our first training class

We completed our first training session with Milo last week.  I thought he was a pretty good dog until we arrived at class.  That's when the well behaved dog went into super canine mode.  He was hit in the face with all the smells that are inherent to a facility dedicated to all things dog.  He couldn't stop sniffing and pulling on the leash which in turn made him hack and cough because of the lack of air and pressure on his neck.  Then when you compare Milo with another pupil in the class who is training to be a service dog, it was all over.  That dog just sat patiently with his owner while Milo was pulling and tugging, coughing and hacking and sniffing.  Milo is a pretty social dog (yay!) so he was very interested in the other canines around the room.  The pulling and tugging turned into a steam engine force sled pull when he saw another dog he wanted to greet.  Then there was more hacking and coughing.  That was just the first five minutes.

It was now time to start.  We start with puppy playtime so the dogs can mix it up and burn off a little nervous energy.  Milo went off leash and wanted to mix it up with all the wee little dogs in his class.  The only dog capable of handling Milo's playful taunts was Shade the service dog.  And did I tell you that Shade is already well-behaved?  Well, when Milo and Shade got into it they enjoyed each others company so much that they started to get really rowdy.  So Shade's owner decided to call Shade off to settle down.  It seemed so easy and effortless.  Just call the dog by name and he'll come to you.  Shade went when called.  Milo?  Milo seemed to have lost his hearing.  So now I'm running after my cute fast dog trying to get him under control as he zooms around running over all the little dogs because he got so excited playing with Shade.  Oh if you could only hear me.  "Oops, sorry!  Milo, Come!  Hey, come!  Milo!!  Sorry!!" (as he runs over yet another little yorkiepoo with me chasing him!)  Thankfully I had my much younger and faster son with me who I implored to get Milo while practically doubling over in exhaustion and embarrassment after chasing Milo around the room.  That was just puppy playtime.

Ah, Milo is back on leash and now pulling, tugging and whining to get to the other dogs.  Time to train!  In orientation they told us to come with hungry dogs.  So we did.  We just didn't hear the part where they told us to bring our own treats!  So as you can imagine we have a hungry, whining, pulling, hacking, coughing, deaf, social dog and no treats.  The instructor didn't have any to share!  But one of the other dog owners took pity on us and shared some treats.  Did I ever tell you that Milo is kind of a picky eater?  You know where this is going, right?  Yep.  Milo didn't like the treats that the kind owner shared.  Yay!  This hour of my life was going splendidly.  Thankfully one thing we learned that night is that a hungry dog will eventually eat treats he has previously dismissed if they are the only food nearby.  We also learned how to look each other in the eye, sit, wait patiently for our food dish and how to walk across a 'scary' plank.  Good dog Milo!  That was our first training class.

One down, five more to go.  Pray for us!  :)