Our Puppy Class was pretty loose this first time. There were 10 pups of various breeds and ages. Two of Lily’s litter mates were also there, so we weren’t the only ones with young “energetic” pups. Lily’s attention span is really short and she wanted to romp with all the other pups. There was only one that she couldn’t get close to and actually no one but it’s owner could. GermanShortHair was really good at all the things we did and at one point I joked with her owner that she was showing off. There was a 3 month old St Bernard with the biggest feet I have ever seen. She was 3x the size of Lily but lazy and sweet. I think she was Lily’s favorite.

There were a couple of little foo foo dogs but not much time was spent by Lily with them. There was an 8 month old fluffy cocker that was pretty smart too but Lily could quickly distract her. It reminded me of some comments from my school report cards. “catches on quickly but then distracts others”

There was a “handfull” of a lab that was too rough for anyone to get close too but by the end of the class and a “gentle leader” was calmed down big time. I asked the teacher about the biting and she said that Labs were the hardest to train as they are retrievers and they want to put everything in their mouth. She used Lily as her assistant a couple of times and once she was holding Lily in her arms and Lily went to chew on her. Teacher gave a high pitched yip and Lily immediately stopped.

We worked on getting her to love her name by way of turkey treats. Getting her to sit was next. Saying her name, making her look at you and then holding the treat just behind her head so she has to sit to get it. Practice Practice Practice. I happy to report that 9 times out of 10 she gets it…even without the treat part.

Lily was the assistant for the lay down training. The teacher had to go to step 3 to get Lily to lay down and then she didn’t stay. She said you don’t say the command until they are doing it. Just put them in the position by holding the treat where you want them and then praise and say the command. Step 3 was making the pup belly crawl under your leg to get to the treat. We will be working hard on that one.

We got some potty training pointers. She said that if you catch or find that your puppy went potty in the house, go and find the biggest newspaper you can find, roll it up and WHACK the person that should have been watching the pup. Scolding don’t work only praise for job done outside.

At the end of the class the teacher said that she wished we would have had an inside facility for the class as there was so many young puppies that it would have been nice to have them off their leashes to play. She said you should never let your dog romp when she is on the leash, as when on the leash you want her on her best behavior not tangling up on it. Oops..now she tells us..

Lily didn’t make a peep all the way home. It was kind of chilly so when we got home we both got a nice warm bath to warm up. That woke her up! She spent about 10 minutes tossing around a ½ a peanut shell she found under Tilly’s cage. It’s crazy but every time I called her name she looked at me an sat even on the Bath Frenzy.

I think she grew 4 inches in the last two days and that bath must have made her grow too. I know a puppy is cute but she is getting cuter everyday. She has these two little cowlicks on the back of her legs on each side of her tail..Darling.

Lily’s a good dog…

Come now Dawn. Pictures Please.

I'm smiling so hard my face is going to break. The mental images are just too much! Yes - pictures please!!

"I was not even by the bird."

Look whose eyes have changed color yet again.

Awwww, sweet, Dawn! I love those puppy classes - full of rabble-rousing!

I love dogs, always have. After losing my best friend and fishing buddy almost 2 years ago we found a farm family with a litter of german shephards, they owned both parents. We had a hard time choosing but ended up with this little guy......

Rider is now a little over a year old and has grown into a beautiful dog, around 85lbs of mostly puppy, a bit watch dog.