Contrary

You really don't want your dog to be the example on his first evening of Puppy Kindergarten. It's just not the way to start things off, in my opinion. Annika and I took Tucker to Ann Gafke's Dog Obedience school last night. For some reason I thought he was going to be a model student. He has done so well with potty training, he is very sociable and loves other dogs and people, his puppy nipping and biting are improving, and he has even learned to sit.

I had no idea the first exercise was going to be to place the puppy on his back between my legs and force him to stay there. Force him. That meant, when he tried to bite my hands to get away, I shove his paw in his mouth or push the side of his cheek into his mouth so he would bite himself instead. This line of thinking really goes against my nurturing instincts. Much of it is quite the opposite of what comes naturally with rearing children. But I digress; it has become apparent that I am going to have to stop comparing the two, children and dogs, because they are quite different.

We performed this exercise for 45 minutes of the hour long class. The instructor referred to it as "daily exam", and the point of it is to establish trust, and to give your pup a once over and accustom him to being handled and touched. As we(well most of us) stroked our pups on the belly and felt their paws and ears, Tucker struggled to get up and see what was going on around him. We were singled out with a stern, "Don't let that Corgi get up.". It was obvious that things just weren't working for us so she took him and sat him on her lap on his back and continued to teach as she worked with our contrarian. There he sat, intermittently struggling, relaxing, biting, licking, and looking absolutely adorable on her lap. He was returned to me for the last 10 minutes or so of the exercise, and after watching her with him, we did somewhat better.

I'm not sure if I am looking forward to returning next week, I was totally spent when we left and not sure I heard a word she said. Hoping for a more cooperative canine next time, and a little less time spent on the "daily exam".