Tuesday, April 14, 2009

First day at school

Bella and I went to her first training class at a local chain pet store last night.

She was totally distracted for the first half hour (which is exactly why I took her to the class--not because she doesn't understand commands, but because she needs exposure to other people, other dogs, strange noises, etc. etc. etc.) But by the end of the class, she was (exhaustedly) doing as she was told, and was extremely well behaved sitting-and-staying next to the doggy-treat display as I loaded up a bagful of burger-shaped and cat-shaped dog cookies to buy and take home. And by itself, that achieved my objective of taking her to the class; she had a lesson in stress-management and came out of it smiling.

But.

The trainer wants me to put a muzzle on her, and introduce her to other dogs face-to-face, rather than walking them side-by-side and allowing another dog to sniff her.

That doesn't match with my expectations... and it doesn't feel right. She needs to learn to walk with other dogs, not be forced into a confrontation. Maybe I misunderstood?

Will see what I feel like next week. I may just call up our local professionals, instead: http://www.argentine-dogo.com/About_Us.html

3 comments:

Editor said...

The muzzle thing doesn't sound right to me either. Where's the Dog Whisperer when you need him? He knows the answer!

Lorraine Rimmelin said...

MUZZLE her beautiful face!!!
And the sniffing thing is so over-rated, when she's looking for a good sniff bring her over to meet my big boys, Moose & Jesse James, they will be happy to accommedate her in any way..LOL

Alison Toon Photographer said...

She is not having a good day today. Despite being out in the backyard first thing this morning, (and using the opportunity to go potty) she peed just inside the front door as we were getting ready to go for a walk an hour later. Somehow the lead/leash freaked her out. I have no idea why her leash or me attaching it to her would scare her. So I cleaned up, sprayed Nature's Miracle, took her out for a walk, and the first hundred yards she did on her belly.

She did get very upset at the vets yesterday: took three people to give her a Lyme's prevention shot, a microchip, and some drops in her (red) eyes. But this morning she let me put her eye drops in with no problem at all. Maybe the front-door pee was revenge? :-)