Zaz and Itzy are not puppy school drop-outs

It seems hard to believe that Zaz and Itzy turned 4 months old last week. They spent the last two weekends coming with me and Zen to some UKA agility shows. I was so proud of how they dealt with the new environment, noises and all the dogs.

Here is some very serious directional training that I worked on ringside at the UKA show. This training is essential if you want a great agility champion. It does require friends that drink too much and have to lie on the ground.



Yesterday was the Sheltie Agility show and they both came with me and Zen. Again they were very well behaved and got some great socialization and training. I am concentrating on getting them to focus on me while agility is going on in the rings and also doing short sessions of tuggy ringside. It is a work in progress but that is the fun of puppies; each step is a step in the right direction and they can do no wrong. They both were so tired today after the 3 day agility extravaganza. Come to think of it I am very tired too!

This week my focus is going to be on teaching a wait and continuing work on their retrieves. So far my teaching of wait has been hindered by the fact that I have been working too hard on teaching "reverse". haha Everytime I get them to be still for one second they throw in a reverse.

Tonight was our last night of "puppy school". It has been very helpful in increasing both pup's confidence. We did puppy games tonight including the "Musical Rings with the fastest sit", "Fastest down", "longest wait" "best table exam" and "best trick". Each puppy in class won a little bag of treats for winning one of the games and every pup won something. It was just a little bit of fun but it was so fantastic to see each puppy really do well. All the pups got a round of applause for each win and for their tricks. Every pup in class has improved and you could see such a change over the 6 weeks. I was so impressed by most of the handlers as they were all pet owners with their new pups and had no background of training at all.

Zaz won the best "exam on table" as she did a perfect show stack like she was being examined on the show table. The instructor said "oh you must have been practicing" and of course we had not. haha I just know how to fake it! While everyone else has been practicing their sits, downs and stays; I have been working on important things like "bang" "reverse" and "tuggy". I will get serious soon....yeah right.

Itzy won best trick. Right before class I gave Dennis a quick lesson on "rights and lefts". Itzy performed them perfectly and won.

Here are the graduates with their diplomas, ribbons and prizes.