Lesson # 2

It's raining again. This isn't a gentle spring rain. This is thunder and lightning and rain falling in torrents. This is rain so hard that at times I can't see the house across the street. This is rain so hard that when I open the door to the yard, dogs stick their noses out, then turn and walk back inside.

I've been watching the flooding in Wisconsin and Iowa and I won't complain about the rain. We have a warm, dry house and the electricity has only gone out a couple of times.


This is Sky's new toy. It looks exactly like Bailey's new toy and Lola's new toy. Tess and Norma Jean have removed the squeakers from theirs without totally destroying the toys and I guess Noah doesn't like his as he's barely touched it.
This is why I buy toys at discount stores or on sale.

The big dogs haven't destroyed any of theirs yet. Monty carries one around at all times and gives it to me to watch while he eats or goes outside. I put them up at night as I don't want to hear any growling during the night when Fudge tries to steal someone else's toy.

Last night was our second obedience class. We've been working hard all week but I was sure we would be the dumbest dogs in class anyway. We weren't. Fudge did great sits and downs every time. We worked on 'leave it' and he did well. Maybe he just has so much hair over his eyes he didn't see the treats on the floor. I have been teaching stay wrong and I don't know what to do about it. I have been rewarding him when I release him from his stay. I am supposed to reward him while he's staying. Now if I do that, he breaks his stay. I guess instead of confusing him, I should continue as I started.

Here is Fudge sitting.


This is Fudge in a 'down'. I know his form isn't great, but we can work on that, at least he's down.

Lola is doing a pretty consistent 'sit' now and we started on 'down' yesterday. In class she did a couple of each before she totally lost her ability to concentrate on anything other than the dog next to her. Her attention span is only about 10 or 15 minutes long and an hour class is just way too much for her. Rob wound up taking her for a walk.

Tess, Sky, and Norma Jean are doing good consistent sits and yesterday Bailey started sitting on her own without being pushed into position. Now on to 'down'. Noah will start on 'sit' tonight.

I can't get photos of the pups in 'sit' position. If I pick up the camera, they jump up. Maybe this weekend I can get Rob to snap some pictures with his faster camera while I give the commands.

I did get photos of the big dogs. When I was taking Fudge's picture, they all wanted to show me how they can sit, too.

Samba in 'sit'.


Samba does 'down'.


Morgan is sitting. Take my word for it.


Monty always sits when told .


Tsar in a 'sit'.

They all like to show how smart they are. Next week we start 'heel'. That's a tough one that I have never been successful in teaching. Maybe this time. We'll continue to work on 'sit', 'down' and add 'stay' this week and see if we get totally muddled up or if we can keep up with the class.