Puppy Kindergarten

This weekend zoomed by, like most of them do. On Saturday, we took Keiffer t0 Puppy Kindergarten. My work, Blue Prints Dog Studio (http://www.blueprintsdogstudio.com/), offers Puppy Kindergarten every Saturday morning at 9 AM. The classes are led by a trainer named Gina and accepts puppies up to 5 months of age. Though Keiffer is now a little over 5 months, he was still able to attend the class. We let all the puppies off their leashes to watch them socialize, and Gina's dog Kenzie, a black Cocker Spaniel, went around correcting the puppies for inappropriate behavior. The craziest dog was a little Yorkie, who zipped around the room rapidly. Kenzie corrected him several times.

While all the little puppies played, Keiffer ran to the nearest corner, lowered his tail, and watched his surroundings warily. If any of the puppies ran up to him, he tried to curl up as small as possible, as if that would make all the scary things disappear.

After the pups were put back on leash, we worked on a number of training techniques. We even switched puppies with other owners. It's important puppies learn that they need to obey everybody, not just their owners. We got the little Yorkie, and he did pretty well despite his short attention span. We practiced eye contact and sitting positions. We led the puppies into flat hula hoops. When at home, there should be a designated "laying down" spot. To get a puppy familiar with that spot, which will typically be a dog bed, you lead them onto it and teach them that's their sleeping quarters. Gina had us use the hula hoops to give as an idea how the training should work.

After some more training, we let the pups off their leashes again. Sure enough, Keiffer found his corner in his attempt to hide. If we bent down, he would come. People ended up going over to him, and his little tail would start to wag. He loves everybody, and he was so playful with all dogs and puppies that were with him when we picked him up at Leslie's house. He was never shy with Lily, but the new, scary location with all the puppies brought out the little, timid Sighthound in him. We're taking him back to Puppy Kindergarten next Saturday, so hopefully he'll be a bit more brave next time!