Miss Hollywood Graduated Puppy Obedience Training Class! Yay!

Yes! My baby has graduated from Puppy Basic Home Manners Obedience Class!  And she was even voted 'the most improved'...you automatically win that honor when the first class goes something like this:

Dog is over stressed walking through the downtown city area, because she lives in a very rural community and see's maybe 3 cars a week, and never saw a bicyclist before in her life -until one sped past her just as she is entering the first class.

Dog is so distracted by all these new dogs and their people that she has never seen before.

Dog gets so excited about said people that she pee's all over the floor -that mommy has to clean up.

Dog (repeatedly) tears down the barrier that the instructor puts up to hopefully block out said distractions.

Dog mommy gets upset that dog is acting like she was rescued from a cave the day before.

Dog gets so upset because mommy is upset that she develops the screaming diarrhea -that again mommy has to clean up.

Dog has to be removed out the back door to finish 'squirting'.

Dog comes back in 20 minutes later, still stressed, but calmer -or at least with an empty bowel.  Mommy is now so upset she is crying.  Dog and mommy sit out the last 15 minutes of the class because..."whats the use?"

So, after a one-on-one with the instructor before class number 2, dog and mommy are ready to start again.

Hollywood did very well with her lessons after that first horrific class, and went on to graduate from the class by performing a few tasks combined into real life activities...and doing them well.

I was so proud of her!

And I'm so thankful for the Awesome instructor Kathy -for her patients, understanding, and guidance.

Me & Hollywood (left), Kathy (center), my daughter & Bear (right)

Yay Miss Hollywood!  We will take a few months break for the holiday months, while honing our skills, then I think we may just take some additional classes to build on what she has learned so far.

Keeper of 1 husband, 3 dogs, 
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

Miss Hollywood's Dog Obedience Class ~ Week #3 ~ Starbucks Reward!

After a really rough start, Miss Hollywood is now doing so well at her Dog Obedience Classes.  She has shown me that she is Sooooo smart, and I'm not just saying that because she is my baby...well maybe just a little bit.  But even the teacher says she is very smart.

After leaving another great training session we went next door to the pet store, 'Whiskers Barkery' to pick up some more DogNation Treats.  They are fabulous!!  If you are trying to train a dog you should get some.  While we were in the store Miss Hollywood was so good.  She even got a chance to show off what she learned in the class when two different people asked to pet her.  I explained that she was in training so let me get her ready.  I turned to Hollywood and asked her to sit, then I introduced her to these strangers and told them they could pet her under her chin.  She loved the attention and did not jump on them (as she use to do), and she did not wet the floor (as she also use to do).

I was so proud of her.  She even sat at the counter while I paid for her treats and she didn't steal any of the yummy rawhides right there in front of her in the open bins.  They know that is going to tempt the dog (and their owner).

Just as we got to the car and a man walked by on the sidewalk with his dog, and his donkey.  YES, I said Donkey!!!  A full-sized donkey with a pack walking on a loose leash behind the man, right there within maybe 5 feet of us.  Miss Hollywood just stood there watching them walk by.  I think she was just as shocked as I was at seeing a man walking a donkey along the city sidewalks in downtown Prescott, AZ.

I was so proud of how Miss Hollywood didn't chase after them, or worse, bark at them and scare the donkey, so on our way home we stopped at Starbucks to reward her with a cool treat.  Okay, I got a reward too, but I didn't run after the donkey either, and you know I wanted to!  So I got a Mocha Frappuchino and Hollywood got a Pup-cup.  They'll give your dog one for Free if you ask for it in the drive up window.  It's just a small cup with whipped cream, no coffee included.

As you can tell Miss Hollywood Loves Pup-Cups!!

Hey Starbucks...Add these to your #SipFace photos!

Got to get the very last drop...

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

 

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Miss Hollywood's Dog Obedience Class ~ Week #2

Today Miss Hollywood attended her 2nd obedience class.  Before I share with you how well she did, and so that you can truly appreciate her progress today, you really need to read my post about how horrible the first class went (I titled that post 'Dog Training or Dog Torture?')  Much of the progress was due to the one-on-one session she was able to do on Friday with Kathy the instructor working with both of us.

Miss Hollywood, exhausted after class.

Since the Friday session I have been working with her in different settings so that some distractions were around us, but not so much that I couldn't bring her back to our work.  The DogNation treats made all the difference, she really likes them so I can wave one in front of her nose and usually pull her attention right back to me.

