Yay! Jack graduated from...

Basic Dog Obedience School!!!! He performed all of his commands very well - sit, sit-stay, down, down-stay, stand, stand-stay, come and leave it. He also learned a few new tricks - shake, roll over, sit pretty and catch the treat. At the end of the class, all the dogs received a diploma and a huge bag of doggie treats!

Next week, we are going to meet with Sarah (our trainer) and her assistant, Lori, at Petco. They are each going to bring a few of their dogs and we're going to work with Jack on his leash aggression.

Adam and I have decided we would really like to continue Jack's training. We talked about it with Sarah, and she thinks the next best class for him to take is the Canine Good Citizen course. What is the AKC's Canine Good Citizen Training? "CGC is a certification program that is designed to reward dogs that have good manners at home and in the community. The Canine Good Citizen Program is a two-part program that stresses responsible pet ownership for owners and basic good manners for dogs. All dogs who pass the CGC test receive a certificate from the American Kennel Club and as of January 1, 1999, they are automatically recorded in the AKC's Canine Good Citizen Archive (http://k9west.net/caninegoodcitizen.htm)." She has three other dogs that are interested in taking the class in Carson, which means we won't have to go to Reno once a week for class. This course is going to be really good for Jack. He will be tested on:

- Accepting a friendly stranger
- Sitting politely for petting
- Appearance and Grooming
- Out for a walk (walking on a loose lead)
- Walking through a crowd (which will include a few dogs)
- Sit and down on command - staying in place
- Coming when called
- Reaction to another dog (as in another dog walks by and he doesn't react)
- Reaction to distraction (No reaction to a loud noise)
- Supervised separation (being left with a stranger for 3 minutes without exhibiting separation anxiety)

He does well with a few of these, accepting a friendly stranger, sitting politely for petting, appearance and grooming, sit and down on command and coming when called. Those are all things he learned in the basic class. The other ones are all things he really needs to work on.

I think after this course, we would really like to find a flyball team. Flyball is a relay race with 4 dogs on a team. The course consists of a starting line, 4 hurdles spaced 10 feet apart and a box. The first hurdle is 6 feet from the start line and the box is 15 feet from the last hurdle for a 51 foot overall length. The dogs jump the hurdles and steps on a spring loaded box that shoots out a tennis ball. The dog catches the tennis ball and then runs back over the 4 hurdles. When the dog crosses the starting line the next dog goes. The first team to have all 4 dogs run without errors wins the heat. He is so good at jumping and catching balls in the air, I really think he will do a good job!

So, we've completed one training course, but as you can see, we have big plans for our little pup! We know he can do it and were excited to see him excel in his training! Wish us luck!!!

P.S. New camera is supposed to come tomorrow, which means there will be a ton of new pics for everyone to look at since I'm sure I will be super excited and will take pictures of everything!

P.P.S. Kippy, if you're reading this, I totally spaced coming over to pick up the doggie pool! We were so excited by the training and Jack graduating, that everything else I was thinking about earlier today disappeared!