I had to get some fixing done on the truck and then we had a vet appointment to get his rabies vaccine, and then insufficient time to get home before puppy class, so it was a long day – noon until 7.
We started in the truck-fixing waiting room. It took Spider about 5 minutes to examine everything, think about eating a plant, and run out of things to put his mouth on. After that he lay down, ate a few treats, chewed on my shoe a bit, wagged his tail at the guys behind the counter, and went to sleep, We were there for two hours. Clever boy.
From there we went to the vet. He loved her up and didn’t stop wagging even while she was giving him the shot. What a lovely temperament!
Another hour of silence in the car crate, and then to puppy class. We worked on Loose Leash Walking. He’s interested in the other puppies (lots of puppies, smallish area), but tried hard to pay attention. He has a really good handle on the idea that when the leash gets tight he should look for me.
We did some platform work. He’s never done this before, so I shaped him to put his feet an the stool, then I started asking him to circle his butt around in both directions. Not bad!
Go around a pylon – again, I shaped him. He got a little stuck on targeting the pylon, but he figured it out and went cheerfully back and forth around it.
Go To Mat – got some nice work here. Shaped him again. He got it right away, even though we haven’t worked it since class last week. I got the mat up to 5′ away from me, and got him reliably lying down on it. That worked up into a sweet response to the down cue at that distance, and up to 5 seconds of a down stay. Why am I surprised? It feels like we’re starting to communicate.
Finally, we let the horde play and one by one we called them, rewarded, and let them go back to playing. I had to go right up to him the first time, but after that he came every time I called.
A very satisfying day with a lovely puppy.