Puppy Kindergarten

Part 2: Clicker Training

We started puppy kindergarten, part 2, yesterday… it was a trip.

Lucy was so excited to be back amongst her best friends in the whole world, Michelle and Allie (the trainers), and she wanted so badly to meet the other dogs (one of which looks like a little bit smaller version of Lu!).

It’s not great to have a dog that’s so excited she can’t focus, but 1) she’s 6 months old, so she’s still very much a puppy, and 2) given that she was found, abandoned, in a laundry basket, our earlier concern was that she would grow up to be afraid of/reactive to everything. Thankfully, that’s not the case.

She still has no recall, loves to counter surf, steals the TV remote (and shoes, and things off of tables and desks) — everything is a game to her. And she’s overwhelmed with excitement when meeting new people and dogs. We definitely have a ways to go before she’s ready for primetime.

But, even in her excited state, she can sit, lay down, sit pretty, twirl, and boop (touch her nose to our hand in exchange for a treat). She thinks that training is a very fun thing to do, and we’re working on the first part of place (having her go to designated spot and sit — we’ve been working with a low agility platform, and the goal is to be able to get her on the scale at the vet’s office, among other things).

Newsflash: she’s still very, very cute.