Saturday, March 3, 2012

Attention and Handling

Luna and I are trying our hand at some formal obedience.  This past week was our first lesson.  In the class are a border collie, golden retriever, standard poodle, foxhound, newfoundland, and a few labs.  Luna and I definitely stood out being the only greyhound and the only dog wearing a harness.  I explained to the trainer why Luna needed to wear a harness and she is fine with it.

The first thing we were supposed to teach our dogs was to lie down at our sides in a "rest" position so they did not feel the need to watch us all the time.  Luna was not having any of this lying down nonsense.  Since her accident she has a hard time getting into sits and downs so she is really resistant to my requests.  On top of that, she did not want to lie down on the strange matted floor.  Instead, I had her stand next to me in a relaxed position.  As long as she wasn't wandering off or sniffing anything I figure she is fine.

We did a few other exercises that we had some trouble with.  It is hard for me to hold the leash and treats when the leash keeps getting caught around her neck.  We wouldn't have this much trouble with a collar or if she was off leash, but neither of those are viable options.  I'm sure we'll figure out some way to work though this.

I'm excited for the next lesson because we are going to get our dogs excited about chasing a dumbbell.  No problem for us. :-)  Stay tuned to see if we can be the stars of the class next time.

1 comment:

Sue said...

Great that you've found something that you both enjoy.