Last night was Zara’s first Puppy Kindergarten class. We decided to go to Woofs Dog Training in Arlington. There were a couple other places I checked out, but Woofs had immediate openings and was highly rated. We will be doing the six-week Puppy Kindergarten and then likely moving on to the 7-week Puppy Basic class. In general, she is a good puppy and is starting to listen, but we want to make sure she has a solid foundation to be a stable, pleasant adult dog. Zara tends to get really hyper at night, so we were also hoping that the night class would tire her out!
When we arrived at the dog training center, we were put in a little pen with two other smaller dogs. One was a yappy little terrier and the other was a gray and black labradoodle. Zara was very hesitant around the other dogs and spent most of her time friending the other humans and climbing into their laps.
After a few minutes of playtime, we went into the main training area where 3 other larger puppies were playing: two other labradoodles (or something similar) and a really cute 11-week old pitbull puppy. All the owners sat down with their puppies and we started talking about issues with crate training and house-breaking. Luckily we haven’t been having many problems with either. Zara has gotten used to her crate at night and only whines a little bit when we put her in it at bedtime. House-training is going pretty well too.
After that, the trainer gave a demonstration of loose-leash walking with her dog. That is something we DEFINITELY need help with because Zara is not a fan of the leash or walking in general. The trainer demonstrated how to get your puppy to walk by your side by offering treats when the puppy was slightly behind you. Zara was a little distracted by the other dogs last night, but when I tried this technique with her this morning, she walked really well for about ten minutes! That doesn’t sound like a lot, but her attention span is very short since she’s still young.
At the end of the Puppy Kindergarten session, we let the dogs loose to play with each other again. Again, Zara was hanging back and staying out of the fray but after a few minutes, the pitbull puppy came up to her and growled. We thought Zara might shrink back or run away, but to our surprise, she growled back! They were just playing, but it was good to see her to get a little more confident as time went on. Hopefully she will be less shy during the next session.
We were right about her being tired – she slept all the way home in the car and then passed out on the couch as Chris and I were watching TV when we got home. Success! :)
