My Graduate

Isn't it funny how, no matter how much true puppy mischief Zuzu has in her, she always manages to be on her very best behavior in class?  Jim says she should wear a sign around her neck that says 'Will Work for Food."

All we had to do for the final class was demonstrate everything that our dog had learned then show one trick, if we had one.  Zuzu did everything amazingly, and was the only dog with a trick to show. I picked "shake" to work on this week, because any time she gets impatient, she paws at me, so it was an easy transition.  And she did it easily for Jim as he was demonstrating.   Then, Helena showed me how to get her to "sit pretty" (up on her hind legs) and "roll over".  It was fun!

At the end of class, we had to trade dogs and walk around the store for 10 minutes, working on everything we had learned, then report to the class how the puppy performed.

We got a crazy, adorable little lab puppy named Jax. I have never seen a puppy wiggle as much as he did! Even when he was sitting, his little body just shook with happiness! He did really well. 

Budha's owner had Zuzu. Budha is a cute little pug and his owner is a big, strong, young guy. They kind of don't match, but they work well together.  When he got back and Helena asked what it was like having Zuzu for a few minutes, he answered, "Oh my goodness - she is amazing! She walked fine, sat, laid down, even rolled over and sat up for me!"

(I behaved. I didn't holler at him that she is ours and he can NOT have her. But, I wanted to!)

Tonight she is being tested for a new class. I am as nervous as I would imagine a parent would be, trying to get a child into a prestigious preschool!  This class was started by a local trainer, who used to be a police dog trainer and has been recommended to me by most of the doggy parents that I have met that have amazingly well-behaved big dogs.  They also run the class in a public park, so there should be lots more dogs and distractions, which Zuzu really needs.

I am trying to get Zuzu into their intermediate class.  This is for two reasons... first because I don't want her to have to repeat stuff she has already learned, and second, because Tressa's lacrosse practice is at the same time as the beginner class. The hard part is, this group of trainers won't even let puppies sign up for the beginner class until they're four months old, and to get into the intermediate class you have to have passed THEIR beginner class. They have agreed to look at Zuzu and consider an exception to their rules.

If it doesn't work, it will be back to PetSmart and Helena for intermediate training!  Either way is okay, but I will be praying hard that tonight goes okay. God's Will will prevail.  And probably a little of Zuzu's will as well! :)