On Tuesday my mother-in-law and I took Mitch into for a bath. Now I know this sounds a bit extreme to go into town and pay a fee just for a bath I was going to give him myself, but we wanted to try it out and see what it was all about. I have always washed my dogs in the backyard on the patio with the freezing cold hose, but only on hot days so my hands wouldn't become ice blocks and my dog wouldn't turn into an ice sculpture. But anyways... we took Mitch to a little place called the Yuppy Puppy. I was quite impressed. They had everything there for a spa-like experience for your dog- warm water with an adjustable sprayer, shampoo and conditioner, face wash with a nice little wash cloth so you didn't have to spray your dog in the face (I didn't know they made face wash for dogs), ear cleaner and cotton balls, a blower to dry your dog, towels, and of course an brightly covered apron to wear so I don't get soaked!!! Mitch was very very good.
The following day was our first day of class. At 8:30 in the morning we (meaning me and mom-in-law) loaded up 4 dogs and headed up north for day at the training barn. We had Rally first. I haven't ever taken a formal dog training class before, but luckily today it was only me with Mitch and mom with McGee. (McGee is the cutest dog I have ever seen. He is an 8 pound Papillon, with tons of personality. I'll share some pictures sometime) With Rally a course is set up with little signs on the ground that give specific instructions such as sit, turn left, complete a 360, take one step sit, take 2 steps sit, etc. I don't think it will be too difficult but I just have to practice practice practice. Mom then ran Trig (a lapponian herder- really cool dog) and Belle (Mitch's old sister) in Agility. Trig was awesome! Mom had me walk the course with her. She wants me to learn the basics of agility. I would eventually like to run Mitch in agility. We then took a break for lunch and then had Triball. This was a larger class with about 6 other dogs. We worked on basic directions. Come by mean come right and Away means come left (these come from herding people) Mitch and I are still working on those. We also worked on sit stay. Mitch was awesome at those! I am grateful to the prisoners who trained him because he is great with sit, stay, down, etc.
On our way home we made a list of all the things we need to practice before next week. Its quite a list! But I am excited to see the results of our hard work and mostly I am looking forward to creating a bond with my new dog.
Mitch and Belle hanging out between classes
Trig on the agility course
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