08.23.06
Posted in Dog Training at 12:06 am by Robin
Lexie just graduated from another six week puppy school. She attended classes at Sirius Dog Training and we were very happy with the quality of training. Now we need to decide which classes to enroll her in next. I will probably enroll her in Puppy II @ Sirius, but I’m also entertaining the idea of classes at ARF or Mt. Diablo Dog Training Club. Decisions, decisions!
Here is a shot of Lexie and her classmates.
She’s the lab on the far right, I’m the one behind the camera. 
Her best friend in class, Beau, is to her left. Emma is the labby on the left, she sits so pretty for a treat, but boy does she gobble your fingers. Gus, the golden retriever (second from the left) was the shy guy in class, but just adorable and Pepper, the tiny dog of the class, was so cute that everyone just wanted to take it home.
Lexie did awesome in her final night of class. We had a recall races and guess who one? If you guessed Lexie, you’re right! What made me really proud is that I didn’t have to lure her with a treat; I stood in place and told her to come. She also had a bit of a disadvantage during the first race; the handler didn’t release her when he was cued. My little lab, who hardly acknowledges me with distractions won all the recall races…Go figure. I do have to admit her recall is getting much better, when I call her name at the dog park she does look at me and usually she starts running towards me; her actually making it to me without being distracted is a crap shoot.
We also had team relay races; the dogs had to walk loose leash, perform sit/down/stand, walk loose leash again, and perform a heel finish. The females, which are the two labs, were pitted against all the other dogs. Guess who one that race? Yep, the labbies!
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08.06.06
Posted in Puppy, Dog Training at 3:42 am by Robin
Lexie graduated from PetSmart Puppy Kindergarten this afternoon. I have very mixed feelings about the class, mainly because I discovered that one of the pups in class was not properly vaccinated. We considered dropping out, but since she was fully vaccinated by the time we found out and the routine and learning under very distracting circumstances was good for her we decided to keep her enrolled. Besides, we didn’t want her to be a kindergarten drop-out. I did decide to enroll her concurrently in Sirius Puppy Training, which I’m really pleased with.
I just learned last week that we would be tested on all that we learned in the eight week class. I wasn’t too worried (ha!), she went into the class already knowing many of the commands, but her staying skills leave something to be desired and when she’s in pet stores the leash isn’t very loose.
We got to PetSmart a bit earlier and we practiced walking around the store and she was doing great. When it came time for her to actually test, she did great! She even did a sit stay and a down stay for me. She only broke the stay when I turned around…that was really my fault because I’ve been encouraging her to come to me by turning around. She is much more reliable on visual cues than verbal, so she did what she thought she was supposed to do.
I tried to get some graduation pictures, but she was too tired. We went to the beach yesterday and I took her to the dog park this afternoon, so when we got home all she wanted to do was sleep.
She got up when I went to go to the kitchen, but she basically just positioned herself in front of the door.
I tried to add some distractions that usually get her excited like fuzz and my other furkid George, but she still wasn’t up for a photo shoot.
I finally gave up and let my baby sleep.
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