Today we stopped in a wooded area just before hitting the busy city so Hollywood could stretch her legs after the hour long drive, and potty before we got to the class.  Then once we got into the downtown area, we walked around the vacant bank landscaping (don't worry BofA I didn't leave any doggy deposits *wink*). Then we sat on the bench out front for a few minutes to let her acclimate to the people, dogs, and cars going by.  Once she was okay with that we made the one block trek to the class, crossing one busy intersection along the way.

When we arrived at the class, there were still people inside from the previous class so we waited outside.  As people, and occasionally people with dogs, walked by I would tell Hollywood to sit and stay as they approached, and I put myself between her and them.  I think this made her feel safe.  Each time as they passed us I would praise her for not running towards them, jumping up and generally acting like a fool that she normally does when people and animals walk by her.  She did fantastic!

The big test was still to come, once inside the classroom with all the other dogs and their people so near her, would she be able to focus on me and not make a complete fool of herself (again)?  The instructor called us inside when it was time, she already had our area prepared with barriers around us so Hollywood would not be distracted by seeing the other dogs.  We were right up front though, so she did get to see everyone enter and go by us on their way to their positions in the room.

After going through a few lessons, the instructor could see that Hollywood was doing so well.  She was only mildly distracted by the sounds of the other dogs in the room, so she removed one section of the barrier, allowing Hollywood to see the one dog nearest to us.  With the start of the next lesson I was able to quickly regain her focus away from that dog and complete the lesson.  She was doing so well that the instructor decided to use Hollywood to demonstrate the next lesson she would be teaching us.  She picked up what she was suppose to do perfectly!  I was so proud of her, I know I was beaming.

Halfway through the class the teacher removed the barrier cover so Hollywood could see everything in the room, but the wire wall was still up.  After a few more lessons, she removed even that barrier so now Hollywood was right out there just like all the other dogs.  I felt so happy (and relieved) that she did such a wonderful job in class today.  I think her confidence has really been boosted with this training.

I can't wait to watch her progress throughout the six weeks of class.  Have you ever taken your dog to obedience classes? Do you feel it made training your dog easier in the classroom setting or more difficult because of the distractions in the class with other dogs? After the first class I would have firmly said more difficult, but now I have to say that I think it helps because she learns to focus even with distractions.

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

 

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Update on Miss Hollywoods Dog Training ~ We Had a Break Through!

Just a quickie post...hey, we all need a quickie now and then.

So I shared with you in a post last week about my total FAIL at our dog obedience class.  Well, I didn't give up just yet.  I've been working with Miss Hollywood all week, trying to find a treat so appetizing that she would forget everything else going on around her and focus on me and that treat.  I tried several things, including hotdogs that I have had great success with in the past with other dogs.  But she would either immediately not like the treats of lose interest quickly...even the hotdog couldn't hold her long enough to get through a 15 minute home training session.  So I've just been giving her lots of praise and she has done okay at home, only if there are no distractions around her.  But get her away from home or throw in a car going by or a dog barking in the neighborhood and she is totally focused on that instead of me.

So today I took her back to the school, but this time it was to attend the puppy structured play class.  I was hoping it would let her have fun at this location so she wouldn't only remember the negative time she had last week. Before class I took her to the city park downtown with lots of cars, people, and other dogs roaming all around us.  I figured it would give her a chance to see all the activity and try to relax quietly with me with all this going on around her.  She did relax after a bit but freaked out as we were heading back across the street to my car when a bicyclist passed close by us. She had never seen one of those and it scared her.

When we got to the puppy class no one else showed up so she got some one on one time with Kathy the instructor.  Since she missed so much of the first obedience class Kathy suggested that we work on those things with her while mixing in some play.  She also gave me another treat to try.  It is called DogNation Chicken Treats, and it worked!  It held her attention through the entire session.

Today Hollywood was able to do all of her tricks/lessons wonderfully!  She really impressed the teacher with her smarts.  There were even people walking by the big front window and she wasn't bothered by them.  I feel so much better and hope she will be able to stay focused at the obedience class on Sunday when 4 other dogs and their human parents in the room with us. 

I will let you know how it goes!  

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

 

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Dog 'Training Classes' or Dog 'Torture'...My Dog Might Say the Later.

Yesterday wast the first day of my puppy, Miss Hollywood's, Basic Training Dog Obedience Class.  We (well, I) was really excited about attending the class.  Hollywood is half Rottweiler, and 1/4 each Shar-Pei & Boxer, and at just 5 months old she already weighs over 40 pounds and is pretty good sized.  I know that when she is full grown I will need to be in control of her or she will take over. 

