Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Please keep your blue whale away from my dog!

I feel like the title of this post says it all.

Today was our very first Advanced Obedience Class. I was a little put off by a few dogs who I felt should not have been in the class. However these same people somehow managed to pass the novice class and are moving on??

First there was the woman with the hairy Malamute. She was telling him "no" and "stop" 100 times making a huge scene outside of the building. Already I can tell this woman is dramatic and her dog could have given two shits less as far as what she was saying to him. I approached the building cautiously because she had zero control over the dog.

Secondly there was a woman with a giant blue bully thing, he had his ears cropped and his nuts. She had already let him go up to everyone in the lobby of the building. I stood away from the group of dogs in the building to give Sepp some time to settle in. The blue bully was probably 20ft+ away from us. I was having Sepp do a sit stay when the woman with the blue bully came up - before I could even say a word she's letting her stupid testosterone filled blue whale come up to my dog. I stepped in front of Seppel and I said "UMM HE'S NOT FRIENDLY!" She didn't say anything, just meandered off. I don't think my eyes could have rolled further into the back of my head. Then of course I'm thinking that everyone thinks my dog is mean. However, I didn't care because this is a CLASS - not the dog park! I'm totally going to wear my "know your bull" t-shirt to class one day. I know that if our dogs had latched onto each other she wouldn't have any clue as to what to do. Her dog also proceeded to challenge a GSD in the class... she was totally oblivious to the dog scuffing and didn't realize there was a problem until he was growling and lunging for the dog next to him. Just stupid. I swear people should have to take a test to own a Pit Bull!

Overall the obedience portion of the class went well. Sepp was really well behaved and settled in after we went around the room a few times. They did do an exercise where they downed their dogs and everyone walked around the room. I chose to just stand on Sepp's leash because the people moving freaked him out. The second time they did this he was fine so maybe next time we'll try it. He did a lot better than I would have expected.

After Obedience we get to practice agility and Sepp went crazy. He was whining and barking and acting like a dumbass. An onlooker would think he was a dog who was excited for agility and that I was jerking on his leash for no reason. BUT I know my dog and I know if I would have let him go he would have attacked the tunnel, probably with a dog inside. He was completely amped up because he wanted to bite the tunnel. He was SO amped up that when I sent him - he grabbed his leash because he was THAT frustrated that he could not kill the tunnel. These are the kinds of situations where nothing I says works, I mean I could get is attention in small increments but he'd look at me, then look at the tunnel. I'll be better prepared at the next class and maybe I can work with him on this whole being amped and focusing issue... but he was crazy.

On the flip side he slept the whole car ride home so mentally he was tired!

It kind of sucks having to drive so late in the day - it makes me sleepy. Definitely gonna drink caffeine before we go next week.

I'm excited for this class, it'll be very interesting as things progress.

2 comments:

  1. Ugh - that's awful about the other people. Luckily they don't tolerate that kind of crap at my school at all and would get chewed out for it. I have the unfortunate knack for forgetting about my dog when I'm talking to people and looking at their dogs, so I've gotten yelled at to pay attention to my dog! And rightfully so. :)

    Bindi did a couple of agility courses and she hated the tunnel too. Now you have something to practice while you're there - teaching him that when he looks at you instead of the tunnel he gets a treat. You'll do great!

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    1. I really don't know what the scoop is. I thought because this was advanced the people in it would be people serious about competing, but a good portion literally were people who must have just completed Novice. We had to put our dogs in stays and walk away, the lady with the mal was like "Stay! Wait, wait, wait, wait" as she walked away. The trainer didn't say anything. I'm thinking, stay means stay - wait shouldn't even be in the equation.

      Sepp actually loves the tunnel and had no issues going in the tunnel or the chute. We have played with their agility equipment before, he's done the A frame, teeter, dog walk, and jumps. He really just wanted to "get" the tunnel when dogs were running in it - I mean he was totally in prey drive mode. I also think he was being impatient because several dogs had issues going into the tunnel. One dog actually peed himself because he was so afraid :( But then it was just hilarious at how frustrated he got like "I'm just gonna bite my leash then!"

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