Holly had mixed feelings about puppy preschool today

[juliefurry]

Well we went to puppy preschool today for the first time. I have to say I am SO proud of Holly we were inside for a whole hour and not once did she go potty on the floor. She held it for about an hour and a half while we were inside the building and then the half hour carride home. Anyway, there were two other puppies there besides Holly a little basset hound puppy (who Holly seemed to like and he liked her) and a border collie puppy. Ok first we were going to do playtime with the puppies and let them off leash. First thing that happens is this border collie runs up and attacks Holly! The trainer had to pull the border collie off. Then this border collie, before it could be leashed agian takes off and grabbed the basset hound puppy, but luckily the basset's owner was there and shoved the border off her dog. I should mention this border collie is owned by a 60 year old couple and they monopolized the whole class session asking questions like "why is she so high strung", or "why is she so active?" Questions like that where the only answer is she a border collie and she is exhibiting border collie traits. Anyway this old couple kept talking to her for about 50 minutes of the 60 minute session and noone else got to ask questions about stuff that concerned them about their puppies. The last ten minutes we worked on the come command (and for some reason Holly was a pro at the class). I stayed behind to ask her some questions about Holly which she was more than happy to stay late and talk to me and work a little with Holly. The basset hound stayed too and we basically did the whole session over without the border collie. That dog kept barking and making a fuss while the trainer was trying to talk that noone could get anything from the session. Holly did have fun though she loved that little basset hound (and the basset hound's mommy had good treats in her pocket). I can't wait until next week though, hopefully Holly will get more play time in with other puppies.

 

[showpug]

Try to keep the BC from pouncing Holly next time around. While it's great for her to get socialization, it needs to be positive during this very important time in Holly's life. What happens to her now will lay the foundation for all her years to come. It seems like there is always someone that tries to hog puppy class LOL! I can't believe an elderly couple has a BC!!! What were they thinking:yikes:

 

[jess2416]

Glad the class went kinda well LOL

I cant believe they had a BC either :yikes:

Hopefully the one next week will be better

 

[juliefurry]

Try to keep the BC from pouncing Holly next time around. While it's great for her to get socialization, it needs to be positive during this very important time in Holly's life. What happens to her now will lay the foundation for all her years to come. It seems like there is always someone that tries to hog puppy class LOL! I can't believe an elderly couple has a BC!!! What were they thinking:yikes:

The trainer had told me and the other puppy owner unless they can keep their dog under control and they can stop acting as though the whole class is their personal training session they'll have to do private sessions until she is reliable. I don't know what the couple was thinking either. I mean it's one thing if you can keep up with a dog with that much energy but they obviously couldn't since they were very frail themselves and this dog was just doing whatever it wanted and the people were letting her! They had her for 4 weeks already (she was three months) and were treating her like she was a little chi letting her sit in their laps and do whatever she wanted.

 

[jess2416]

The trainer had told me and the other puppy owner unless they can keep their dog under control and they can stop acting as though the whole class is their personal training session they'll have to do private sessions until she is reliable. I don't know what the couple was thinking either. I mean it's one thing if you can keep up with a dog with that much energy but they obviously couldn't since they were very frail themselves and this dog was just doing whatever it wanted and the people were letting her! They had her for 4 weeks already (she was three months) and were treating her like she was a little chi letting her sit in their laps and do whatever she wanted.

:yikes:

it must have been a terrible distraction....I would be sooo mad...(not at the puppy but at the owners)

 

[juliefurry]

:yikes:

it must have been a terrible distraction....I would be sooo mad...(not at the puppy but at the owners)

I wasn't mad about the puppy barking (although it did give me quite a headache). I was more mad that I had spent good money on these classes, and so did the other puppy's owner and these people thought they could butt in on everyone else's question time with their stupid questions like "she runs out in the street how do we get her to stop?" I mean me and the other woman stayed after for half an hour and asked our questions and the trainer had to basically do the whole training session over for us so that we could get something out of it. The old people kept calling her over to talk about their puppy running in the street and stuff. You could tell the trainer was getting aggreviated though because she kept walking away.

 

[Barb04]

I feel so bad for Holly and the basset hound. That's not the kind of thing they should be exposed to at puppy class. It would be better for the other dog to have some private lessons and not be let loose around other dogs if that's how it behaves.

 

[bubbatd]

Can't wait for this little old lady to take Ollie to obedience !!! LOL!!! Holly will do great !!! Glad the instructor understood for you and the Beagle !!

 

[juliefurry]

Can't wait for this little old lady to take Ollie to obedience !!! LOL!!! Holly will do great !!! Glad the instructor understood for you and the Beagle !!

Ollie gets to go to obedience classes too? I think he'll have fun. Holly actually did quite well the first day we worked on the come command and I've already been working on it at home so we'd wait until she got distracted and then call her and usually she would come at home but it seemed like everytime we called her there she would run over to us (ofcourse at school we always had a treat where at home I just give her praise). She got so keen on the idea of if she runs to people she gets treats that she just kept running to me and then to another person (even if they didn't call her) just so she could get a treat.

 

[Ottos_owner]

An "elderly couple" at 60? Ouch! Wait til you get there... I agree they were totally obnoxious, but please don't attribute it to their ages. Being jerks is not limited to those 60 and above. (Yes, I admit I'm 65 and rather sensitive to the issue! LOL) But anyway, we took Otto to his first puppy socialization class (play only) last week and this normally fearless dog cowered in a corner or tried to hide under our legs. Fortunately the trainer was on top of the situation and didn't try to force him to interact. I guess it will take several sessions before he gets braver.

 

[sam]

I don't want to be the nay sayer but it's a red flag for me that the instructor didn't manage the situation better and let one pup take over 50 minutes of an hour class. If the dog is really reactive like that usually they will put up a little divider or barricade so it can't see the other dogs and the owners can work the dog in a less distracting environment until the owners get a handle on it. I hope it goes better next week.
The bc sounds like it's way too much for those people and they sound like they have no business owning a bc I hate that.

 

[juliefurry]

An "elderly couple" at 60? Ouch! Wait til you get there... I agree they were totally obnoxious, but please don't attribute it to their ages. Being jerks is not limited to those 60 and above. (Yes, I admit I'm 65 and rather sensitive to the issue! LOL) But anyway, we took Otto to his first puppy socialization class (play only) last week and this normally fearless dog cowered in a corner or tried to hide under our legs. Fortunately the trainer was on top of the situation and didn't try to force him to interact. I guess it will take several sessions before he gets braver.

I'm not saying it's because of their age that they were like that, it was just the people themselves. I'm sure if they were 20 they would have acted the same way! Holly was the same way, she is normally the antaginizer (sp?) and at class she just wanted to get away from the other puppy and didn't want to play with the border collie. Our train did the same thing and just let the puppies come around on their own time. After the BC left though Holly came out of her shell.