Miss Hollywood at 5 months (7/20/14) Looks like a High School Graduation Photo, lol

In preparation for the class I attended the 2 hour human class, which was an orientation for the class and to train us humans how to train our dogs.  After the orientation I was feeling pretty confident with my home training so far.  She learned 'sit', 'laydown', and 'wait' for her food until I said to eat, both with verbal and hand signal commands.  She also learned 'leave-it' (good for on a walk passing an irresistible cat poop) and 'drop-it' (for when she has my shoe or is sneaking out of my room with my underwear in her mouth).  So I thought we were ready.

Arrival at Class

We had to drive over an hour away to the class.  The class is downtown with lots of city traffic that Hollywood is not use to.  She was very nervous when I got her out of the car a few blocks away.  I thought we could take the walk to the class to relieve herself but the traffic and people proved to be too distracting so she didn't stop to pee.  When we arrived, we were the last of 6 people, so the only place left was next to my daughter and her dog Bear.  Hollywood and Bear recognized each other and while Bear was behaving, Hollywood was being obnoxious wanting to play with him and the other dogs in the room.  I tried to keep her near me while the instructor spoke buy Hollywood kept acting up and pulling at the end of her leash tethered to the wall in our area.

The First Lesson

When it was time to do our first lesson I could not get Hollywood's attention. She was too busy watching the other dogs and their owners and trying to get to them to play.  The teacher approached us and Hollywood pee'd all over.  I had to stop trying to get her attention and clean up the pee.  The teacher put up a barrier around Hollywood and I, so she wouldn't be distracted by everyone else.  That didn't work as planned, Hollywood started jumping up and pulling the barrier down.  So we missed the first and second lesson while I was busy trying to get her to stop pulling down the barrier and focus on me so I could instruct her.  It was a losing battle.  The teacher came over again and tried moving the barrier further away so Hollywood could not reach it and told me to just ignore her and keep trying to work the lesson with Hollywood.  By this time I was so frustrated because she never acted this way at home.  Yes, it was her first time in a crowd like this, but my goodness had she checked her brains at the door?

Then Shit Hit the Fan...Literally

My frustration was apparently transferred to her through the lease and she became extremely stressed.  Not only was she not focusing on me, not following commands, still trying to knock the barrier down, but now she developed the screaming shits!  I wanted to just crawl behind the barrier myself and hide.  My daughters boyfriend took over their dog and my daughter took Hollywood out the back door to a vacant parking lot to let her de-stress a moment and finish pooping, while I got down on my knees in front of everyone else and cleaned up a huge mess of dog diarrhea in my area. 

I was embarrassed by her behavior, upset with myself for getting so frustrated, and felt so guilty for causing her so much stress that she got the screaming shits.  My own stomach was churning because of this situation and I began to cry.  Boy, did we make a good first impression on this class. 

I went outside to try to calm myself down and relieve my daughter of taking care of my dog so she could go back inside to work with hers.  By the time we were both sort of in control and went back inside we had missed over half of the class.  I just sat in the chair in my area with Hollywood at my side.  I told the instructor we would just observe quietly for the rest of the class.  We were able to join in on the final lesson and Hollywood did perform it okay.  I think she was just so drained by that time that she didn't care about anyone else there.

"Please Stay After Class"

After class ended the teacher and I talked about what happened.  She said that because we live in a very rural area we just weren't able to exposed Hollywood to enough other people or dogs, like in this setting.  Combine that with the fact that she already has self-confidence issues from being taken away from her mother so early (we got her at 4 weeks old), and its actually not too abnormal for this to have happened.  She said she wanted me to bring her to a structured puppy play class on Friday (before her next training class on Sunday) so this place wont be a scary setting for her. 

When I left, my eyes were still swollen and red from crying.  I stopped at Starbucks for a frappuchino (trying to pep myself up).  I know the poor young man behind the counter wanted to come around and hug me.  (They are so sweet there.)  I continued to cry about halfway home, feeling like the worst doggy-mom in the world for upsetting my baby to the point she got the screaming shits. 

After the Tears Dried

When I finally stopped crying, I came up with a plan and made a vow to correct this so she would never feel that way again. My plan is to work with her more at home to help build her confidence and try to expose her to more people and different places this week.  Then on Friday, before the puppy play class I will spend about half an hour at the public park throwing the ball for her while she is on her 50' leash.  This will let her have lots fun with other people and dogs around, but not right next to us, so she will maybe wear herself out, allowing her to be more calm in class.  (And hopefully empty her bladder and bowls thoroughly before class.)  I will do this before each training class as well.

I need to have her be an obedient and well-behaved dog since she is going to be so big, but I never want to cause her so much physical and emotional discomfort again.

I will let you know how it goes...

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

 

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