There are many good reasons to train a dog... but these are my top 5:
1. He enjoys it. There is joy on his face when we are working together one-on-one. He thrives on the recognition and reward associated with achieving. It builds his confidence.
2. Combining physical exercise with mental stimulation is the absolute best way to tire the little guy out... good for him and us!
3. A trained dog is a safer dog. He is less likely to have a run-in with traffic, steal and eat something toxic, have a violent interaction with another dog.
4. If we ever want to find a willing pet-sitter, then a potty-trained, gentle, responsive pup is going to give us more options.
5. Taking Teddy with us on travels and adventures, hikes and visits to other people's homes is 100% dependent on him being trained.
So with all this in mind, we decided the best way to get on the same page with cues and commands for Teddy, to achieve consistency and make it easiest for Teddy to learn, was to enroll him in Beginner Puppy Training Class at Petsmart.
He did 6 classes. There was just one other puppy in class with us - Trout. Teddy and Trout spent the first 10 minutes of every class "greeting" each other. IE Wrestling, chasing and mouthing each other. When that was done we got an overview of the class from trainer, Leslie and practiced the lessons together. Each class ended with another round of puppy playtime!
Chaos? Yep. Lots of chaos. For every ying there is a yang. Teddy did all his homework and practice during the week and he was an A Student at home. However, just 30 seconds inside of Petsmart and you'd think he was completely untrained! Ha! I guess the distraction, excitement and new environment has this effect on pups.
*Except that Leslie could make him perform on cue, so it's also fair to assume that Mark and I had a lot to learn and were also subject to distraction.
Last Friday, Teddy graduated beginner puppy class... How adorable is that?!
We celebrated this little milestone by taking the wee muppet to a trail near Boulder and giving him 5 minutes of "off-leash" time in which we practiced recalling him and, of course, the "leave it" command. On leash, he practiced sitting and waiting as other hikers, sticky kids and happy dogs approached. Impulse control is still a work in process, but I'd say we made measurable progress this weekend!
If you too are interested in training classes at Petsmart, then perhaps this little summary of the 6 week class we did has value to you:
Week 1: Marking
Focus - rewarding for eye contact
Hand Targeting - nose to palm for reward
Sit - you know the drill
Week 2: Establishing trust
Loose leash walk - learning to move forward and backwards again beside you
Lets go - from sit to walk, in the direction you are facing
This way - changing direction to avoid something, not in the direction you are facing
Come when called
Emergency recall
Week 5: Expanding foundation behaviors
Sit - using just verbal or just hand signals
Down - from the sit position
Shake - from the sit position
Come then sit
Week 6: Having more fun!
Come when called, from a long line
Puppy push-ups - sit-down-sit-down-sit!!
And for those of you who might think Teddy (or any pup) now has the skills to just go forth and be perfect, I'd be the first to say that is unrealistic and unfair.
We work on "lessons" every day in the house and try to incorporate them into walks around the neighborhood, trails and at play dates, but he's a baby still. He has the skills, but lacks the impulse control and motivation to get it right all the time. That's life...
... And that's why, when I found his Certificate of Achievement chewed up in the back yard today, I just chuckled about the complete irony and put the soggy pieces in the trash!
We are indeed enrolled for the intermediate class in a few weeks.
