Obedience Class #4
Tonight was our 4th and final “real” class. Next week we have class, but it will consist of The Test. Our regular instructor, Kristie, was gone so Christine filled in for her. I think we have more similar mind-sets than do I and Kristie. She thinks along the same lines and backs up what I do with Midas.
Midas, on the other hand, was horrible. Our worst class since the first one. I had him on his Blocky Dogs collar instead of his prong because he can’t test with his prong. Thank goodness I had that on instead of his regular flat. I needed all the extra help I could get. I took him for a walk before class, to refresh his memory of what we were working on. We got to class and he is a complete…jerk. He was lunging, whining, not listening, not staying, nothing. I was mortified. I don’t know what got into him. The weather was unusual, it was hot and extremely humid and started thundering right before the end of class. Eric thinks he was so tired from the “lesson” earlier that he just didn’t feel like listening in class. I don’t think that’s an excuse. He should listen regardless, and if anything, our lesson earlier should’ve tired him out. It didn’t. He was horrendous.
Mercifully, Christine decided everyone should have a couple minutes working on heeling…at the same time. We had not done that in class ever, only one person usually worked on heeling at a time. Needless to say that Midas was extremely distracted, not only by the other dogs, but by all the smells (we practiced at a different area of the enclosure than usual too). I was unsure how forceful to be on his heeling, not knowing how Christine taught. She came up and demonstrated…the exact way that I usually work with him. So, I continued and he straightened up after a bit. He passed most of the other tests fine, with flying colors. Although, I have to say he was the worst of the bunch, which is abnormal for him. At the end of the class though, Christine said that he would have barely squeaked by. She said if we keep practicing at home, he should be fine by the test next week (I told Eric half way through class that I wasn’t even going to show up at the test, it would just be embarrassing). She did manage to increase my confidence a little and make me feel more hopeful. I haven’t decided yet if we will test or not. I feel that Kristie is much less lenient on what she will allow and what will “pass” so I don’t know if it would be worth the drive or not. It also depends on Midas’s attitude that day…although, I was gloating to Eric how perfect he was on our practice walk, so maybe that’s not a solid indicator either. UGH 