After talking to Erica I finally got around to enrolling Paris in Puppy School. I know we could probably train her on our own but sometimes being accountable to a third party gets it going. Plus, I've never trained a dog and didn't really know where to start.
So, we started tonight. Actually, last Thursday was technically the first class but we didn't have to bring our dog to it. I have a friend who used the same school and warned me that the first class, sans puppy, had a lot of embarrassing (to her) role playing and weird group activities. She suggested I get Rene to go...so I gave him the option of taking all the girls to their swimming lessons (which fell on the same night) where he'd have to get them all ready, watch Lucienne and then get them all out of the pool and dried off (much easier as a two-man job) or spend the hour talking about training dogs. He jumped at the dog option while I laughed an evil laugh in my mind. I would be able to catch the last half of the class after swimming anyway and watch from the sidelines with all the girls.
After about 10 minutes of watching with the girls I decided that was not going to be an option in the future. Keeping Lucienne off the floor lasted all of 10 minutes of her squirming and doing straight-as-a-board to get down. I gave up and figured I'd disinfect her at home. Audree couldn't see over the gate and kept wanting to be picked up and Evelyn was tired and wanted to lie down on the floor. Amelia was enthrawled and luckily since she's 8 is allowed to participate in the classes.
I also realized it's going to be most benficial if both Rene and I can attend the classes. There's a lot of information that will be hard to relay to whoever misses the class.
So, the next question was who to get to watch the girls. Last fall a 12-year-old girl passed out babysitting flyers. I fished it out and gave her a call. She lives just a few houses away and I thought it would be handy to have someone to call for short jobs when it's not really worth Erica or Mom driving all the way up (although I know they would both do it!) This would be perfect to introduce her to the girls, she wouldn't have to feed them or put them into bed, we'd just be a 2 minute drive away and flexible to have one of us leave if needed.
She called 20 minutes after we left. Lucienne started screaming as soon as the car left the driveway. I suggested she take her to the toyroom as there are lots of distractions up there. I got another call 20 minutes after that (luckily the trainers are very laid back and were fine with me leaving the class to take these calls) saying the toyroom worked but Evelyn and Audree wanted to watch tv so they came down and she started crying again. We only had 20 minutes left so I told her to hang in there and we'd be home soon. Poor girl. First time babysitting and the baby cries the whole time.
She said she was game to come again next week. I think we'll have to pay her more. And Evelyn and Audree are under strict instructions that there will be no tv and if the toyroom keeps Lucienne happy they need to stay up there. I hope it goes better next time.
On the dog side, we're working on becoming the centre of Paris' universe. We need to be more important than squirrels, cats, toys and everything. To do that, I've been carrying around treats 24/7 and randomly calling her name and giving her a treat. Rene already thinks it's a waste of time. I think he was envisioning the command part of training but I can see how this is laying the groundwork so the commands will come naturally. Thankfully she's very motivated by food.
They also said there needs to be structured play with toys, to not just put the dog outside with a bone. We've had fun hanging things on the clothesline and watching her jump to get it or putting toys at the top of the slide and seeing her struggle and slip to climb up to grab it. If anything it has allowed me to spend more positive time with her instead of always being frustrated about what she's gotten into and destroyed (which is a lot). We've been doing okay with giving her physical exercise but doing nothing in the mental exercise department.
Hmmmmmm...maybe that's why I've been frustrated with the girls lately. Maybe I need to be spending more time actually doing structured play with them instead of being frustrated with them not picking up after themselves and fighting with each other.
Not just a doggie training school, I'm learning philosophies for life...
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