July 21st Off Lead Surprise

Last night at class, we had quite a few new dogs and puppies show up. I was very proud of how well behaved Princess is around other dogs. She is curious, but not overwhelmingly so, and never once reacted to a threatening dog with fear or aggression, just a certain aloof non-chalance of ... well... a Princess.

The only dog she really seemed interested in was the Malmute puppy, and more freindly curiosity than anything else. All night she kept trying to turn around and look behind her. So we had a little battle over the lead control. We did a 'Free Baiting' test, and Princess did not want to cooperate with lead direction. So, our instructor told me to drop her lead. With a little uncertainty, I did as she asked. Lo and behold, Princess became a Pro Star Performer! Who would have thought? She heeled great, free baited great, and even trotted around the arena leashless past all the other dogs at heel! I was so proud of her.

The only things she seems to have issues with is keeping her feet still when she is supposed to be stacked, and loud 'crowd' noises. She about wet herself when the people watching started cheering and clapping at our instructor's request. So she was perscribed a new method of training to get her used to loud noises, crating at least 2 hours a day with loud rap music. Well, I can't torture my Princess that much, however, I did think that putting on a ballgame on the tv or the radio would be better since it has crowd noises.

This morning Jim put Princess in the crate in my room when he took James to school, and my little angel was a good girl, not one whimper. So I told him to turn on a ballgame tomorrow when he takes James. We'll see how it goes. Meanwhile I will be working on making her stand still when stacked. That to me will be a bigger challenge... heh.