Jaia and B'asia Going to Class! I'm so excited!

fun fun!  Wed. is our last class for a while.  We go at 6:15 and we all go b/c Coke has CGC and then Kenya has advanced.  The trainer doesn't mind the other dog being in class, working on socialization (well, that's Coke.  Kenya just sleeps). 

Sounds exciting!  They're going to have so much fun.  

 Bugsy and I are starting our first class on 3/19 (actually only I go that night)

we are doing Distraction Proofing - he he this ought to be fun  

 Hopefully they won't be so focused or dependent on one another that they miss out on the socialization with the other dogs.   If it were me, I think I'd have done separate classes with each dog, but to each his own.  Hope you have fun. 

The one time I did take them to the dog park together, they were totally independent of each other. Jaia found a Basenji that he just LOVED and played so nicely with the little guy. So I don't think that will be a problem. And I don't actually want them focusing on other dogs. I want them to ignore the other dogs and focus on me (and DH).

Jaia is completely well-socialized. And since I started this thread, it has become clear that it might not be a great way to socialize B'asia. The class is entirely on-leash so there isn't opportunity to get much socialization anyway. But just being in the presence of other dogs is going to help B'asia.

I've done classes, both with individual dogs and with 2 dogs at a time, and I've never had issues of them in the classes with dependence or distractibility. Shimmer and her brother went through two classes together. Shimmer also attended an Advanced class while two of the Mini's attended the Beginner class with no issues. It really comes down to handler skill and working each dog independently, and it tends to work out alright, at least it has for me *G*.

But congrats on the class, they can be so much fun! I want to get Shimmer back into Rally classes again, but it'll have to wait a while before I move out and get set up in a new home. I really enjoyed them and Shimmer had a blast too.

Wow, exciting!!  You DO realize though, that you will have the most gorgeous dogs there!

l.michelle

You DO realize though, that you will have the most gorgeous dogs there!

LOL Well, I certainly hope so! LOL

(Thanks)

When I took Cara, there was a couple who had a pair of Great Pyrenees and they were really impressive!  

We went to orientation last night and my husband actually enjoyed it! This morning, we started working with the dogs. This is going to be really fun. But my husband is a software engineer and he has a tendency to expect everything to work right the first time. He's having a hard time getting into the groove of (for example) training Jaia to look at him while walking. Jaia wants to sniff the ground. I told DH that since this is the first time he has even tried to do real training with Jaia, it's new to the dog and he's going to have to "go with the flow" until Jaia gets into the mindset of "Oh... Dad's doing this training thing, too. He has treats. Maybe I'd better pay attention to him like I do Mom..."

Anyway, we take the dogs next Thursday night and I'm really excited!  

That's great!  It is fun and good for all involved.  I'm so happy to hear that your DH is getting involved.  Looking forward to your class reports...LOL,

I wish my DH would attend a class - I suggested it last week so may be he'll come on Wednesday.  We've been to two classes now and Bugsy did much better the second night than the first.  In fact he got bored when the trainer was working on the other dogs and started to watch the birds out the window -

Bugsy can heel but it is always a chore.  Part of the problem is that DH thinks if you hold him so tight that he can't be far away that = heel.  So I started to tell him the other night to give B a treat each time he orients back to you (from Control Unleashed) so that he keeps coming back to your left knee.  So this morning we both walked and DH kept making him sit and then treating.  He thought that is what I meant, Ah well it's the most I've seen him do, I then walked B the second half and showed him what I meant.  I hope he was watching, he's very stubborn so I can't 'tell' him what to do.

Anyway I'm a bit disappointed in the trainer but the class situation is great for B.  He blew me away last week with some outside work and he did some great stuff inside too.  Our toughest is the tight heel and not sniffing when walking on a loose leash.  Bugsy's motto is I sniff therefore I am

I am really happy I've done this and hope it is a stepping stone to tracking and/or agility.  He has a working soul so he is thriving with all the training we are now doing.

Did you have class last night?  If so, how did it go?

Thank you for remembering! Unfortunately, our first class was canceled due to the wind! It was terrible! We were ALL ready, too! Really looking forward to it! LOL Oh, well, we'll just wait another week. At least we're ready!