Puppy School!

Venom started Puppy Preschool on Saturday!  The cool part is that his brother and two of his sisters are also in the class.  The REALLY cool part is that I teach the class!  This is an interesting class in that, for one thing, it's a huge puppy class.  There are 16 puppies in the class which is a very large puppy class.  But, I took that many because a well run, quality puppy class is really beneficial to puppies and if I don't let someone in, they might not have the opportunity to do a puppy class or worse, they may end up in a poorly run puppy class.  Also, this class has not only 4 puppies from Venom's litter but also 5 puppies from an Australian Shepherd litter!  So, we have two litters plus several other puppies in between.

When you have a large puppy class, or any puppy class for that matter, you never know what the dynamics will be like until you have all the puppies there.  I am thrilled to say that this large group of puppies did beautifully together.  My puppy classes include off leash, safe, supervised play, lecture on a puppy issue and some basic, beginning training.  The puppies are divided during the off leash play into groups that play and mesh well together.  This particular class included 3 groups.  One group was the Dachshunds, plus another Dachshund, about the same age but from another litter.  One group was the Aussies, plus a Lab, plus a Rottie, plus some little mixed breeds.  The final group is a Shih Tzu and a Papillon, both tiny little dogs.  I sometimes had the Rottie off with the little ones as he is a bit sensitive and felt overwhelmed by the wild Aussie bunch!  They all did wonderful.  When a puppy is not in a play group he is on leash with his family being rewarded for sitting, watching calmly, lying down, etc. 

I was so proud of Venom.  I practiced a few recalls with him where I called him to me while he was playing, which he did beautifully.  He played well with everyone.  He was such a good boy.