[henrysmom]

Yes, at the tender age of 4.5 months! He's a genius, I tell ya!

He tagged along with us to Hen's Open class tonight! Hen and I couldn't make his last session of classes because of the conflict with Ollie's Kinderpuppy class, so our instructor said that we could go on hiatus so long as Ollie came to class with Hen when we came back!!

OH MY... did Ollie ever get loved on by everyone... and he ate it right up.

Other than providing fabulous distraction during the out of sight sits and downs (he howled and grumbled in his crate in true banshee fashion), he sat quietly, watching everything. It gets pretty loud in the training hall and he just sat watching all the dogs and handlers go heeling by, doing F8s and drop on recalls!

I'm hoping he'll build his Open foundation by osmosis. LOL.

Afterwards, I let him out after the class to get his yayas out and wouldn't you know it? He retrieves and HOLDS the dumbbell pretty darn good. LOL! He even sat down to scratch while holding it. Big brudder Henery could learn a thing or two.

And Henery... boy was he happy to be back in class again. He heeled like a DREAM!! We haven't done ANY training since Ollie-ber came home, maybe he just needed a break. He would hit the deck so fast during his drop on recalls that he would actually skid across the mats. Silly monkey!

I'm really excited to start Competitive Puppy classes with Ollie on Wed!! Eeeee!!! This is the curriculum:

Lay foundation for the novice and open class. Skills taught include tuck sits, heel position, recalls, back drops, finishes, introduction to dumbell, jumping, sit and down stays. Includes lots of games to keep training interesting and fun for you and your puppy.

Next week we start handling classes!!

 

[sarah]

Awesome Felicia!!! We are looking forward to going back to Obedience after Christmas break! We've had far too much time off so hopefully Milly remembers most of it!

I think Ollie is going to be a STAR!

 

[patm]

What a good puupy! I was always hoping that Emilu would learn things by just watching the other dogs too, but it never seemed to work - although Skippy has learned a lot by watching Emilu when I am training them together and have treats for both - he'll just do whatever she does We also took a break from training, and I've only had them out a few times in the yard - we start back Thursday - I'm going to alternate taking Emilu and Skippy - he really needs to be in the advanced class too. (can't believe I'm saying that about him) I expect that they will both be good their first times back too.

 

[ObedienceLabs4Me]

How fun!

 

[Canyon Labradors]

I'm hoping he'll build his Open foundation by osmosis. LOL.

I am a HUGE believer in Osmosis! I took Grace to puppy class where she passed her CGC and then her training basically fell away to whatever I trained as part of our normal "You better behave" lessons at home. Since I was adamant that she have a title when bred, and she wasn't earning any show points, I thought, "Let's see what she can do with Rally..." OMG...things that I swear I never taught her, she knew how to do. It HAD to have been osmosis from watching me work with Maddy. Now we are training for RA (she has 1 leg) and her CD, and she's eating it up. I think she loves the one-on-one attention that training gives her.

I remember reading somewhere that when people train hunting dogs, they end up letting the dogs spend alot of time in the kennel, which ends up making them want to work when it's their turn to train. I think some of that idea is rubbing off when I take each dog out for some "Mommy and Me" time and do individual training. You'll probably see a bit of that when you rotate between Hen and Ollie.

 

[henrysmom]

It drives Henry NUTS when I'm training Ollie. I put Henry behind the baby gate and train Ollie in our family room and Henry is behind that gate just whining with anticipation.