We headed to class around 5:00. I wanted to get there early enough so that we could walk around and get used to things before we headed in. We did some sits and downs around the store and some nice loose leash walking (I take no credit for the LLW. She was like that when I got her!). There are 7 dogs in our class, including us. There's Frankie, of course, a Bichon Frise, a cute black and tan Dachshund, a very barkey Sheltie, a very large Bernese/Rottie cross, a Lhasa Apso, and a VERY large and VERY hairy white Malamute with a type of gentle lead harness that wouldn't let the poor dog open it's mouth to even pant. I hope the instructor talks to the two young guys that own him about that.
Note to self...must bring lint brush next week. I swear, I think Frankie ate more hair than treats!
Oh, and the instructor has a 10 month old pug, too. She's not in our class, of course, but I told her she has very good taste in dogs!
We started out with introductions and what our goal was for taking the class. Most people said that they just wanted their dogs to behave and not jump on people. I said that I wanted to get Frankie used to distractions.
Needless to say, everyone's dog was all over the place, with the exception of Frankie, the Dachshund, and Lhasa who were small enough to sit in their owners laps. I had Frankie doing sits and downs with hand signals to keep her focus. I think everyone was wondering what I was doing there. One of the young men with the Malamute said, "Man, why can't our dog be like that?" I took that as a compliment :)
The class is very positive. The instructor handed out binders so we could chart our progress and CLICKERS! to everyone. She gave a great forward on positive reinforcement and marking the dogs behavior whether it be with a clicker or a word. She then went around and asked us what we would use as our marker. All but one person chose the clicker! I could see that there was a lot of confusion and skepticism from the class about how exactly this 'little box thingy' works. And of course when the clickers got handed around everyone had to try them out. Ack! Poor Frankie....I don't think she's ever heard anyone else use a clicker but me. I hope she didn't think she was getting treats for all that clicking! It sure had her attention, though. I liked how the instructor made it clear that the clicker wasn't something to click just because it sounds neat, and she told everyone to get all their clicks out now because it would confuse the dog if they weren't consistent.
Next we worked on touching our dogs all over their body, making sure the dog knows his name, and 'watch me', but without the cue. I need to work on these more, too.
All in all, a very positive experience! Kudos to Petsmart for Clicker Training!
That's all for now.
Ellen & Frankie
