It is past time for puppy training for our youngest sproodle, Jack. He’s adorable, very smart, and definitely thinks he’s in charge of the house. I “trained” Winston, Jack’s older brother, on my own to do the few basic things I require to keep life happy. Winston has good manners and is pleasant to be with, but he doesn’t have skills. Jack fetches like a pro, sits without hesitation, but otherwise runs wild. So….I signed up for training lessons, both group and individual and what a difference I see after just two weeks.
I had visions of walking into class with the most brilliantly behaved dogs – they were going to be the star pupils, I just knew it….so wrong. Instead of being the shining star, Jack was the class clown. When I was actually giving him instructions, he was perfect – he did everything I asked and picked up a new task after two attempts. However….when the instructor was speaking and the humans were (trying) to focus on listening Jack would whine or roll about on the floor, occassionally plopping himself down with a loud sigh. Drama Queen doesn’t even begin to describe his antics. Winston looked on quietly pretending he didn’t know Jack.
Winston is going along with the new skils, I think his motive is to show how ill behaved his younger brother is. I think Winston has always longed to be an only dog, don’t tell Hubby – I have him convinced that Winston was lonely.
Michelle, owner of Leader of the Pack, is fabulous. Having her professional expertise to observe and work with us to train the dogs is making all the difference in our interaction with Winston and Jack. My son and daughter-in-law have trained their sproodles (sisters of our guys) on their own and done a fabulous job. I need someone that’s going to be watching to see if I’ve practiced to motivate me, otherwise the computer is too big a draw. Not that you’ve asked for it, but I’ll let you know how we progress, I now know that a game of fetch prior to class will benefit Jack – at least that’s the plan…