First Obedience Class

We had our first obedience class last night. Here Jennifer greets Jam in the parking lot.


Mick is lying down while Judy talks during the meeting.


Jam is sitting quietly during the meeting doing a nice down-under.


Phyllis was taking it easy under the table.



Even Jam was a bit curious about what was coming up.


Annie however, was raring to go. Cute ear, Annie!


Here is Jean with Holly at her feet. Holly is very dog distracted, so she spent most of the class working outside the circle of acceptance, which is ok! Where ever the dog is most comfortable is where you should be with your dog. When they can actually pay attention to you and follow your commands, is when you have gotten the distance right. That may mean you are in the circle or it may mean you are on the far outfield, like Jean and Holly....and....



Well, we started out in the circle. We did pretty well. Then the puppy attention span just sort of dissolved and Jennifer very kindly said, "Perhaps you should take him over there." Then she pointed outside the circle of acceptance.

Oh.

OK. He was getting a bit rowdy, kicking up his heels and veering wildly left and right. I guess she noticed that. So we headed out. But it worked out just fine as I had two prospective puppy raisers try walking Jam (individually of course!) and getting him to sit, which he enjoyed. And he had the attention all to himself and was able to focus much better outside the circle than inside with all the distractions, which is what Jennifer knew and I should have recognized sooner and moved him.

Lesson for me for next week! 8-)