Kozmo Kringle

Kozmo Kringle
our first day together - December 2011

Friday, February 17, 2012

Kozmo's Fourth Class

Kozmo was excited to go to his 4th class last night. I think he gets the routine and knows it will be fun. He has to work, but he generally goes through an entire bag of treats in one hour. So he loves class! We arrived, and he didn't even bark. We went right to our seats and Kozmo politely sat down next to us and watched the other dogs.

We had to pair up with another dog & human. Each of us went to opposite corners of the room and we had to walk towards each other, meet in the middle, make our dogs sit/stay, the humans shake hands, and the dogs cannot meet. Kozmo was paired with a stubborn Burmese Mountain Dog, Frank. It took Frank a long time to sit. Kozmo sat and patiently waited for the exercise to be over. Good job Kozmo!

Next we had to do recall. A trainer takes Kozmo to one end of the room and he has to ignore all the other dogs and people and come directly to me. I wasn't allowed to bend over, clap, or whistle. All I could do is say his name and "come". We practice this a lot. I was confident until they decided to add a distraction. Another trainer stood in the middle of the room shaking a stuffed bunny to distract the dogs. I was nervous. Finally, it's Kozmo's turn. I told the trainer with the stuffed bunny to watch her fingers. I was certain Kozmo would lose focus on me and try to kill that stuffed bunny. The little man proved me wrong. He ran as fast as he could right to me. Just to prove it wasn't a fluke we repeated the exercise.

Everyone was laughing at Kozmo's speed. The trainer said on the last day of class we can have races but she is pretty sure Kozmo is the fastest dog in class. He's not there to win a race. I was so proud he ignored the distractions and came right to me, giving me more confidence to continue our off leash hikes.

Just to keep me humble Kozmo screwed up the next exercise. He was to sit/stay while I removed his leash, sat the leash on the ground and made him wait. I had my hand on his collar, but in one quick move he got away and ran to the poodle next to us, Howie. Kozmo really wants to play with Howie.

The more he learns the less funny stories I have to share. I guess that's a good thing. This class is ending and we can't continue at the same place. So Kozmo is now registered for a class at a new facility starting in March. This class focuses on the Canine Good Citizen Exam. We are going to work really hard and hope that someday Kozmo can pass the exam and be a certified Canine Good Citizen!!

One last piece of good news. The shelter where we got Kozmo does a calendar to raise money and awareness. Kozmo was asked to be in the 2013 calendar. We are working hard to make him an ambassador for all shelter dogs!!

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