Hi all
Tonight was Smudge's first training class and we're really proud of him!
It was so funny when we first arrived in the car park - all the puppies were labs! lol! Oh, and they were all so gorgeous! I couldn't take my eyes off them all!
We started with trying to calm the dogs down as naturally they were all excited. We said a part of their body and then touched it so we said 'paw' and then touched his paw. Then ear, teeth, tail etc.
Then one by one we let the dog off the lead and then had to act so excited that they would concentrate on us (and not their new friends!) and walk with us. Then when they did, we used our clicker and rewarded them. That worked pretty well, I was sure Smudge would run off after the others!
Next was getting them to sit. We held their treats a little higher and their bums seemed to go down naturally as they kind of stretched up! Next was 'down', which we achieved by getting them to sit and then moving the treat along the floor away from them. This didn't work very well with Smudge at first, but then the trainer suggested that I kind of raised my leg so that there was a space underneath it and held the treat the other side so he had to get down to get under my leg (looked pretty funny I can tell you!). Next was 'stand' which we did by walking back with the treat so that they had to get up to walk towards it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and can't wait for next week. It was lovely to meet other puppies as well as Smudge goes for his walks quite late and doesn't always see other dogs.
Oh, and we had some problems with the harness we got him but our trainer has lent us another one this week (slightly different type) and he took to it straight away!
Sorry to rattle on, but just wanted to share this experience.
All the best,
Nicola.
Tonight was Smudge's first training class and we're really proud of him!
It was so funny when we first arrived in the car park - all the puppies were labs! lol! Oh, and they were all so gorgeous! I couldn't take my eyes off them all!
We started with trying to calm the dogs down as naturally they were all excited. We said a part of their body and then touched it so we said 'paw' and then touched his paw. Then ear, teeth, tail etc.
Then one by one we let the dog off the lead and then had to act so excited that they would concentrate on us (and not their new friends!) and walk with us. Then when they did, we used our clicker and rewarded them. That worked pretty well, I was sure Smudge would run off after the others!
Next was getting them to sit. We held their treats a little higher and their bums seemed to go down naturally as they kind of stretched up! Next was 'down', which we achieved by getting them to sit and then moving the treat along the floor away from them. This didn't work very well with Smudge at first, but then the trainer suggested that I kind of raised my leg so that there was a space underneath it and held the treat the other side so he had to get down to get under my leg (looked pretty funny I can tell you!). Next was 'stand' which we did by walking back with the treat so that they had to get up to walk towards it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and can't wait for next week. It was lovely to meet other puppies as well as Smudge goes for his walks quite late and doesn't always see other dogs.
Oh, and we had some problems with the harness we got him but our trainer has lent us another one this week (slightly different type) and he took to it straight away!
Sorry to rattle on, but just wanted to share this experience.
All the best,
Nicola.