Manners Please

So glad to have my Letty girl back upstairs.  Really missed her silly antics, though I did not miss her racing through the door, running across the sofa, and leaping on and off the chair when she is excited.  Puppies!  She's actually been a very easy puppy to raise - not the easiest to housetrain, but we got the job done, and everything else came easy.  She's a very good housedog with excellent manners, not destructive at all (except to her toys), perfect in a crate, not a whiner, waits at the door to be let out, doesn't jump on the patio door or over the dog gate, and never steals.   (I HATE Counter Surfing".)  She's very responsive to verbal commands, and like her father Argus, she can read my mind.  At least it seems like she can although I suppose she is picking up visual cues like he does.  Now that she's done with her season it's time to go back to training class. 

Letty is not ready to show yet, and with her sister Weather doing so well in the ring (7 points and a major already), plus Meribel and Amery coming along, and Sparkle who will need to be shown too, there's no hurry to get Letty in the ring.  It's a luxury to have a number of beautiful bitches to pick from.  I want to show Letty in Bred By Exhibitor Class and hate to see pups shown in that class before they are ready, so we'll take our time.    My goal would be to start her in June, but we'll see how she matures.

Argus went to his first class at our new training school and I was most pleased.  The class was exactly what I had hoped for - a small class in a large ring with lots of individualized work.  All positive training with the liberal use of treats, which is appreciated by most Dals!  I learned to reward correct sits rather than correcting crooked ones, something Argus appreciated.  He was pretty distracted last night, but it was his first class in a month and in a totally new environment.  So much to see and hear (they do a lot of clicker work and he kept listening to the clicks!) and he was convinced that he knew (or wanted to know) the handsome Whippet boy in our class.  There was also a red merle Chihuahua named "Paisley".  Argus did his typical Recall, super fast with a terrific front, and was perfect on his Stays.  We need to concentrate on faster straighter Sits, and attention.  It was an very enjoyable class that incorporated lots of praise, treats, and a generous dose of humor, and we both learned a lot.  Most of my training has been done with traditional methods and I find it fascinating how many different ways there are to teach the same exercise.  AND it was nice not to have to smuggle in treats and keep them hidden.