Kimmy graduated from Puppy Class

to Youth Obedience class!

Her first lesson was this morning. Usually pups graduate from Puppy Class at 6 months of age, but the trainer said Kimmy is mentally ready for the obedience challenge :)

Thank goodness it was a sunny morning today. So even thought it was -6 C, it was still bearable. Kimmy was such a good girl! The trainer was impressed, actually, how well she was doing in her first obedience lesson.

There were 5 other dogs, two of them Rottweilers (litter brothers), 7 months old, untrained - their first lesson, too. They were there with an elderly woman and her adult son. They both had problems keeping them contained on the leash. The trainer told me this would be Kimmy at 7 months if we never trained her. Untrained Rottweiler looks scary!

First we practiced the "heel" while walking in pairs, then in fours, the goal was that the dog's attention stays on the master, and that she doesn't let the other dogs distract her. Kimmy did well in the paying attention area, but her heel is more like "almost stumbling under Katie's feet, trying to jump up and grab her thigh with my front paws and give it a hug" walk.

The trainer said she will calm down as she matures, not to worry. I decided to believe him ;)

Then we practiced recall, the master put his dog into a sit stay/down stay and went away on the other side of the field, then called the dog and rewarded with a treat. Because Kimmy doesn't have a reliable stay yet, the trainer held her leash to make sure she doesn't run after me, and released her leash when I called her. My princess ran to me like the wind and did a nice sit before she took the treat. Awwww :)

Then we all stood in a circle and one by one, took the dog off leash and went zig zag through the outline of the cicle, again the aim was that the dog doesn't get distracted by other dogs and follows the master. This exercise the trainer thought Kimmy couldn't do off leash, but I tried and she did wonderfully, paying attention only to me. It was such a nice feeling :)

Then the trainer told us about the importance of teaching our dog never to take food from a stranger (who might want to poison it), then he went around, offering cubed cheese to the dogs. Those who have been in the classes for a long time have totally ignored the cheese. The Rottweilers both lunged after the treats and their owners had a hard time pulling them back.

Kimmy who LOVES cheese tried her darndest to get to it, but I pulled her back and said "Pfui", which is German for "eewww".

Then we again stood in a circle with our dogs and the trainer wanted to see how well they respond to their names.

When the dog was not looking at him, the trainer called his name. The dog should perk up at hearing his name, even from someone else than his master. The older dogs all looked at the trainer when he called their name, one of the Rottweilers totally blanked and the other only looked after repeated calling. Last one to go was Kimmy. Friendly dog she is, when the trainer called her name, she ran up to him, jumped up and licked his face. Ummm, I think she likes the trainer, ha ha :)

He was laughing and said that she is a wonderful puppy :)