Next-to-the-last Advanced Class

We “discovered” when tested a couple of weeks ago that Guinness heels off leash! Tonight, we perfectly walked the length of the store twice “off leash” (actually a long leash was attached to him just in case). In real life, distractions would ruin his concentration, but, while on an exercise in class, he is focused on his task. Next we were directed to walk in and out of every aisle in the store, stopping at signs to do what was posted such as sit/down/sit, watch me, get on your bed, fast/slow, etc. The dog was on leash, but the master was also holding a spoon with a tennis ball thus we could only correct verbally. If the tennis ball fell, we had to go back to the beginning. We did the entire course in one loop!

Again, we did the “Leave it” routine. This time, the master left the dog sitting at one end of an aisle and walked to the other end. You were to call your dog to “Come” with a treat halfway down the aisle. There is no way that Guinness is going to avoid a treat. So, while walking away from him, I stopped at the treat, pointed it out, and said, “See this treat? You can’t have it. Mommy will give you treats at the end. You have to leave this treat here!” And he did! He understood me! As he approached the treat, he slowed down, looked askance at it, skirted around it with measured steps, then came straight to me for my treats. In fact, he did that twice. Then the teacher wanted us to do it one more time… Oh, well, you can’t win them all.