The Diva dog has diminished

Piper returned to Obedience class tonight and she was much less of a Diva. More like a Queen. She was more social and paid more attention to me. I was finally able to get her attention for a minute during her sit stay. She also took treats by the end. As usual, she was friendly enough with Belinda and Bill.
I think she can learn to tolerate new things, but she will always be headed for the door. Which is what she did during her recall. And that was one of her strong exercises. I don't know where she thinks she is going, but she was bound and determined to get out of there.
I am off tomorrow, so we will work on her training in a new spot. Hopefully, she won't be too much of a Queen.
I don't have picture of her in class, so I put up a picture of Truman. He is standing there with his favorite toy, the ball. He loves to herd it all over the yard with his nose. I have two of those balls at my house ( one for Collin and one for Piper ) and he nearly strokes when he comes over. He doesn't know which one to herd. I wonder what he would do with a bunch of sheep?
My friend Wendy will be hearing about her potential new puppy on Thursday. Let's all say a little prayer that he grows a pair, if you know what I mean.

Piper's Weekend Homework

Hi all.
Piper continues her training. This weekend, Wendy gave us the assignment to train in a public place. She suggested a parking lot. So when Holly and did our weekly splurge at the Dairy Queen, we took the dogs too. Mom and Dad and Denise also joined us. Mom was not pleased about her furry grandchildren being out in a parking lot so close to the main road. But all was fine.
Piper and I worked on her attention and she was actually better than I thought. She was paying more attention to me than the people and the cars. There was a lot of activity, but she was very hungry. So the treats were the key. I had her attention for several seconds and almost had it during heeling. She was able to watch the treat in my hand and I think we are very close to moving the treat up so she learns to watch me. I enclosed a photo of her from the parking lot to prove to Wendy that we were there. I really didn't paint that yellow line on my drive way either.
Holly and Truman continue their training. They worked on socializing, which is pretty easy for Truman. He is a very social guy. Piper is fine to have people ignore her, but she was social with a few people. An accomplishment for her.
We are off on Tues and will be returning to class. I hope she is happy about being there this time.

Back in class

It has been a long time since I posted and I regret that. But I am back and there will be a lot to write about for a while.

Piper is back taking obedience classes with Belinda and Bill. She was not pleased with this idea. Her first night back and she acted like a spoiled little diva. She would not even face me and she did very little that I asked. Fortunately, it was not a total loss. She was social and friendly with the other people and dogs. This behavior was personal.

But I got my schedule change for work so we can attend Tuesdays class. Hopefully she will be better. We trained yesterday and she was pretty decent. At least the diva attitude was not as obvious. So Wendy gave us the assignment of going everywhere and working on attention. I will try to post about that as much as possible. Wendy is helping us get ready to compete in the specialty in Atlanta next spring. Hopefully, Piper will do better than Quincy did at his specialty in Dallas. Honestly, she couldn't do worse. Unless she eats a judge.

I'm off to work on attention.

Happy Mother's Day

Here is a photo of the chicken I knitted for my mom for Mother'sDay. Yes, it is knitted and it didn't take that long. Only about two weeks. There were lots of little parts, but all were easy. It was a hit!

Piper is about to finish her first round of obedience classes and I am very sad about it coming to an end. I hope Belinda will offer more classes this summer. I will take any class she offers. Anything to get Piper out there and socialized. And any class that will build her confidence and improve her shyness.

Dog class updates

Piper continues to excell in her obedience classes. She is coming out of her shell and will try anything new with encouragement. Belinda has brought out the agility equipment just to expose the dogs to new things. Shy little Piper took on the tunnel with just a little push the first time. The next week, Belinda stretched it out and put a curve in it. I barely said tunnel before Piper was shotting out of the other end. I had to run to meet her. We were all shocked. Maybe she is going to be an agility dog. She was so proud of herself, that I think we will try agility next to build her confidence.

Question for agility people, if anyone other than my family reads this. Are there aggressive dogs in agility? There is one in my obedience class and I know he competes and he tends towards the aggressive behaviors. He gets fired up when the other dogs in class get excited. Does this happen in agility often, or is he just a bad example.

Piper is very passive and I don't want to put her in class with a bunch of wild and agitated dogs. Any suggestions?

Will post spring pictures soon!

Playdate with Bell

This is a photo of Piper and her new friend, Bell. They had a great playdate on Tues and both dogs behaved very well. Bell belongs to my friend Amy and is a Beagle-Lab mix. Amy has been worried that no dogs like Bell. Piper was her baseline shy, but the dogs had a few moments of play also. When not playing, both dogs seemed to get along well. Bell is a very bright and energetic little dog. I am trying to talk Amy into getting her started in Agility. Amy didn't know what that was. I have my work cut out for me on this thought.

Piper continues to do well in class. She is getting more comfortable and I think she is starting to enjoy herself too. Belinda thinks she may eventually pass the Canine Good Citizen. Which impresses me. I thought her shyness would get in the way, but Belinda assures me she can be trained to tolerate the test and pass. I hope she is right. It would be great to have a therapy dog title too, but I just don't know how a shy dog could be theraputic. Any suggestions?

The weather here is wonderful and we are all enjoying being outside. Piper and Truman have settled into a nice playful friendship. Truthfully, I think Piper gets bored on the days she doesn't play with him. Which isn't very often.

Truman has arrived.

Holly got her new sheltie puppy last weekend and I think he is officially the love of her life. Truman is a blue merle sheltie and it looks like he is going to be a bit bigger than Piper. But who knows, when it comes to predicting size, shelties can be surprising. Right now, he is twice the weight Piper was at that age.

Piper had her second obedience class this week and she did very well. We covered things she had learned from Wendy and I think that gave her a little confidence. Which she desperately needs. Her shyness improves each week and I think she really enjoys going to class.

Tomorrow night I am babysitting Truman while Holly goes to a concert. Wish me luck. I hope Piper will be a help.