First class

Elsa is going to her first obedience class; her puppy class is at noon.  Puppy obedience class, the phrase is sort of a contradiction of words.  Puppies in a room together going to learn, hmmmmmmmmm.  Puppy class is basically a socialization time; the real learning is done by the owner who then takes the information home to teach to their puppy.  Most puppies have a very difficult time learning in a stimulating environment.  Not Elsa, nope she can learn just about anywhere.  Sure she will be slightly distracted but if there is food involved; she's on it.

It has been unbelievably so far teaching her anything; she already does sit, down, leave it, sits at the door to come in and is going to start on X today.  I will blog on the X behavior tomorrow.  Once we get that we will attack boundaries.  Class should be fun today; I am attending a very well known training facility that uses positive reinforcement methods of training.   The classes are on a drop in schedule so I'm hoping that on a Wed. there are some puppies to socialize with.

When I use to hold group classes we always had time at the beginning and end for social time.  Social time is a funny thing; a little is good, too much bad.  Once a dog get wound it's hard to unwind so less is more in class.  That goes for play time as well; often things go great until puppies get wound or tired and then things start to unravel.

With puppies, learning needs to be done in small amounts so an hour is going to be a longtime.  I'm not sure what we will cover in the class on this first day but I guess I'll find out.  I'm looking forward to seeing how Elsa does with the other puppies.  I'll let you know how it goes.