1st puppy class = mortified.

    • Gold Top Dog

    1st puppy class = mortified.

     thank god it was dark out when i got into my car after Zoey and I's first obedience class, because i broke down and started crying lol.

    here's what happened.

    last week i wanted to go observe a dog-obedience class, for beginners. i had done my research, and these guys seemed to be the best (which they ARE btw) .... so my boyfriend and i went, when we got there i found out that my friend was enrolled, AND that it happened to be the first day of the set of lessons! so after very nicely asking the man-in-charge if we could join up one week late, he said sure, as long as i stayed and watched the first lesson.

    what a piece of cake i thought!  Zoey knew all the stuff they were going over, and then some! she does all sorts of stuff for us at home- consistantly, reliably, and we're both happy. yay. we even do the clicker training at home, outside on the front lawn.. we take walks and she's starting to get the hang of the heel!

    i was SO pumped for (her) first class this week, i couldn't wait to show the rest of those doggy mommies and daddies how good my little Zoey was... so much better than their babies.

    i showed up early, to let her get accustomed to the new place and relax a little.... and right from the minute we stepped out of the car- evil Zoey emerged. The monster that doesn't listen, but does exactly the opposite of what you want. like it was opposite day. As more dogs arrived, more barking and jumping and fighting me. the *wonderful* people who work there helped me out, and lent me a gentle-leader head halter, showed me how to use it, and slowly but surely Zoey started accepting it (altho she put up quite a fight, lemme tell you)

    By the end of the class, she'd tuckered herself out, and just wanted to plop down with her chin on the floor. At least we were going over stuff she already knew- and we'll be able to practice all week with the gentle-lead that i bought from them right then and there.

    I was absolutely mortified, and i feel SO discouraged! like all the work i've done never even happened!!! i know i need to work on it and be patient, but i'm feeling like i'll NEVER get her to be as good as i'd like her to be.

    now that we're back home, Zoey's passed out behind me on the futon in the office, like nothing ever happened. probably tuckered right out from the crazy night... like a little....  " " " angel " " " .

    moral of the story? don't get cocky..... !
    ... and bring lots of treats to training class.

    :S 

    • Gold Top Dog

     I would not see that as a failure or even be mortified! 1 - she is a good dog and knows how to behave at home, that's half the battle, right there! The next part of the whole good dog thing is to teach her how to behave outside of the home. Good for you for enrolling her in a class to begin to work on that aspect of what will soon be your perfect all around doggy.

    Do you know how many people have at-home behavior problems yet have dogs who act like angels outside of the home? *raises hand* Everytime we are out and about people always say "They are so well behaved!" I laugh to my self and think "If you could only see them at home"

     So don't give up. It's ok to be frustrated but this was your first class. Now your little pup understand what you expect out of her so she'll only get better from here.

    Now you can pet her on the head and say in a nice sweet voice "you're lucky I love you!" :) 

    • Gold Top Dog

    Jewlieee

     So don't give up. It's ok to be frustrated but this was your first class. Now your little pup understand what you expect out of her so she'll only get better from here.

    Now you can pet her on the head and say in a nice sweet voice "you're lucky I love you!" :) 

     

    really??? see, i find that so hard to imagine! she'll do almost anything we want INside (especially if there's clicking involved!) and usually she's not as bad as she was when we're out and about the neighbourhood... but to have it the other way around?!?!! i think i'd rather have it your way lol 

    i know it'll get better- i'm determined to make it happen. i just thought we'd need a little less work right off the bat haha. we'll get there.

    funny you should say... i tell her all the time when she misbehaves "you're lucky you're cute!" jokingly. i do love her, and i know she loves me- that's why i'm putting in all this effort. she's worth it :)

    thanks for the encouragement jewilee! 

    • Silver

    Awww, she was just excited, and she probably fed off your nervousness, too (even though you tried real hard not to show it.)  Take a deep breath, and HAVE FUN.  It is not a contest.  Just look at it as a meaningful way to spend time with your dog, socialize her, and let her blow off steam.  She is a puppy, after all.  She's good at home anyways.  Sometimes, the star pupils in class are still having accidents at home, lol!!!!

    • Gold Top Dog

    I would not worry about this in the least, especially if you have extensively socialized her prior to attending class.  Many puppies are nervous in new surroundings.  It's like walking in to a party where you don't know anyone, and having the gregarious ones all walk up and kiss you (butt sniff).  You would be a bit taken aback, too.   It's exciting, and scary, and distracting.  So, have patience - you are ahead of the game in that your dog is already performing some of the required behaviors.  This week, start asking her to do those behaviors in the yard, at the big box pet store, everywhere!  Also, this is a dog that I would suggest you NOT stop with puppy class.  Go to the intermediate classes, and keep her social skills up by visiting increasingly distracting places to practice her obedience skills, and she should do just fine. 

