First Day of School

Last night was the first night of Emme's puppy class. It was at Brigadoon Kennels here in town, the same place that Rudy took his obedience class. We went without dogs the first night and just listened to the trainer. He will teach only four things: respond to their name, come when called, "leave it" and walking on a leash. Next week we bring the dogs. We did pick up a good book on housebreaking and have already started using one of the suggestions.

Emme is 100 percent house broken in her crate. She has never had an accident there. She occasionally will have an accident in the house so she is still working on that. One of the most annoying things, however, is that she sometimes takes FOREVER to decide where to pee. The book suggested that you always go to the same spot; plant yourself and don't move; and say over and over the words you use to tell her to go. The book says that letting the dog wander, looking for the perfect place to go, only complicates things. They get distracted by smells and sounds around the yard and don't do their business. I certainly have been doing that wrong. I let her wander all over the yard until she finds the magic spot and goes. I may be making the process longer and more difficult than it needs to be. Especially with cold weather coming, it will be good if we can get her to go more quickly. There is always something new to learn about puppies, isn't there?