August 4, 2008

Make My Monday - 1st Puppy Class

Sunday afternoon, I took Tucker to his first of 8 puppy classes. He did a terrific job with the two commands that we learned: "Watch me" and "Sit". We practiced a bit last evening and this morning. He still remembers them. Of course, he gets a treat for remembering. Eventually, we're suppose to ween off regular treats into just verbal praise and pats. We'll see how that goes. By the way, in class with us are a gal, her girlfriend and their kids (and their very smart dog). She came up to me afterwards and said, "Hi Weyrd, I'm H..., remember me?" I knew the gals were together, but it didn't occur to me that I knew either one of them. Turns out I did know H... as we used to socialize a bit at a nightclub in town about 20 years ago. Haven't seen her since. Now we'll probably catch up over the next 8 weeks of Sunday afternoon classes.

Tucker's potty training is going pretty well. Since Wednesday he's only had three small accidents. One was in the bathroom on the tile when Weyrd was taking too long getting ready to leave. The other two were near the door. Tucker tends to balk at doors and apparently if he has to wee...he promptly piddles right there on the carpet. He's none too thrilled with going out my front door or with going up and down my outside steps since you can see between the steps to the floor below us. However, Tucker will go IN my front door now. He will also go down most solid steps if they aren't too steep and up a few solid steps.

I've taken Tucker off leash part of the time inside now, as long as he recently pottied outside (Tucker still thinks the doggie litter box is a bed and the doggie litter is a toy...this is different stuff from cat litter, btw). He likes to race around the outer part of my living room and between the furniture as fast as he can. Sometimes with a toy in his mouth. Tucker will also throw a toy around or up in the air and then pounce on it. The other thing he likes to do is roll around on the floor growling and acting like a ferocious huge dog. I'll attempt to capture some video at some point. In the meantime, Tucker is also learning the cue of "Uhn uhn" which if given more than once or twice results in a removal of attention or a time out. Hopefully, he figure out that chewing on furniture stuff isn't so fun afterall... Now it's time to go check out Doggie Day Camp.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

How cool that you ran into an old friend in the puppy training class!

TheWeyrd1 said...

Citizen...how cool is it that she remembered ME...by name even!?!

The Gentleman said...

I absolute adore your puppy! Tucker is soo cute :)
I'm a little fazed about the concept of puppy class...didn't know you need someone teaching you how to train a dog..unless you want him to learn party tricks ;) but I guess that some expert views might help at the beginning.
One thing I assure you; at some point you will be under the impression to be the one that has been trained!!
Neverthless I think you made the right decision adopting lil' Tucker :D

PS: Clearly you know how made a lasting impression ;)

Tree Farm Guy said...

Cute puppy! I'm sure in time he will learn all sorts of neat stuff like where he is supposed to go potty EVERY TIME. As for the doggy litter box, I never heard of it before but what a great idea. Good luck with that.

P.S. Be sure to take him to the dog park as he is SURE to attract some attention.

TheWeyrd1 said...

Gentleman...Welcome back from vacation! I AM taking the puppy training classes for ME...lol Obviously Tucker doesn't think he needs training.

TFG...Hey thanks for stopping by to see the puppy AND leave a comment. Maybe you'll get to meet him in person someday.

yenbar said...

It's obvious you've grown quite attached to Tucker already...I wonder who will suffer more from being seperated when you have to leave for hours at a time for work...hang in there Weyrd !

Jdancer8 said...

I think tucker and you make a perfect pair....take tons of pictures if you can! each little moment :o)

TheWeyrd1 said...

J...I'll work on that...lol