[Shadowboxer]

Tonight is our first night at puppy class! We are very excited. He's been such a smart little guy so I'm excited to see how he'll do.

As of now, just from training on our own, he knows sit, lay down, shake, roll over (he doesn't roll all the way over though, just onto his back), stay (he is surprisingly great at stay! Even when there's a whole bowl of food calling to him, he waits until I give him the signal!), come (about 75% of the time...lol) and 'go to bed' (he'll run and plop onto his pillow).

I'm really looking forward to getting a bit of hands-on extra help with the relationship between Newbie and my son (5 yrs old). My son's coming too, so that they'll get to work together. This is our first dog, so my son hasn't been used to having a rowdy doggie chasing after him, and while he loves to run around with him, he hasn't learned how to keep him from biting too hard or getting too rough, and Newbie DEFINITELY does not respect him as an authority figure. Newbie never growls at me or my bf, but will do it to my son (not in a mean way, but in a playful but still dominant way). My son will shout out commands in play and Newbie just ignores him, and my son will shout when he's getting 'attacked' and it just fuels the fire for Newbie and he goes after him even more. I've told Solomon not to scream and instead to speak firmly and clearly, and sometimes he does okay, but his instinct is to scream and turn/run away making Newbie think it's a game and giving him a better target to jump on without those darn hands in the way! I'd love to hear ideas from you guys regarding this issue as well.

I'm also looking forward to learning how to get Newbie to walk on a loose-leash, as this is something that he hasn't gotten through his head yet.

Well, wish us luck!! :crossfing

 

[JasperNY]

That's great! Look forward to hearing how it goes. We're on day#3 with our puppy so our efforts are still 100% focused on house/crate training.

Best of luck

 

[LuckyPup]

Good Luck in class! Good idea bringing your son. I brought both of my kids to Luck's class. It was very beneficial IMHO.

Let us know how it goes. Do not be too shocked if he does not listen to the commands he knows well. Too many distractions there. I learned that. Luck was all over the place and would not do anything he knew. He settled after about the third class....sort of!

 

[RSHANNING]

Good luck, I know Sierra loves puppy Headstart. She starts Puppy fundamentals on Nov. 7th.

 

[Shadowboxer]

Well, class went well...although I kind of wish that the trainers would have suggested leaving the dogs and kids at home for the first night! Oy! I spent all but about five minutes of the hour tugging on Newbie. It was so exciting and he wanted to go check out the other dogs but the trainers just did a lot of talking. Which is good, I understand, they're trying to help out the people who get dogs without doing research and just go over the basics for everyone, but it was a bit stressful trying to get Newbie to relax with so much going on and nowhere for that energy to go. And same thing with my son!! LOL. I'm sure next week will go better since we've got all of the preliminary stuff out of the way.

 

[zephyr]

I just wanted to add that I was really happy someone did bring their young son to our puppy class, since we don't actually know anyone with puppies OR kids -- we are kind of getting both types of socialization for our puppy at once during puppy class! (We are grad students, and all our friends are either pet-less, or own cats!)

The boy did run around A LOT and it was a little distracting at first, but I was actually very impressed with Oscar, who did not and tackle him every time he came near

BUT, I am still a little concerned that the boy will get accidentally bit or pushed over, because he plays really excitedly with the puppies, who I feel like also view him as just another puppy! So PLEASE everyone with children keep an eye on them if they do come to class -- although I know you all are already doing that!

 

[LuckyPup]

yes I definitely watch my kids very carefully when bringing them. all dogs in our classes are on leash.

Shadow,

I do understand the stress of the first class. Luckily, we did not bring dogs to the first class. I think I would have been pulling my hair out! Glad Shadow did well! Sounds like a smart lil guy (and handsome too).

 

[Ambesi]

Last night was our last night of kinderpuppy and the instructor said he's ready for advanced obedience which starts in three weeks. I remember Winchester the first night there. I posted about it here. It was the same thing, where it was all just listening and he got so bored! It will get better next week. Sounds like you are doing great with the training already. Woohoo! Ask the trainers about questions you have like with your son. They usually have great tools to share.

 

[Shadowboxer]

The boy did run around A LOT and it was a little distracting at first,

Before class actually started my son was doing a little bit of this...but then after the third 'time to chill, dude', I finally had to break out the big guns and threaten a grounding...lol. My kiddo is insanely well-mannered for a 5 yr old boy when we're out in public and I'm always so proud of his behavior when I see him with other little guys his age, but it was something about all those wagging tails that got him a little too excited! But after my stern-mean-mommy-face, he settled down and sat very quiet and raised his hand when he had something he thought was very important to impart to everyone (that there were 10 dogs there...lol). He did tell me how terribly boring it was though on the car ride home...lol...I told him to hang in there one more week and I bet it gets to be a lot more fun!

Oh, the other thing about the class I forgot to mention! It's mostly goldens!! There's a Great Dane, a Min-Pin, a Weimeriener *sp*, and 2 GoldenDoodles (which I counted towards my 'mostly goldens' statement) and the rest are all pure goldens. It was a little scary for me to see the 5 month old girls that Newbie at 3 months was a little taller than! He's going to be so big, we definitely need to get this loose-leash thing figured out, and SOON!! :

 

[Shadowboxer]

Last night was our last night of kinderpuppy and the instructor said he's ready for advanced obedience which starts in three weeks.

Yay! Congrats Winchester!!

 

[slip_kid]

classes are fun, after puppy k and basic obedience the trainer said to sit out the winter and let him mature then start the CGC in the spring.

so for now, abuot once a month the instructor has a free night and sets up the agility course for people to come putz around in. we'll go tonight cause our 6mo old hasn't had a walk due to all the rain since last night. he'll mess with the other dogs and prob hang around the tunnel looking for treats.

 

[NapaValleyGolden]

Newbie sounds like a very smart guy-and very cute!! Sounds like you've done a lot of work with him already. Enjoy your class, we loved puppy kindergarten.