On-leash heeling.

Waiting for the next set of instructions.

Off-leash recall.

We passed with 172 points out of 200!

I’m toying with the idea of moving up to intermediate class after this, but we have a lot on our plate for the upcoming months so I don’t know whether we’ll be able to fit it in and have the time to train him to the level required by Patrick. I guess we’ll see.

Patrick demonstrates heeling on leash with a corgi (not Bryan). You can see Emily standing in the far right corner next to the car with Bryan at heel.

Bryan attended his first obedience training class with Patrick Wong of Waggie on Sunday. He’s one of about 20 dogs who are taking this class on Sunday afternoons, and he’s one of the better behaved pooches, if I do say so myself. Credit goes to K who has been working with him even before classes started, so that he already knew to heel on a leash before the first class.

Bryan is a smart dog; he knows K is at the top of the pecking order in the house so he will be extra obedient and attentive with him, but with me he sometimes tries his luck and with Emily, well let’s just say sometimes we didn’t know who was walking who. Anyway, this one lesson has changed all that. Em now knows how to handle Bryan and what exercises to do to get him to heel when she is walking him. She said the class was fun, so I guess we’ll be going together from now on.

Class is pretty chaotic, though. There are some dogs who are extremely reluctant (ahem, shiba inu, I’m talking about you) and there are some owners who don’t have the mental fortitude to do what it takes to get the dog to obey. There are also owners who signed up with Patrick and then asked whether he could suggest an alternative to the slip collar for training which, if you ask me, just shows a lack of forethought and prior research before registering for the class. It’ll be interesting to observe the drop-out rate in the coming weeks!

Our homework for this week is to practise with Bryan – calling him to heel and moving off, making about turns and changing direction, heeling at different paces (walk, trot) and getting him to sit in the right position when we stop walking. I’m on leave today and have been putting him through his paces every time I take him down to go potty, and he’s being very good about things, even doing an automatic sit before I tell him do so. But I still have to tell him “sit” so he learns the command associated with the action. Quite pleased, so far.