Graduation week and gentle leaders

So Harley and Ace both graduated from their Beginner classes this week! :) Harley graduated Monday- which was also my 1 year wedding anniversary- and Ace graduated Wednesday. It was interesting to see how the two different trainers did their graduations and it was also neat to see how the pups did on Week 6 as compared to Week 1. Major improvements in my opinion. I got some really cute pictures of both of them wearing little graduation hats!

Harley's trainer/my trainer said that Harley is ready for the Intermediate class as far as knowing all of the behaviors, but not ready in regards to her reactions around other dogs and people. She still gets super excited and barks and jumps on people. So, the trainer recommended that we get a gentle leader for Harley before we put her in intermediate. So, the other day I bought a gentle leader- well, technically it was a Top Paw head collar, which I liked better because 1) it was cheaper, 2) it has padding on the nose strap, and 3) it attaches to the collar as a nice little safety feature. She's not too fond of it, of course, but we're working on it. It does make her walk better, we just can't stop for long or she'll try and get it off.

The intermediate class with Harley's trainer isn't until November, so that gives me time to work with her more and get her ready for it. Ace's trainer is a little more lax in the criteria for letting dogs into the Intermediate class. I taught her intermediate class this week, and I think neither of the dogs should be in it- personally, I think Ace is better than them because one of them won't even sit reliably. And dogs should at LEAST be able to do that before moving into the intermediate class.

That was the first intermediate class I've taught- and it wasn't that bad. I have my own intermediate class starting on Tuesday, so I'll have to let y'all know how it goes. Hopefully the dogs in that class will at least be able to know how to sit. So far three are signed up, and I've only taught one of them previously. So at least I know one of them knows the behaviors.

Well, it's getting late and I have to get up early to go to work!
More to come, and hopefully this time I won't wait so long before the next post.
Thanks for pawsing,
L

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 :)