Last night was obedience night and I have to say - Steeler did great. We switched back to the 5:45 class since Maria has a new job (YAY!!!!) and wasn't sure if she could make the early class. There are a couple of intact boys in the class - And Steeler really didn't care at all about them. He did join in the barking a few times, but really I guess that would be kind of a normal dog response.
And we have a puppy in the class. A few times Steeler has not handled puppies well and I usually avoid them if at all possible. This time though we were able to work through a lot of it - including having to set up for a heeling pattern that started in front of the puppy. We still need some work there - but he is getting better all the time.
Tonight was agility class. There was a new (to Steeler not agility) Belgian Mal in the class. A girl who Steeler thought he just had to say hi too. Our first sequence that we worked on he had no trouble with the other dogs being in the ring. And he handled the sequence really well. Even when I twisted my ankle in the sand. On the second sequence he really just HAD to go say hi to Jazz. *sigh* So we had to work through that a bit. Really he just wanted to play with her. I was a bit nervous at first because she seems a bit reactive, barking and lunging at the dogs while they are running. But maybe that is just part of a herding breed??? I don't have that much experience with Mals, even though I have a friend that has a couple. We had to work the rear cross a bit, but we haven't worked much on rear crosses.
And the best part of class tonight was that Steeler was hanging out withing 4 feet of Solo - the young intact Briard that he initially had some trouble with - and the boys were great. Steeler showed no signs of anxiety around Solo. Solo of course thinks that they should be able to play - but I am not ready to test that theory yet.
I am looking forward to our Communications class this week as we are working on some toy stuff. I really need to build some toy desire back into Steeler's toolbox in places other than the back yard.
Great work, Jenn! I wish I had the time to do more obedience with the girls. It's something I've always enjoyed. Jazz is going to try Rally again in a couple weeks, but otherwise, most of our training is focused on agility for the moment.
ReplyDeleteLet us know how the Communications class goes. I so wish we had a class like that available to us around here. Sounds like you're getting a lot out of it. Keep us posted!