    • Gold Top Dog

    oh i have no intentions of stopping her training, and i'm sure i was stressed or nervous about how she'd do, and she felt it.

    i am gonna start taking her to other places besides the house (which is gonna get harder now that the weather's getting icky- hooray for Canadian winters! Stick out tongue)

    eventually i want her to get into some sort of competing. whether it's agility, or flyball, or earthdog.... i dunno. i figure i'll have a better idea of what exactly she likes to do as our basic training progresses. i'd be happy with anything really, as long as it gets us outta the house and i have a happy (tired) dog at the end of the dog :)

     

    • Gold Top Dog

    As someone else stated you have half the battle done already. There is a pretty big difference for most dogs in working at home with no distractions and working when around numerous distractions.

     Keep going to your class, also anything else you can do to accustom your dog to being around others, like going to the local pet store and sitting outside while other dogs go in and out, then moving to walking around inside etc.

    good luck and keep us updated

    • Gold Top Dog

    I remember April's classes, she was just a little thing, the smallest and youongest in the class and she was afraid of them all, she hid behind my legs while the other dogs socialized, I had to drag her around the floor, lol but we got through it and she graduated with flying colors.  bye the way after the second week she loved the classes.

    • Gold Top Dog

    It's been said before in this thread but it bears repeating:  Going from a home setting with little or no distraction to a non-home setting with a thousand different smells and a dozen or so new dogs and 30 or 40 new people....WOW.  That's like putting a child in a candy store and expecting them to sit calmly by your side.  

    Improvement and focus will come with time.  Keep socializing her, and remember that socialization is a lifetime thing.   

    • Bronze

    JRT, don't be mortified or feel like a failure! It's completely normal behavior for them - and for us. Riley did the same thing his first day at class...plus he also ran from the other dogs (that I didn't blame him for as he'd just gotten neutered about a week earlier and a 4 month old lab jumped on him, luckily only with his paws). Riley also knew a bunch of commands: sit, down, come, and performed them flawlessly...everywhere but at class the first day, lol. I see class as being a much bigger distraction than a squirrel on the lawn; you have a new place, new people, and a bunch of dogs running loose. One thing we started the second week (first week is mainly talking) was the first two exercises are to 'charge' the clicker and then do training to get the dog's attention. This helps to keep them motivated for the rest of the class. if I get there before anyone else, I start doing that myself, just as some added insurance Smile

     

    • Gold Top Dog

    good idea going to the pet store and waiting outside!

    i was trying to think of places we could go to try being around other dogs, with minimal exposure to bad weather. this way if it gets bad we can go in for mummy to warm up a bit then go back out!

    does anybody else have any ideas on how to get Zoey at an acceptable energy/behaving level for my next class?

    again: thanks for all the good advice guys :) 

    • Gold Top Dog

    I try to give Neiko (my aussie) a good hours worth of exercise before we go to training class or agility class. Last time we went to agility class w/o exercise first and he was like a dog on crack. His attention span was very short and he was easily distracted. If he gets that exercise though, he pays attention to me and we have a much better training session.

    I have done a lot of pet store training too. I walk Neiko up to the pet store door and if he's pulling and not listening, I turn around and walk back to the car. We will spend 15 mins walking back and forth in front of the pet store door before even going in working on sit/stay/heel/watch me, etc.

    Once in the store I walk him by the birds, rabbits, ferrets, lizards, etc and practice the same stuff.

    I've even had random kids run circles around Neiko in a sit/stay trying to break his stay. 

    Pet stores are great places to work on distraction training. 

    • Puppy

    I have held dog obedience classes for several years now, but when I purchased our golden puppy I had a unpleasant surprise, all he wanted to do at the class was play. Being the teacher this didn't look to good. He pulled on the leash, flipped on his back if I tried to correct him and acted like he knew nothing. Knowing the truth that he did know all this at home I stayed persistant on taking him to class. After the second class I think a light bulb flickered in his head. By the fourth class he was doing better than any of the other puppies in the class. I think if you continue to reinforce what you are learning she will come around. Maybe try what ever it is that you do at home for reinforcement while you are in class. Maybe the familiar commands will bring her around. I think taking her into the pet stores is a great plan. We also can take our dogs into some hardware stores like Lowes' or HomeDepot. Your local feed stores for livestock will also let people take their pets into the store. Just remember that she' s not only reacting to the abudance of dogs but the activity of the people around her, if she is friendly enough and people ask let them touch her and maybe that will help her to calm down in class.

    Good Luck.....

    • Gold Top Dog

     my next puppy class is tomorrow, and i'm starting to get nervous.

    the instructor gave us a booklet with the exercises from class in it to practice, and we've been doing those (not EVERY day, but still, she's got it down as far as i'm concerned)..

    i'm still afraid of going into the class and having her freak out like before!

    the other day we took her to a walking path that's known for having dogs all over the place, and just in the parking lot she saw another dog and was jumping and barking just like the other day!

    today i'm gonna go back to that park, and get her to calm down for me. we're gonna practice. and tomorrow we'll go before the class too...

    i'm just worried that if ONE dog freaks her out that much, then more than a dozen dogs will just be uncontrollable!!!! :S eek! 

