Back to School

Tonight Guinness began Intermediate classes at PetSmart. Unlike our last school, this one allows the dogs to play together before class. Guinness’s classmates are Marley, a goldydoodle (Golden/poodle mix), and Snorts, a pug/Jack Russell mix. Guinness always loves everyone, but Marley does not like Guinness, though Guin is very submissive. Snorts thought Guinness was OK, but Snorts’ parents were worried about giant Guinness’s boisterous play with small Snorts, plus he wanted to sit on Snorts. I told the owners that sitting on him was a sign of affection, as he used to sit on Hershey and roll over him as if he were a jungle gym. Since Guinness has learned most of the exercises, he served as an example. He was so attentive that he responded when the other dog’s handlers called, “Come.” When I left him on a sit stay, walked away 20 feet, and called him, the teacher complimented him on his focused, cute bouncy run. His classmates know “shake your paw” from their previous PetSmart training, and now they all need to learn “roll over.” There are a couple of red flags about his new class: their system of training uses only treats, NO corrections! Oh, my… This dog needs correction or we will never survive, let alone learn anything. Also the teacher is ambidextrous about heeling: you can teach your dog to walk on either side of you. I think that obedience training should be an exact science, but I will hold my reservations on that issue until I see how everything pans out.