I Love Puppy Training!

I love love LOVE puppy training!

I love going in and chatting with the other puppy parents as they ask questions like, "Does Zuzu get distracted easily if there are other dogs around and forget how to sit?" uh...yeah. "Is she always so calm and sweet and well behaved?". Hahahaha....no!  "Does she try to chew on everything, even people?" Yeah, again.  "Does she come when you call her?" If she wants to, or if there's something in it for her, sure.

Then I love it when everyone else answers the same way!

I love when we get to demonstrate what we've been practicing and Zuzu shows off and performs perfectly for me! (okay, it happened once, but I can still brag a little, can't I?)

I love when we ask Helena, the trainer, a question and she has an answer that is simple, and makes sense, yet makes us feel brilliant for asking it, not like the doggy-parent morons we all really are! And then she tells us we are all doing great and our puppies are so good and we all grin like silly people. If we had tails, they'd be wagging!!

And then Helena will teach us all a new trick. And it works like magic! And we all feel brilliant and proud once again.  This week it was Down. Like lay down, but you don't say lay.  You have them come, then sit, then you let them sniff the treat as you bring it to the floor, then when they're laying down, you say, "good down," and let them eat the treat. It can be used for getting off stuff too, but with a different tone. "Get Down!" is much more serious.  We're not perfect with that one yet, but praise and treats and the understanding of the word down is helping.

We also learned loose leash walking, which means when you're out for a leisurely walk, your dog should be near you, without pulling. We've been working on that one a lot since the training, and I'll work on it a lot more as the week goes on. It would be easier to do if Zuzu didn't want to sniff every blade of grass, twig, leaf, crack in the sidewalk.... do I need to continue? That's what the park us for. I walk you to the park, then I will follow you around the park.  She actually tried to stop and sniff an intersection this morning. It was at a four way stop, but still not a good habit to get into.

But, when we go to puppy class next week, my sweet little Zuzu will perform it perfectly for her new friends and audience, and I'll smile as proudly as if my puppy just discovered the cure for cancer!

I love puppy training!!