Last week at Dog School Rodders and I had a disastrous lesson. I don't know if it was because I wasn't feeling well or if he just had the devil in him but not a lot seemed to go right, he wanted to play with the other dogs rather than walk to heel, he wouldn't go down, his recall was iffy and his sit and wait was dreadful. The only thing he seemed to do right was to sit!
This week he was a different dog entirely. We got there early so that he could run about and play with the other dogs first (we did this for a short time last week too) and he had a great time and was starting to stick up for himself a bit better if bigger dogs were bowling him over or getting a bit rough.
When Sam called us in to class he took a few minutes to realise that he was back on his lead and it was time to stop playing and it was difficult to get him to line up and lay down at the start but he was really good after that. We were doing a lot of close heel work, working in two lines going in opposite directions, and he was paying attention to me rather than the other dogs. When it came to weaving through the lines of dogs he sat and waited patiently with only one blip as a dog came past and then walked to heel through to the front when it was our turn. This was also done in parallel lines so he had Wordsworth (the King Charles from his puppy class) beside him. Wordsworth kept whining while we were sitting waiting and Rodders looked over at him a couple of times but didn't leave my side.
We then jogged up the field towards the agility course throwing in some sits and downs. Once on the agility course Rodders did really well. He went through the lifebelt without too much trouble and jumped over a couple of the fences that he has refused to entertain before. As always he loved the A Frame and the Tunnel.
After a play with tuggy's (Rodders will let his go and sit for you to throw it again but will not fetch it) we walked to the end of the field to let the dogs off lead for some play and to practice recall. Rodders went a little to pot here, once he went to the wrong person but sat beautifully, another time he wouldn't come at all and another time he and four other dogs ran off to play together - to his credit he was the first dog to come back. We also practiced sit and wait, which is quite tough when there are 10 other dogs around you, but Rodders was fine.
By now it was almost the end of the class and we walked back to the hall walking to heel and sitting. He sat and waited at the door nicely and was happy to lay between my legs when Sam ran through todays good and bad points and came round to meet and greet as she took our money.
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