Graduation

In spite of being suspected of being less than brilliant, Snowball graduated from beginner obedience class. That is Laura his instructor in the picture above. She is very patient.

He is so eager to please that he just does what he thinks you want him to do. He doesn't wait for a command. This gets a little frustrating when we want him to learn something new. He thinks any command is going to be "sit" or "down". I am still working with him and in the five minutes of his attention span we get to do a little training.

In fact, I enrolled him in a tricks class to try to keep him learning. He isn't a fast learner, but he is getting a little of it. The funniest thing is that now that he isn't with the 2 big German shepherds, he is jealous of the instructor's attention to the other dogs in the class. He's a funny little dog.

Puppy Obedience Classes

We started 8 weeks of obedience classes about a month ago. Obedience is not a concept that comes easily to Snowball. He is a free spirit at heart, but we have made a little progress.

He is a little more comfortable now around the other dogs in the class. When we walked into the first class there were three little dogs and two full grown German Shepherds - with big voices. It was a little unnerving even to me. Imagine what it felt like to a little Maltese! Then the next week the other two little dogs had to drop out of class. So, we have continued - one little white ball of fur and two BIG loud shepherds. Sometimes it seems to all be too much for Snowball and he just lies down and becomes a rug, but most of the time he tries to do what is asked.

Last week we were supposed to be working on "stay - with distractions". He didn't want to stay at all, so today he has to go to a class by himself. I think of it as remedial stay class. :) We will see how he does. A couple of weeks ago he seemed to really have it. He would even stay when out of sight, but lately he isn't doing it well at all, even at home. I need to practice more with him. Getting ready for taxes has taken a toll on my time, but that is done now.

I don't care if he is a perfectly trained dog. But I need him to be trained well enough not to be a danger to anyone or a constant annoyance. He does bark too much, which is irritating even to me. His favorite is to bark at the dogs on TV. It drives me crazy.

All in all, he is a sweet little dog and a good companion.