Two Weeks Down

After two weeks of dog training school, I feel like I have a little bit better of a feel for what it's going to be like from here on out. It is extremely draining, both physically and mentally. Granted, it's enjoyable too, but I feel pretty worn out today. Last night I hung out with some of the other students at one of their trailers and it was a little mind-boggling that I have barely spoken a word to some of them in two weeks simply because we are always occupied doing something else on the week days. To be honest, it feels a little bit like boot camp here sometimes! We have to use proper posture, tone of voice, keep things clean and in order...oh, and we get up insanely early. Our minds never rest; we always have to be thinking of how the dogs will perceive us and what it communicates to them. But, it's really not as hard as real boot camp because I would never survive that.

Yesterday I bathed Gabe and trimmed his toenails myself for the first time. For being such a docile, nice dog, he is an abolute hellion when it comes to his nails. With the help of Julie, the intern, holding him, I was able to cut all of his nails and did not make him bleed one time. Small triumph, but I was happy and relieved!

I am fighting some kind of major allergies and/or head cold. It's been waking me up in the night because there is so much pressure in my head. I can't afford to lose sleep, so I really hope it gets better soon...

One of my favorite things I learned about this week was recalls with your dog. Something that just about every dog owner can struggle with is getting their dog to come when called. It is often because we have such a backwards mentality with getting a dog to come to us. I know most of my dogs have been no exception to that. Jessy had us go out on the training field yesterday and observe a few of our classmates with their dogs. She had them take their dogs off leash and let them go. The dogs of course ran around happily, and as they ran one direction, the handler was to run in the opposite direction. It was amazing to see that every single dog, when realizing their master was running away from them, followed them. Typically, when we try to catch a dog, we run towards them, and the dogs will make a game out of it and take off the other way. It is frustrating and can be a life or death situation for a dog if it runs from you. So, our homework this weekend is to do 100 recalls with our dog. We have to get a partner to hold the dog's collar for us, we run away from our dog holding a 30 foot leash, and when we get about 15 feet away call the dog and then run backwards so they will come to us. It works beautifully, but I have no idea how I will get 100 done in the next 2 days. We only do sessions of 5-10 reps, it's too hot outside to work on it in the middle of the day, and I have two dogs. That means two hundred recalls...

My two least favorite classes so far would have to be Business and Group and Private class. Business because, well, I have nooo idea about/interest in business, and Group and Private because we have to get up in front of the class and talk. I know they are vital parts to the whole process but I still dislike them.

Well, I feel like this is a thoroughly boring post. I figured though that since the internet is down once again at the school and I drove to a Comfort Inn to steal their internet signal that I should at least put an update out while I can. I'm headed for the store and then doing my homework for however long it takes me.