Graduation Day!

Wednesday Tucker graduated from Puppy Level 1 Obedience class. Hubby took a couple hours away from work to attend and served as photographer for us. I absolutely hate having my picture taken and it's proof of how proud of the little guy I am that I'm even posting these!



We started this final class working on a new command called "drop". It's very similar to the "down" command....just quicker. We spent a bit of time working on going from "sit" to "down" back up to "sit" and throwing in a few stands as well.




We all lined up and did the "come when called" exercise. This week was harder as Tucker had to come to me through a "tunnel" of classmates. The first time he tried he was too distracted to come directly to me...so we took a second try and he did it great! (He's really to social for his own good!)


Another excercise was the controlled meeting. In this exercise he had to sit and wait at my side while I shook hands with the other handler. The first time we did this exercise we were paired with a dog that has a size complex. Whenever he gets near Tucker he tries to put his paws on Tuckers head which goes over about as well as a fart in church. Needless to say, we had to do a couple of walk arounds to get him settled back down so he would sit and let me shake hands with the other dog owner. The class was short members this day and we were asked to perform again with another dog and Tucker performed beautifully. Very patient with this dog and the other handler. (I personally think he views the other dog as a threat or possible danger and that is why he won't relax around him.) The picture is of the second time through and that little cutie is a curly coated retriever named Chino. Too cute!

Tucker took time to show Paw how he feels about all this work and no play. Oh yeah...and the gentle leader too! He spent much time during our classes in this position!


The last exercise of the day was the "down-stay". This is one we really have to work on in the future. He did it well last week, but this week he was tired and distracted and it took several attempts to get him to do it. He still didn't "stay" as long as I know he can, but long enough to get his treat anyway. lol I really didn't want to let him get the treat until he performed. He's way to smart for that and if I let him get away with it, he just keeps pushing.


So we kept plugging away at it until he finally gave in

and ......

STAYED! lol...No one said he couldn't be comfortable!

After all that hard work it was time to walk up and get our Certificate! I was handed the paper, Tucker was graced with a star on his forhead and given a cookie for being so good!

The star stayed on for the whole day...and most of the next! I am considering the Puppy level 2 classes. If we do sign up it won't be until probably fall though. I've got scads to catch up on here and Tucker needs to have a small snip snip surgery...(ahem...don't talk to him about it k?) and I want to work with him a bit more before moving on to the next level. So it will probably be fall before we get back into classes. I may take some evening classes next time so the hubby can attend too. :)