Puppy Class

Sorry I have been slacking with the blog! Not much has really happened since my last post. Working, eating, sleeping, and going to church on Sundays! I will mention a little bit about church last weekend. It was their one year anniversary, and they fed us a great lunch. We sat at a table with 2 other couples, and ended up talking for 2 hours! We looked at the time and realized we had been at church for 4 hours and didn't even notice!

Last night Tinkerbell had her first Puppy Class at PetsMart. It was really fun, and she actually learned a lot her first day! They gave us one of those little metal "clicker" things that you click to tell her dog they did what you wanted. I had never really thought that would work, and always thought it was kind of stupid, but Tinkerbell caught on VERY quickly! The first thing was to "load the clicker" which was pretty funny. You don't say anything to the dog, just click and give a treat, click and give a treat. We probably gave her 20 treats (pieces of Lilliann's food) while loading the clicker. This teaches them that when they hear the click, they get a treat. I am now her best friend, because she associates 20 treats from me in about 5 minutes! Next was to teach her "look at me" which is supposed to be the best thing to teach your dog. You hold the treat in front of her face, then hold it out. She stares at it, and you say "Tinkerbell look at me" and she is supposed to look you in the eyes. So the very second she makes eye contact, you click the thing, and give her a treat. She does it every time! I even tried this morning without a treat or the clicker, and she did it! Even though she really didn't learn much in class, she listens a whole lot better now. Just one hour class has helped a ton. I am excited to see what all she learns.

This is a picture of both dogs looking at the treat before I said "look at me."

~*~ Ashley ~*~