Yay for dog school!

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Postby pitbullmamaliz » December 23rd, 2010, 8:50 am

I'm just so proud of my pupper that I could burst, so I thought I'd share here. You guys know how much I've gone through with her and you celebrate her accomplishments almost as much as I do! lol

Last week we finished one of our Rally classes. It had turned into a more advanced level Rally because we'd all taken Beginner and were doing so well. Well, that class ended and 4 of the 6 dogs stayed at that day and time, but Ginger asked me and one other woman to switch to another Rally class so our old one could go off-leash. No problem.

So we started our new Rally class last night. There are only 3 other dogs in there which is nice (the last class was a little full and it made for snug quarters and a touch of nervousness on my behalf when doing run-throughs). One of them is Ruby, the reactive golden/greyhound (that's what I call her mix) that was in our last class, then we have a chocolate Lab who seems quite smitten with Inara, and a Cairn Terrier. Our first class with a small dog! I was a bit nervous, but what little faith I had in my dog!

It was a little chaotic when the class first began because Ruby and Inara feed off of each other a bit. Inara settled down way faster than Ruby did (what??? I no longer have the most reactive dog in class????) which was good. Ginger did her quick little spiel telling the other owners that Ruby and Inara have space issues that they need to be mindful of when working their dogs. She actually apologized to me before class for making that spiel because she doesn't want me to feel bad about it. I laughed at her. I'd be more upset if she DIDN'T tell the other people.

We're working on pretty advanced stuff: sits/downs/stands in motion, fancy turns, and we just started the beginning work of sits/downs/stands from a distance. Inara is a champ! Ginger used her as the example a couple times, mainly for the activity where Inara is in a sit, I take a large step to the right, and she has to scootch back into heel position. She actually does that really well!

Then we did a couple run-throughs. Usually our first run-through Inara kind of l0llygags around the ring, not quite as focused as I'd prefer. Last night though? Show dog. Eyes on me the whole time, prancing around, doing a left u-turn with no issues (woot! we can turn left now!), passing by the other dogs w/o a glance, etc. Stellar.

Even when the Cairn started to wander towards us, or the Lab's owner was playing a rowdy game of tug, she just purposefully looked at the distraction and then poked me in the leg with her nose - "mom, I just looked. Where's my treat???" It was perfect. :)
"Remember - every time your dog gets somewhere on a tight leash *a fairy dies and it's all your fault.* Think of the fairies." http://www.positivepetzine.com"

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Postby TheRedQueen » December 23rd, 2010, 9:16 am

:)

Fantastic!

I love these Liz n' Inara updates! 8)
"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw
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Postby ArtGypsy » December 23rd, 2010, 9:36 am

HORRAY!!
So Happy for You....
Good Reasons to be Proud!! :D
“Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are Anger and Courage.
Anger that things are the way they are.
Courage to make them the way they ought to be.”----Augustine
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Postby Hundilein » December 23rd, 2010, 9:40 am

Congratulations! You and Inara have come a long way and you have a lot to be proud of!
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Postby mnp13 » December 23rd, 2010, 10:32 am

I forgot to ask you about this this morning! Great work!
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Postby furever_pit » December 23rd, 2010, 11:51 am

YAY for you both!
It is obvious how much you enjoy Inara and the training you are doing together.
She's lucky to have you.
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Postby pitbullmamaliz » December 23rd, 2010, 11:57 am

Thank you all! I'm just always so pumped and excited after dog school. I think there's a Rally competition coming up in March, so maybe we'll try our hand/paw at an actual show. :)

furever_pit wrote:She's lucky to have you.

That totally made me smile - thank you. Though I assure you that it's most definitely the other way around. She's improved my life ten-fold.
"Remember - every time your dog gets somewhere on a tight leash *a fairy dies and it's all your fault.* Think of the fairies." http://www.positivepetzine.com"

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Postby Tubular Toby » December 23rd, 2010, 12:37 pm

That is awesome news!! =D
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Postby Malli » December 23rd, 2010, 12:39 pm

woo hoo!
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Postby pitbullmamaliz » January 5th, 2011, 9:30 pm

Inara apparently had a target painted on her side during class tonight. Ruby had her usual fit upon seeing her, and then Duke, the chocolate Lab, kept barking and growling if she got close. Inara was great - she lunged back at Duke one time, but the rest of the time kept paying attention to me and doing her thing. But then Bruce, the Cairn, decided he wanted to come meet Inara. His mom has been dropping the leash (with Ginger's permission as she is more advanced) while doing the courses. Tonight for the first time, she actually took his leash off. Well, he knew it. He immediately came over to see Inara. I (calmly) grabbed her by the collar and started talking sweetly to her and giving her treats, while using my foot to fend off Bruce. Inara was great for about 10 seconds - she was calm, didn't bark or lunge, ate treats. But then after 10 seconds she seemed to have enough of it and lunged/barked. She obviously didn't get anywhere, and directly afterwards she went back to eating her treats. No harm, no foul, but annoying!
"Remember - every time your dog gets somewhere on a tight leash *a fairy dies and it's all your fault.* Think of the fairies." http://www.positivepetzine.com"

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Postby Jenn » January 5th, 2011, 9:50 pm

Oh well, baby steps are BIG steps ~ way to go both of you! :)
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Postby TheRedQueen » January 5th, 2011, 9:55 pm

The Inaras must have been chatting with each other this week...:nono:

Glad that it wasn't any worse! yea for good girl Inaras!
"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw
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Postby pitbullmamaliz » January 19th, 2011, 10:24 pm

Class tonight was great! We rocked our Rally run-throughs, and Inara did fantastic at ignoring the other dogs who were about 4' from her at a few points. Until the JRT came out. His mom owns the Cairn, and she stays to do the following class with her JRT. She wanted to do a run-through with him. Well, fortunately it was at the end of class 'cause Inara was done after that. No barking, just a very predatory stare. Ignoring all treats. Totally over-threshold. So at that point management became a priority. I straddled her and turned her into the corner so she couldn't see him. Never any barking. Very weird. But other than that she was stellar!
"Remember - every time your dog gets somewhere on a tight leash *a fairy dies and it's all your fault.* Think of the fairies." http://www.positivepetzine.com"

http://www.pitbullzen.com
http://inaradog.wordpress.com
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