First day of school and anxious dogs

Man it's been a little while since I last wrote something for this blog... almost a week! Argh I can't believe I fell so behind! I'm so disappointed in myself.

Well anyway, Ace has his first day of class tomorrow night which I am excited about. Though I'm also nervous since he gets very excited around other dogs, especially when he's on the leash. He's gotten a lot better on his walks- last night when we took both of them out, a dog was coming towards us and Ace never freaked out. He just watched it as it passed right by us. I was so proud of him! But just to be on the safe side, I'm going to buy a bully stick to distract him with during class if I need to. My manager actually suggested that because the other day I had a dog that was going crazy in class because of all the other dogs. He was barking the entire time and I could barely hear myself think and had to keep stopping class to try and distract the poor dog. So my manager suggested I just have a bully stick in class in case a dog does that again, then I can give it to the dog and let him chew on it and calm himself down. Then I can suggest that the pet parent get a couple for their dog for class times and other situations they need their dog to chew on something and not get too anxious or excited.

I feel like a terrible pet parent, I haven't worked with either of my dogs in a couple days. It's just been so crazy since my colleague resigned- I come home from work exhausted. And then our A/C broke and water soaked the ceiling and leaked through the fire alarm and set it off at 2:00 am the other day... it's just been a mad house here all week! 

Well, I'm exhausted.
More tomorrow, I promise.
:)
Thanks for pawsing!

Bark-alaureates and impregnation

Training class tonight went pretty well. Harley was so excited by all the other dogs- one of which was a 5 month old Golden Retriever who was much calmer than Harley. She kept barking- though not as much as this little Yorkie-mix. But it was helpful for me to see how all the pet parents feel when in class- especially when with a crazy dog! :P It was very hard to listen to the trainer and make sure my dog was behaving at the same time. So, had I not been trained to know exactly how to teach the things we covered in class, I probably would not remember the material very well and struggle a bit to remember and work with my dog correctly over the course of the next week. One thing that's a bit of a downer... there's no class next week, which means we'll finish one week later than anticipated. And I start working on Mondays the week after the original graduation date- so that means that I'll now be working the night Harley graduates. I scheduled a class to start that night too so it's not like I can just ask off. So hopefully my hubby will be back from his training by then and can take her to her graduation. Or I'll just have to find a time to schedule a makeup.

I just remembered that I haven't been keeping up with my dog college. :P It's pretty fun and informative though not at all "real." But here's the link- it's done by the same people that produce the Dog Fancy magazine. http://www.dogchannel.com/dog-college/default.aspx  I have two diplomas from it- for the 100 and 200 level courses - Bark-alaureate, meaning that I graduated with better than 90% on all the quizzes. And actually, I graduated with all 100% in the level 200 classes and all but one quiz in the level 100 classes. Which was so frustrating- I missed it by one question on one quiz. And if you get 100% on all quizzes in all 4 levels then your name is submitted into a drawing to win free dog food for life. Oh well. :P Can't remember what brand of dog food it was anyway- I'm probably feeding mine better stuff. haha.

Well, I was so worried about Ace tearing the kitchen apart while he was home alone while Harley was at class... and he totally surprised me and didn't destroy anything! I'm not sure if he barked or cried, so I can't call him a perfect little angel like I'd like to because I'm not 100% sure that he wasn't a nuisance. 

Just remembered that I need to get them registered so I can get their rabies tags. I also would like to get Ace's pedigree and get him registered with the ASCA (Australian Shepherd Club of America). And I need to get them fixed before Harley's estrous cycle starts and Ace starts mounting her at the right end. So far I'm not worried about him impregnating her... cause he mounts her at the wrong end. And then she proceeds to lick and bite his... for lack of a better word... thing. Which is just plain weird. But he's not humping her rear so I'm not too worried. Poor confused little Ace has no idea how to procreate. haha. I'm fine with that though. :P

Anyway, it's late and I have to work tomorrow. I must admit I'm afraid that there'll be a little drama about the shenanigans that went on on Saturday. Ugh... lol.

Until the next post,

Thanks for pawsing :)

Dog parks and group classes

I read an article and a bunch of comments about how dog parks are great in theory but in reality not that great or safe for pups or people. And now I will not be taking mine to any dog parks.
Here is the link to the article- following the article are a bunch of stories and comments supporting what was said in the main article. http://leerburg.com/dogparks.htm

This snippet is from an especially touching story- I cried, no surprise there seeing as I cry at Lowes commercials, but still- about a dachshund attacked by a rottweiler at a dog park. "Grr the brown dachshund was just getting used to being around other canines at dog parks. He stopped soiling the ground whenever he was approached by a dog and wasn't afraid to sniff another mutt. Grr became that scared little dog again on July 2 when a hulking Rottweiler cornered and attacked him in a central Bakersfield dog park. Despite getting kicked and punched in his face, the growling Rottweiler only stopped after it fatally punctured Grr's throat. The dachshund would die about 31/2 hours later, according to Animal Emergency and Urgent Care."

So now, I mostly just intend to take mine to a regular large park (not a dog park) that I have previously taken them to, as well as a pet friendly beach (but I'll still be very wary there). And I'd like to take them to doggy day camps sometimes as well- just because I know that all the dogs there have their vaccines and have been evaluated and it's a safe environment.

Harley (hopefully) will start her training classes next Monday and Ace should begin the following Wednesday. I'm taking them to classes, not because I have doubts about my own abilities to train them, but because I can't provide them with the social aspect and the distractions that a group class can. Sure, I could train them outside where people walk there dogs, but the second one of my dogs barks, the other person usually freaks out and whips there dog away in fear of mine- not realizing that mine are puppies and just want to play. So then there goes a chance to train my dogs in the presence of another dog. And that's what I really want to work on- getting them used to being around other dogs and behaving "properly" around other dogs, so that when we do encounter another dog on a walk, they won't go berserk with excitement and unintentionally scare people off. That's something I don't think people realize- is that even trainers have issues with their own dogs. We're not perfect, our dogs aren't perfect. Although I want both of mine to be able to be demo dogs for the classes I teach, that'll be a ways down the road yet.

Speaking of classes, I came really close to selling classes yesterday- like 4 of them. I was very proud of myself for clearly impressing a couple people with my knowledge in different areas, and for "planting the seed" (to borrow the phrase from my area trainer) of training in a couple peoples' minds. This one couple in particular had come in a few days before buying a bunch of stuff in preparation for a pitbull puppy they were going to get in a couple days. Then yesterday they came in with said puppy (adorable, 7 weeks old- too young to be taken from mama in my opinion) and I spoke to them again about training. The first time I'd encountered them they'd seem at first against the idea of training them outside the home, since the man had trained all his previous dogs himself. But when I mentioned that the Advanced class preps dogs to take the CGC test and some landlords nowadays are lifting breed restrictions if the dog is CGC certified, their entire demeanors changed. They admitted to me that they weren't supposed to have a Pit and were going to have to "hide" her til they found a new place. And so when I saw them yesterday, they were very happy to see me again and genuinely seemed as if they will sign up for my puppy class a few weeks down the road since the pup is still too young.

Well shucks... time for work. But at least I'm teaching classes again tonight!!!
More cute pet parent stories to come!