We managed to get through Puppy, Basic and Sub-Novice. There are a few kinks in the
Novice classes that we are taking now. The instructor says it's called "Mommyitis".
I call it "She's being a little witch!" She does pretty well on everything but the
STAY command. When the instructors are working with her during her day care sessions,
she does fine. When I'm there, she tries to sneak up and stand with me even though
she's supposed to be sitting or in a stand position. She does a little better in the
DOWN position only because she's a lazy little witch.
She goes to doggy day care 3-4 days a week. Greatest thing ever invented. Since she
is a very social dog, she gets to play just about all day except for the time devoted
to her obedience instructions. By the time I pick her up, she is totally pooped. She
has her dinner and then passes out. Keeps her from bothering the other furballs. When
she doesn't have day care, she can be a holy terror. Bites the other dogs' nub of a
tail, chews their ears, chases the cat (when he lets her) and is basically a brat. There
have been times when I've thought about breaking into the training facility, dropping
her off and letting them find her the next time they open.
She's actually a very sweet dog and gets along well with just about anything that moves.
Puppies, children, old dogs, whatever. She plays well with all of them. It's just that
she is still a puppy at one year old. Takes a while for a Rottie to grow up. And she
weighs about 88lbs so she is a large baby.
Training Update:
On December 7th, it was time for another try at passing the Novice exam. She was very earnest about it and tried hard. Again, the STAY command was her downfall. Of course, I wasn't much help. Not enough coffee before going to class and I acted more like I was sleep walking. So next Saturday, we have Novice class again. This one won't be as bad since it's at 11:00am instead of "O Dark Hundred". Of course, practice will be a little harder since it will be the dead of Winter. We're also doing an "Attention" class on Monday night which is supposed to teach her to watch me. Actually, she watches where I hide the tidbits and tries to get them out of my pocket.
