Ok so we had our second class. This class is seriously more then I would have ever thought Lizzie could handle EVER!!! I know she could not have handled this class even a few months ago. She was so awesome, she just keeps amazing me. So first off there is free play. I think it really threw Liz that her buddy Hunda was not there when she went in. I think from watching her she gathers some confidence from having her little buddy there and from having her Alicia around. She was just more unsure and not as wild about free play, and she was so ecstatic when she saw her friends. Of course there were other dogs this week that were rougher dogs, and Liz is not into rougher play. The funny thing is little Hunda who is corgi size is Liz friend, and he is by far the smallest dog there and the instructors were worried about him playing because of his size. Every week he just marches in and is so confident, and acts like he doesnt have a care in the world and it has never occurred to him that anyone could ever give him any trouble. Liz on the other hand is always sizing everyone up and making sure everyone knows not to sniff her too much, dont get too much into her space, and is very busy letting everyone know she is no threat, the minute they give her any eye she is rolling over letting them know she does not mean to take anything over. Liz is also the official fence checker, she feels she needs to recheck it every week, just in case....I notice that and that worries me about her. I am getting to be a pretty good fence checker myself, and gate watcher. All the other people in the class do not seem to worry that much about the gate and are sort of more laid back, I can tell their dogs probably wouldnt just run, I think mine would....... One thing I have noticed that suprises me is that Liz does go up to all the people that are there, people she knows and people she doesnt to say hi and ask for a few pets. I have always wondered if she got loose and got lost if she would go to people and I am suprised at how much she does look to anyone she finds, so maybe that is good.
So then we get into class. OMG!!! It is really a rough one for the dogs I think, purely higher level concentrating and not a lot of break in between or no spacing out the concentration with some sort of movement exercises. Liz is doing ok with it though. So they did sits next to each other with people coming up and trying to temp their attention with food, pets, walking right by them and the dogs only get rewarded for continuing their attention to their owner. One helper did try to tempt liz to pay attention to her and when Liz did, Liz was so sweet this lady kept petting her. LOL, that was not how it was supposed to be, but the lady did it every time, so someone didnt get their instructions too well. Then they did like a million hour down stay. This was our first class and the instructor asks do your dogs have a down? Then we launch into a half hour down, LOL. Of course that was broken up with some ends to some exercises and then we would start another but for almost a half hour we had them in a down and people would heel dogs right next to them, they would call dogs right in front of them, lots of people took turns walking over them, we all walked off to 30 feet and did a long down. I was just awe struck and couldnt believe Liz would do that. Even with other dogs breaking and people going into reposition them she still just lay there, I could tell she was thinking that it was really weird and she wasnt sure about it all, but she did it. In between exercises I have Liz tugging and she is tugging like a champ, taking treats the whole time and seems to be doing ok, I see slight stress once in awhile but really she is keeping up really well. THis class would have been horrible for her a few months ago, but it is really just the thing she needs right now I think. Liz is just turning into an amazing dog, every week I marvel at the lessons she is teaching me, and I am so glad we are through so many things, makes me wonder where we will be next year, but gosh she is actually getting to be a really cool dog, and sometimes it actually makes me feel sad to see the naughty puppy disappearring. Do not get me wrong I am very happy about what is happening and I am so proud, and I feel like she is a much safer girl, and I think she will always have that spark and enough naughty in her that she will always be that naughty puppy in my eyes, LOL, but she is just getting to be an awesome dog that anyone might think was an awesome dog, not just a dog that I love because she is mine.
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