fleury's first puppy class

[jessac]

So last night was Fleury's first puppy class. We tried to get there early because I knew he would need to sniff out the place, but even with 10 minutes before class, all the other pups and parents were there already, seated nicely in their chairs. We came in and sat down and ohmygoodness the talking. There was so much talking! I'm hoping there is less talking, more training next week. This week we covered how to use a clicker/marker word and two commands - sit and go to your mat. And she had us practice sit forever..... Oh, Fleury was bored to tears (as was I). And so he would try and start sniffing. She came over and said if he's sniffing he's probably had enough...no kidding. She mentioned to another student that if they did really well, she would teach them how to have their dog "high 5" - a trick Fleury learned in about 5 minutes two weeks ago.

Also, she had us not using words yet with the commands. Had us train in silence just using our marker. I praise him a lot when he gets things, so I think that training in silence was a little boring too, at least for me I certainly was less excited.

I will try and wear him out even more next week as he was the most fidgety dog in class. She was using him as the demo dog at first, to teach others how to lure a sit. He did great, but then he kept sitting for her and she stopped treating him for it and continued to lecture and he just was getting frustrated. He loved all the people, but was a little unsure of the other dogs. He started to sniff them and they would get all hyper and it would scare him a bit it seemed and run away, but he kept coming back to them to try again so I'm hoping we'll make progress as the weeks go by. He was good with the one Golden we sat near though. Sniffed her nicely and calmly.

I'm hoping he gets more social with the other dogs as the class progresses (which I'll be honest the socialization and focus with distractions was really the reason for us taking it - he knows the commands they will teach already). Is it normal for GSDs to be wary of new dogs and not all hyper puppy? Will his fearful behavior get better as he gets more exposure to them? Anything I can do to help that? (We only know a few folks with dogs here and the owners have told me that they aren't up to date on shots and one is bad with small dogs and puppies...)

[Bear GSD]

I had similar experience when Bear and I first went to puppy class. He knew all of the commands that they were already teaching and was used as an example by the instructor several times. Eventually the instructor would give us things to work on while the rest of the class was working on other things.
I also agree that you should get him tired out before you go to your class, it will help take the hyper puppy edge off. He will calm down in time. It took about 3 classes before Bear wasn't all revved up and was better about being around all the different puppies. Good luck with your training!

[gmcwife1]

Nita was like that too, she got bored during the sitting still while listening to the explanation part of class!

We told our daughter that it was ok for her to get up and walk Nita outside for a few minutes when she felt her losing her focus.