Happy
March, everyone. As I've said before,
this year is really going fast!
As I've
also said before, I have a young puppy.
Cari is four months old now and I've decided she will--hopefully--be
more trained by me than I'll be trained by her, unlike her dear but
demanding "sister" Mystie. Cari
is such a little bundle of energy I'm not sure that'll be true, but I've begun
taking her to puppy classes at the Hollywood Dog Obedience Club--which is the
very wonderful and kind organization that has been letting me observe training
sessions as research for my upcoming Harlequin Romantic Suspense mini-series
themed around K-9 training. So, part of
this is also research--which I have to incorporate at least somewhat into my
life!
So how is
it going? Well, Cari really got into one
of the commands: sit. Now if I catch her
eye she'll sit... for a few seconds at least.
She also looks for treats, and I oblige some of the time.
But there
are other commands we're working on, too. She didn't get "down" at
the class at all, so now I'm telling her "down" if I see her resting,
which of course is rare. I do give her
treats if I'm close enough and see a bit of progress, but not sure how long
it'll take before she's onto that one.
Then
there's a command that's not "heel" but is similar, to get her to
stay with me as we walk. That's not too
difficult most of the time, but I also have to combine it a lot with
"leave it" since she likes to eat grass and taste a lot of stuff on
the ground, which worries me.
And as time goes on there'll be additional commands I'll be taught in the class.
One thing
that's wonderful is that Cari is a Cavalier, a people pleaser, so I'm sure
she'll catch on eventually. She's still
a baby, after all.
Still, yesterday
my husband Fred and I went to Universal Studios Hollywood because we have a
pass that's close to expiring, and one of the things we saw was the Animal
Actors performance. It was a lot of
fun--and showed me how far I have to go with Cari's training, even if I don't
intend for her to be so well trained that she can be a performer. But we'll continue working on it.
Oh, and by
the way, I have been able to continue writing despite all this. I'm getting back into a routine so I get some
done pretty much every day.
2 comments:
Good luck with your puppy training. It is not something I have ever done well with. As you said, they trained me.
It's a learning experience for both of us!
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