By Chase & Jan
My Obedience Lesson
I have been working hard since my last column. My mom has this great trainer (who shall not be named) from Phoenix who comes up to our fun matches and then gives me (mostly my mom!) lessons. WELL, the lesson I had in November was quite an experience for a famous dog like me! The first thing she did was hold my muzzle with one hand and with the other hand, put a treat right on my nose and told me, “Quiet.” Now, who can be quiet with a treat stuck on their nose?! At least I got my treat and lots of praise when I kept my mouth shut. I think they are trying to teach me to hold the dumbbell and not spit it out when it is wet or has grass on it.
The second thing my mom did was put the dumbbell in my mouth and held it there while she had another treat on my nose. How in the world can you hold a dumbbell really tight while trying to eat the treat that was on your nose?! I guess that is not what she wanted, so when I held it tight and quietly, I got the treat, praise, and more treats. I think I am starting to figure this all out.
The next thing she did was put the dumbbell close to me on the ground and told me to “get it.” I do like to mess around with it with my feet and even sometimes run past it. I try to tell them that I am just arranging it so I can pick it up. But, they don’t understand. When I did that, my mom pulled my hair and told me to get it correctly. What an indignation for a star, but I quit playing around and picked it up quietly. Again, lots of treats and lots of praise. Guess I would rather do that than get my hair pulled!
You understand that I have been doing all of this work while sitting in the sun. I heard my instructor tell someone to go sit in the shade. Yup, I was sure it was me, so I trotted over to the nice shady spot and took a rest. WHAT? My mom brought me right back to my sunny spot. Guess since I live in Arizona that I had better get used to showing in the sun.
The fun thing about taking obedience lessons from Debbie is that she also teaches you great tricks, like “paws up”, “spin” and “touch.” This makes training really fun along with the serious exercises. I do something correctly, and then I get to do a trick. Her school is named Precision Canine-Tricked Out Training, so you know it is a super fun place to train.
HAPPY TRAINING TO YOU AND A VERY HAPPY 2021!
