Puppy Class

It's official: Zippy is a puppy class drop-out. I started a Wednesday evening class with him a few weeks ago and only had to go twice to realize that it wasn't going to work. Not only do I not think the trainer was really great, it seemed that all the puppies in the class weren't motivated by anything and therefore not wanting to learn! The treats that Zippy loves at home, he wouldn't even eat at class. I tried three different kinds after that (upon the suggestion of the trainer) and got nowhere. We trained Jack at the same place with the same method and loved it, however, for some reason, I felt like this just wasn't working. So, Chris and I decided to quit. We thought to ourselves, "It's not like we're ever going to take Zippy to an off-leash dog park." All we really want him to do is come when called. We can teach him everything else just like they would at the class, since we've already been through it with one dog.

So, that said, we are really appreciating how wonderfully trained Jack is. It's nice to have a dog that you can talk to like a human and have the dog completely understand you. He's like our third child--sometimes defiant, sometimes gets time-outs--but he knows what he's doing and he knows his right from his wrong. He even gave me a great idea of a cool new trick to teach him, although, I know I won't get around to it. Last week, I put Zippy on his outside leash to go potty. Little did I know, his collar was about to come off, so once I hooked him up, he pulled his collar off and ran around the house! I thought, "Oh, great" because I figured it would take awhile to catch him. Jack was outside, and ran past me to follow Zippy. As he ran past and I started to run, too, I said, "Go get him, Jack!" Jack sprinted to the front of the house and I turned the corner just in time to see Jack run over to Zippy and pin him beneath his front torso!! Jack did it so lightly so as not to hurt the little pup but firm enough where Zippy wouldn't move. It was so handy to just walk over and pick Zippy up instead of have to chase him all over creation. I know it was a fluke and probably won't happen again, but wouldn't that be the best trick to teach Jack? I thought it was pretty brilliant myself. :)