Last night was Kozmo's first night of puppy school. I was a nervous wreck. I left the JoePa memorial and went straight home to go to puppy school. The only thing I knew for sure is that I didn't have any tears left. We weren't off to a good start. It was dark and raining and Google maps was leading us down this windy road that didn't seem right. We finally found the place and got there at 6:25 (class started at 6:30).
I don't understand Kozmo. I have a theory that his time at the shelter makes him crazy in certain situations. He NEVER, EVER barks at home. However, as soon as he is around other dogs he barks like a maniac and it's this high pitched, ear piercing puppy bark. As soon as we are ready to go into the building he sees the other dogs and just freaked. He's barking, lunging, jumping. The building is a big open concrete room so his shrill bark is echoing off of the walls and piercing my skull.
To start they asked everyone to sit in a chair with their dog on the floor. The chairs were spread around the room with at least 6 feet between each family. As the instructor was trying to go over the introduction Kozmo is barking so loud no one can hear what she is saying. We had to go around the room and introduce ourselves, our dogs, and our goals. I basically said, "this is Kozmo and we need help".
The first exercise was sit. Koz knows sit. There are about 10 other dogs in his class so we have a teacher and 2 teacher's helpers. Shortly into class I see the 3 trainers huddled in the middle of the room talking. Next one comes up to us and tells us we have to get a prong collar for Kozmo. I hated the idea. I don't want to be mean to my little man, even if he doesn't know how to act. They had one he could try and at this point I will try anything. The trainer put it on him and he pulled on his leash a few times and then it was like someone flipped a switch in his brain he totally calmed down and his entire demeanor changed.
We only worked on basics: sit, down, and come. One of the exercises is name recognition. You are to say your dogs name and every time he makes eye contact you give him a treat. This is not Kozmo's strong suit. I'm still not sure if he knows his name and he certainly does a good job of ignoring us at home. The trainer came and got Kozmo to take him in the center of the room to demonstrate. I braced myself for complete humiliation and embarrassment. Instead, he did really good. He listened to the trainer and responded every time she said his name.
There is hope. He might actually learn something after all!!! Then we had to work on down. He isn't too good at this one either (all he has mastered is sit, shake and high five, which 2 of the 3 aren't really useful commands but they sure are cute). With every exercise you practice but the trainers come around and you have to show them how your dog does with the command. Again, I was waiting for Kozmo to flunk out of school and I told him down and he laid down, shifted onto his side and got comfy. The trainer looked at me and said, "he's not nearly as bad as you think, that is really good."
So he isn't winning any ribbons but we are calling it a success. He didn't get kicked out, he didn't bite any humans or dogs, and he didn't have an accident on the floor. We saw him working hard to do what we asked and feel much more confident that with continued practice and classes he is trainable (and so are we). All 3 of us have a lot to learn. Jim and I feel better that we've been doing some things right and even though we don't know what we are doing we have been able to give him a fairly good foundation in the 6 short weeks since we adopted him.
The trainers told us that the Dalmatian in him is going to make him very challenging and we have more work than our class mates because he is a rescue and who knows what the first 5 months of his life was like until we got him. I still firmly believe we did the right thing by saving a life and I think even though he is crazy that he's going to be a great, life long companion.
We got home from school to find Sparky sleeping soundly in Kozmo's bed. I think that we are going to be one big happy family after all :)
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