The Dogs of Jackman Ave

I've been a slacker. We've been cooped up in the house for over a week b/c it's so flippin' cold out and I've done absolutely zero training with my dogs. They're all going a bit stir crazy b/c we haven't been walking either. Punxatawney Phil better be right this year!

Lola was thrilled to bundle up & go to Advanced Puppy last night. As we were going in, puppies were coming out and she made minimal fuss. I didn't have the GL on her and she was surprisingly responsive on leash...very little pulling (never let them pull, they never learn to pull, right?). She did greet some bigger pups inside the building & I really don't think they appreciate Lola's style of greeting (which is thumping them on the head with her big paw).

She couldn't wait for puppy playtime & didn't stop smiling the entire session!

She has a boyfriend in class named Brody that likes to hump her and she's not real good at telling him she's not that kind of gal.

She shares her water with him and let's him give her kisses too.

Handsome little guy, huh?

We all were to call our dogs & I was thrilled when I said "Lola, Come!", she stopped mid play & flew over to me! She has a great recall, especially for a baby (I have heavily reinforced coming to me every time I call since she was 8 weeks old. I always make it a huge deal when she does...and she does 98% of the time.)

Marsha pulled out some rattling hula hoops and gave us all one to have the dogs check out. Lola could've cared less & let me rattle it all around her and she jumped through it and sat inside it. She has no idea where her feet are & when I raised it off the ground for her to hop through, she tripped (she's full of grace...just like her Mom!). Marsha then spread the hoops around the room & we did some heeling and automatic sits inside the hoops. Lola's heeling was excellent. Her attention was excellent. Her auto sits we're good, but wide. We did some fronts (crooked) and some Swing Finishes (crooked). Not too concerned with perfection. Her downs are sporadic. She does not down every time when asked and often takes some coaxing. Need to work on that. Her stays are getting better. She will now sit & stay while I walk around her in a circle. Marsha laid gating on the floor for the dogs to practice walking on strange surfaces. She was tentative at first but was quickly walking over the gate after a few tries. She was stellar for the "meeting a strange" person. Actually, her attention was stellar...she really didn't want to meet them. She wanted to sit & stare at me. That's progress. No jumping on anyone. She has become much more aware of my body cues.

Hey! I think we're becoming a team!!