Puppy School
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| sleepy dog |
My dog was the smallest dog in the class. Not the youngest, but the smallest. She was also the loudest. Turns out she's pretty greedy when it come to the treats and she's pretty convinced that if she barks I will give her a treat. When it doesn't happen, she's worried that I have forgotten she exists, so she barks.
We are clicker training. It's a pretty simple, pavlovian concept. Dog does the right thing, you click, click is followed by a treat. Clicking releases dopamine in their tiny dog brains. Clicking makes them happy. Clicking isn't the reward, but means that they are getting a reward imminently. The trainer is teaching us not only to click when the dogs follow specific commands, but to click when they are doing good things we like. Apparently, everyone is happy when their dog doesn't react to my dog because she barks and then almost everyone in the room clicks and they all get treats. Nice. Glad I could facilitate so much happiness and learning.
Josie was pretty engaged and seemed excited to be there. She wasn't thrilled to be with other dogs, but when working on her own stuff she didn't see to mind much. She wasn't interested in puppy play time. I think she was tired by that point, so she was far more interested in sitting under my feet than making friends.
We got in the car after class and she crawled up on my lap and crashed. She probably would have been quite snuggly last night, but I had a bad headache, so I couldn't enjoy it.
One other aside about dog school - there were 3 huge dogs in our class - a german Shepard and 2 big mutt mixes. When I walked outside after class there were even more big dogs. Big dogs everywhere. I am terrified by big dogs, but I was able to get through the class without terror. I wish someone had been clicker training me. I could have had about 100 candy bars in class last night. Every time a big dog moved and I didn't freak out, I should have earned a candy bar. Maybe next week.
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