Getting There

I realise I just have to hold my nerve with this munchkin, and today was a real boost to my confidence. It's all so up and down - she grizzles and I don't know what to do (don't do anything unless it's a call for the loo, which it sometimes is); she seems bored after we've played for 15 minutes, and I think I'm going to have to think up constant entertainment for her. But everything passes, and when she's calm and happy she'll just sit or play by herself. She gets plenty of interaction from me - walks, play, fun. Today we did lots of training which she loves, and which results in lots and lots of way over the top praise. But it makes her calmer, and I suppose more confident too. Result: a great day.

And that was before puppy training class! Oh, they tell it how it is there. Down to earth women both. No idea what their names are, but Wonder Woman and Superwoman are my best guess. Apparently I over-verbalise: "Just say it once, she can hear you!" We did "Heel!", we did "Wait!", we did "Down!". Well, Sasha and I had been practising the latter two today, and did we ever shine? Ah ha. Then there was the foot on the lead trick to stop her barking at the other dogs and trying to disrupt them. That worked brilliantly, although the blood supply to my foot (don't wear sandals again) was cut off for 10 minutes. With her head nearly pinned to the ground she gave in and settled quietly ay my feet. Nice one. And the hand-in-the-back-of-the-collar dominant treatment when she refused to let SW (or was it WW?) examine her claws was another eye-opener. They make it all look so easy, but by the end of the evening Sasha was the best at Play (following a long red sausage around and grabbing it while I said excitedly "Good girl!!!" - "No need to speak, just play" from WW/SW). She was really so good, so responsive and obedient that by the end of the evening I only had to look at her and she sat down.

Such wonderful behaviour needed a reward, so I stopped off in Fram and had a takeaway Indian. I'm well and truly knackered. And the dog? She's snoring in her basket.