    • Gold Top Dog

    A couple things I've noticed in the numerous classes I've taken over the last few years: In a new environment - new dogs, and place they've never been before, my dogs have tended to be much more distracted in the first class or two, and then gradually got better as they adjusted to the routine and it all became more familiar. Also, the beginning of class is more distracting because everybody is coming in around the same time and it's noisy and hectic. Once all the dogs and people are settled in their spots and class begins, it gets better. You just have to get past that initial rush of excitement, and it really helps to be prepared for it in advance with a plan.

    My dogs do very well in class when we're actively working on training a skill. When I lose them it's usually either before class starts, or between exercises when the trainer is describing and maybe demonstrating what we're going to do. They start looking around and noticing all those other dogs they'd rather be playing with than boring old mom! If your dog is highly distracted, try bringing a kong or other stuffable toy that you can give her at those times where you know she'll have trouble focusing on you. I like to use spray can cheese because my dogs love it, and I can spray a little inside a toy, and it doesn't take long for them to lick it all out. If there's too much good stuff in there, she may be more interested in working on her kong than coming back to you when it's time to start working.

    I also teach all my dogs to "find it" from the moment they come home. What it means is that there's yummy food on the floor for them to sniff out. It's handy in all sorts of circumstances - I've used it as part of a recall game, to call my dogs off chasing the cats, if they get outside and don't want to come back in - and it's really easy to teach. I start with a bunch of really tiny soft treats, the size of a pea or less. Cut up Natural Balance rolls, jerkey treats, cheese cubes, or bits of turkey dogs are great to use. I drop a treat on the floor and tell them "find it". The second they get to the treat I mark it, either verbally "yes!" or with a clicker. Do it over and over again, for a few minutes several times a day, and she should immediately get the treat and then look back at you. Start tossing the treat further and further away so she has to go look for it and then come back to you. When you can call out "find it!" and she comes running from another room in the house, you'll know she's got it. (Very handy when you drop food on the kitchen floor while making dinner. Wink )

    When a dog is really distracted they may be so focused on interesting sights and smells that they don't really "hear" you, and at those moments I'll toss treats AT the dog. The tactile sensation will usually get their attention, and if you toss a handful they'll bounce off all over the place, occupying her for a few seconds while she scarfs them up. I used this technique all the time with Keefer who was a very distractable 13 month old in his last class. He'd look over at another dog, start up with his yippy "let's PLAY!" bark, I'd say "find it" and toss a bunch of treats at him. He'd immediately break off the other dog, dive on the treats, then look back at me. I could then mark and treat his attention, along with happy, enthusiastic praise. I really like using this technique rather than corrections because there are never negative consequences for being around other dogs, which can make a reactive dog even more reactive. Other dogs should always mean "Yippee! Where's my treat?"

    He also tended to be just as distracted, if not more so, by a single dog outside class then a whole class full of dogs, so I wouldn't worry about that too much. Putting as much distance between her and the other dogs in class, and facing her away from them works well, if you can snag a corner spot that's ideal. Also, do as much attention work with her in the meantime and between classes as you can, around the house, and outdoors where there will be some distractions, but nothing too major. In a place where she might see other dogs but at a distance is perfect if you can set it up, just close enough for her to notice them, but far enough that she won't bark and lunge. If you're on a walk and see another dog coming towards you, do an abrupt about face and go the other direction. It helps to work on this outside of class too, come up with a verbal command to signal a rapid turn (I use "this way!";), then stick a treat in front of her nose to lure her around at first, then mark and reward. ALWAYS bring treats!

    With Keefer, if I saw something in the distance he might react to, I'd stop at a safe distance and wait for him to notice it. Eventually I knew he'd look at me, and the second he did he got a jack pot of treats, give one small piece at a time with effusive praise so she's being rewarded for several seconds. The more you do this - no command, simply wait for, then mark and reward her spontaneous attention, the more she'll start paying attention to you and the less she'll react to distractions. But it will take some time, so you have to be patient. As she becomes more comfortable in the presence of other dogs, gradually work her closer and closer to them. In just a couple of weeks I was able to go from Keefer going off because of a dog across the street, to being 3 feet from a dog behind a chain link fence right next to the sidewalk. Even when the other dog went from standing there calmly looking at him to barking and jumping at the fence he didn't bark back. I stayed calm and waited, and sure enough he turned and looked back at me. BIG rewards!!!!

    Since your dog is just a young puppy with a short attention span this may not be a big deal to fix. Cassidy was HIGHLY leash reactive, and we worked on it for over a year. While she got much better, she was still a work in progress. With her it was fear based, she had weak nerves and was okay with most other dogs off leash, but horrid on leash when her options were taken away. With Keefer it's more about him learning to control his impulses, which is why he's getting the idea so much faster. He's extremely social, and not at all aggressive towards other dogs, he's just a butthead boy going through a phase and I'd let his training go.

    Good luck, RELAX, and have fun!