For those of y'all who don't know, I've been volunteering with a group called A Cause for Paws and running one of their rescue dogs through Basic Obedience. Mack is just a peach, but needed some manner-teaching. Here's the email I sent out after our "graduation" last night:
Whoo hooo! I just wanted to let y’all know that Mack-a-doodle – and I! – graduated from basic obedience. How very cool is that? I was absolutely, 9000% certain that we’d fail the down/stay and not graduate (what a failure I am :-p)…but he totally surprised me. Every time we’ve worked on down or down/stay in the last coupla weeks, he’s been hideous. His sit/stay was beautiful. His heeling is really good. He’s gotten sooooooo in tune to stopping/auto-sitting when I stop (especially at the curb, waiting for a light – what a dollbaby!). But the down and down/stay was foul. And with moving and the rest of my crazy life, I haven’t had the time to spend tons of time working on it.
HOWEVER. He’s a prince. I put him in a down – and threw a treat down his throat. Told him to stay…and took off. I didn’t turn back to look, but also didn’t hear Marie say anything. Such a good sign, right? So, I touched the thing (can’t remember what it was) and turned around to come back – yes I was walking very, very fast. AND HE WAS STILL IN POSITION. Ok, so it wasn’t perfect. He definitely looked like he wanted to break the down…but he was in it!!! He did pop up right before I got back in position…but who the hell cares, right? He did it, he did it, he DID it!!! I was sooooo proud. (and yes, he got another whole treat thrown down his throat :-p)
The only other comment (other than working on his breaking the down) was that the leash was too tight on the heel/sit…which was totally handler error. I’m so used to holding a really tight leash with my two that poor Mack “suffered.”
So, we did it. And Mack’s a STAR!!! Alice said that since we’ve been going to class, he’s been more laid back – not totally chill, but working on it. He’s also been playing much more nicely with all the folks over there. Personally, I think he’s just as damned tired as I am hoofing back and forth from the LES to Union Square. What a walk! Alright, so I’m multi-tasking and using the walk to class as a training walk, too. My Chicago walk is FAST approaching – less than 90 days. Ick. Now I just need to do more training work with MY kids.
Anyways….sorry for being so long-winded. I’m just so proud. And I’ve had WAY TOO MUCH COFFEE. ;-)
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