permissioni. There was a lady that definitely didn't follow that rule. Her dog came from four chairs over to see Jilly before things got underway and at one point Jilly was in the corner looking uncomfortable. The lady also let her puppy do it during the actual class, a few times, I told her to watch her puppy finally. I'm not comfortable correcting people with their dogs since this is our first dog and I don't know what is "normal" dog owner behavior, but it was really annoying me that her dog was actually sniffing Jilly while I was asking Jilly to do stuff.
While we were sitting and listening I put Jilly on my lap, and she was so tired she actually stayed there, and then she layed down. Then she rested her head on my arms. Then she closed her eyes. And she was out. I was soooo surprised because there was a Beginner's Obedience Class going on right next to our ring, but she zonked out for most of the intro stuff. I was a little worried that she was too tired for class, but she seemed to do fine.
Our instructor is a positive training advocate, which is good with us, and the only thing we covered in the first class was sitting. Jilly did very good for being in a new environment, and I've been practicing having her sit in every room of the house while walking on her leash to get her better at it. She's alredy improved a *lot* at staying to my left side at all times and sitting while straight ahead. We've also been working at laying down while at my side. She doesn't like to lay down on the kitchen, entryway, or bathroom floors, I'm hoping because they are slippery, not because they are hard, since the training area at class is a hard rubber mat.
After class ended we practiced walking laps around the training ring while Craig gave the instructors our information so that they could email in case of closure due to weather. We took Jilly's crate with us and put it in her when we got back in the car and she passed out right away. Flat on her side, she was exhausted from her super busy day. Fortunately Craig and I read Jilly's signals that she needed to go out the two times she had to pee while in the class, so Craig took her out while I continued to listen. So we made it through our whole first puppy class without an accident!
Tuesday Jilly discovered she could jump the barrier keeping her out of the kitchen/entryway. Sigh. Fortunately she doesn't do it much when she's on her own, since she's still not trustworthy to be in the whole house by herself. Tuesday we got a wreath holder for the two bells and Craig rigged it up so that the bells are hanging off it by a string. So Wednesday afternoon we worked on touching the bells. The first time she touched the bells hanging straight up, but then didn't want to again, so I tipped it over so the bells were on the floor and had her touch them repeatedly (treat each time) and slowly tilted the stand up further and further until it was upright. Later that night she actually touched the bells once when going to the door (Craig and I kick the bells lightly with a foot before opening the door to take her out) at the end of the night, so Craig took her out and she peed! Yay! Craig said that she must be the smartest dog in the world because of that. She's already touched them once tonight and went potty when taken outside. We can't tell if she's just playing or wanting a treat, since it doesn't seem possible that she's hitting the bells to go outside already. Though two other times we've had her touch them before going outside instead of us doing it.
Today we went for a walk in the morning before school, it was only about 10 minutes, but she seemed to enjoy it (for the most part, she was a little scared of a car backing out of the drive when we were alongside it's lawn) and she definitely knows where home is! She wasn't nearly as hyper when we got home either, Craig tried to take her for a walk, but he needed a refresher on her walk cues so I went out with him and Jilly to help. She also got played with and then Mitch came for a visit!
Mitch scared the living daylights out of the cats but Jilly had fun. Though, Mitch was more interested in sniffing all of our stuff rather than playing with Jilly, much to her disappointment. One of the reasons we wanted a female dog was so that we didn't have to deal with marking and leg lifting, and today that point was emphasized, right now we follow Jilly around new houses to make sure she doesn't have an accident, but at least we don't have to worry about her doing it to mark her territory!
She wasn't crazy hyper once we got home today, but she didn't sleep until around 10 pm, now she's passed out flat on her side, sleeping away. I don't know if the meeting new dogs is helping or the extra training practice is helping, but she's a lot less vocal about the cats, and less likely to run after them. We're concentraing on not doing tricks on the living room floor (at least sit and down because she already knows them) but I added a new thing today, where she's loose and I run to one side of the room, she follows, I tell her to sit or down and give her a treat, then I run off, and we repeat. She loves it. We also worked a little on trotting forward on the lead and then I suddenly start backing up and calling her, she's great at turning around and running after me before hitting the end of the leash. Hopefully that turns into her coming period, lol.
This is the bad dog that kept coming into our space.
She tends to keep her paw up when I ask her to sit, I'm going to work on that once she's 100% on keeping her sit when I go to give her her treat.
Example of her not keeping the sit at all while receiving her treat. She's a lot better now, after we got more consistent with making her keep the sit before getting a treat instead of giving it to her just for her butt hitting the ground like normal.
Down Jilly!
Ah ah! Sit, then you get your treat. Stay sitting!
She wasn't used to sitting next to me, so we compromised in class with this position. We've been working on sitting next to me today though, so that she'll stay next to me for our next class.
Good girl, keeping her puppy butt on the ground for the treat.
But she still "helps" me find her mouth with a little guiding paw.
She *loves* training, even though she just gets pieces of dog food as her reward, she watches me like this and seems soooo excited.
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