So my little guy went to his first puppy class and LOVED it.
At first he was extremely nervous. He was sitting in my lap shaking so hard, which I had never seen him do before. It was understandable though, since this was the first time he encountered another puppy since we received him. Nonetheless, I set him on the floor with the other pups and removed his leash.
Although he was a bit shy at first, boy did he break out of that quickly! He LOVED playing with the other puppies! He was one of the smallest pups out there, but he was so confident! I was a little nervous in the beginning because some of those pups were pretty big and a bit older, and I did see him get rolled some by a few of the larger pups, but it looked like he was having a great time socializing with them. It was so much fun watching him run, play, and just interact with other dogs. I was grinning like this the entire time!
One thing I noticed is that he quickly communicated to the pups that exhibited dominant behavior (like humping or jumping on his back) that he did NOT appreciate it. I'm not quite sure what to make of that right now. I'll keep an eye on it and make sure that he is not so impatient that he will respond aggresively to an overly excited or improperly trained dog in the future.
But overall, it was a great experience! The trainer was awesome and used training methods that are consistent with what I was already doing (positive reinforcement...) and the socialization went really well. Yay!
At first he was extremely nervous. He was sitting in my lap shaking so hard, which I had never seen him do before. It was understandable though, since this was the first time he encountered another puppy since we received him. Nonetheless, I set him on the floor with the other pups and removed his leash.
Although he was a bit shy at first, boy did he break out of that quickly! He LOVED playing with the other puppies! He was one of the smallest pups out there, but he was so confident! I was a little nervous in the beginning because some of those pups were pretty big and a bit older, and I did see him get rolled some by a few of the larger pups, but it looked like he was having a great time socializing with them. It was so much fun watching him run, play, and just interact with other dogs. I was grinning like this the entire time!
One thing I noticed is that he quickly communicated to the pups that exhibited dominant behavior (like humping or jumping on his back) that he did NOT appreciate it. I'm not quite sure what to make of that right now. I'll keep an eye on it and make sure that he is not so impatient that he will respond aggresively to an overly excited or improperly trained dog in the future.
But overall, it was a great experience! The trainer was awesome and used training methods that are consistent with what I was already doing (positive reinforcement...) and the socialization went really well. Yay!