O.h. m.y. w.o.r.d! We are so going to FAIL (or get expelled)!!

I'm doing this class simply for the socialization and training opportunities while a bunch of other puppies are being a distraction. I have to share a paragraph from the training manual we received last week. This trainer very much encourages early socialization to prevent fear and uncertainty in your dog as an adult. One of the homework assignments is a check list of people/things/activities we should attempt to encounter over the next month, including things like person in a wheelchair, person wearing a hat, sitting on a sidewalk watching passing traffic, etc. My "favorite" instruction in this section is how to get your puppy to meet a young child without creating a bad experience for either the child or the pup. And it reads like this:

"Meeting children might involve observing one quiet child first. Try approaching the child slowly, at the pup's pace, with the child seated on the floor to appear less threatening. Have the child hold out a treat for the puppy to take. Let the pup sniff the child. Let the child GENTLY rub the pup over the shoulders..."

You get the picture... In my experience that calm, quiet child has just been ground into the carpet and all that's left is a fat, greasy spot!!

Think about us tonight from 6:30 to 7:30!! (BTW, I'm excited that out of 10 puppies, there's another husky!!)

that sounds like fun!!

Good luck tonight and yay for another husky in the group!

I can't wait to meet the other dogs! We had our orientation class last week with humans only. Most puppies are at least 8 months old. Sabaka and the other husky are about the same age (about 5 months old). I would freak out if they are related!

I just hope I can prevent my Mr. Social from bowling over the first tiny Shih Tzu he sees!

awww sounds fun! when we registered embry for puppy class, they thought he was too big so he was pushed into basic obedience, but he had a german shepherd puppy the same age to play with, so obviously there was no learning involved lol

The place I did puppy class didn't allow puppies over 4months old. I bet it's going to be crazy! But puppy class is soooooo much fun! You'll have a blast! That's so cool that there's another husky. Found out there is another husky puppy Elara's age in the puppy class right now. We missed them, dang it! Elara already finished her puppy class, but we still got to meet them. Pretty little red and white female.

I wish I could find a little kid to be quiet like that. lol. Elara was terrorized by two little girls when we went to the park. The one got on all fours and wouldn't stop barking at her! Scared Elara to death. I hate little kids sometimes!

Well, we survived! All the other puppies were so calm, even the other husky made Sabaka look like a raging idiot! How do I keep getting huskies like this? The other husky owner said that his husky has two schnauzers at home who wear him out. I think he was just being nice! His puppy was about 3 weeks older than Sabaka but much smaller!

The "walking on a loose lead" went better than the "come when called". This certainly shocked me! I guess I have been trying to get him to be a pleasant walker since I've got him. One thing I like about this instructor is that she is not making us demand a "heel" position. She says the dog just needs to be obeying you and on a loose lead if you are just training for pleasant walks. Yay!!

"Come when called" was a disaster! I learned that in Sabaka's opinion other puppies > treats.

Poor Elara!! I definitely see the benefits of having puppies introduced to many different things in a POSITIVE way (not a brat kid on all fours and barking) while they are young. A scared dog can become a biter.

Whoo Hoo!!

Another puppy class under the belt (or the collar, as the case may be)!! It was great! I had to take the cat to the vet this week and the vet told me that the instructor's order of lessons makes all huskies look bad the first night. The two lessons on week one were come when called and walk on a loose lead - both of which are NOT easy for a husky. Tonight was beautiful! Sabaka was handling the sit, down and stay like a professional! Yay!

BTW, the instructor recommends holding a stick of string cheese at your side for the dog to nibble to keep him at a heel position and on a loose lead. We can walk about 1/3 of a mile using one FROZEN stick of cheese! I think this may eventually work...

Yay Sabaka!

I like that cheese string idea!

Ooooh! FROZEN string cheese! Great idea! Regular string cheese just doesn't last long enough.

Ha, Sara, you are right! I thought to freeze it after we could barely get to the end of the driveway before half of the cheese was gone! I don't want him to have multiple sticks of cheese at a time, so I froze the sticks and it works!

We had a nice walk the other day past THREE dogs in their invisible fences with NO pulling and lunging!