Well we had our second session with our new trainer. This time it was in the class with all the other doggies. It was… interesting. First of all, we get there and Zeeke’s one of the best behaved there. How… weird. Boyfriend and I have been heeling him on and off every single time he’s on leash - in the front yard after a potty break, in parking lots, wherever we go, we heel, do about-turns, walk this way and that. He’s really doing well with it. So we’re in this community center parking lot and a bunch of other dogs are jumping and barking and straining at the leash, and Zeeke is walking around heeling. Not perfectly, of course - and he broke a few times to try to see a few of the other dogs, but I was so proud.

So the trainer puts us in a big circle. Boyfriend has the leash, I back off to sit on the sidelines and watch for a bit. They heel around in a circle. Well… Zeeke was a bit worse then. Boyfriend was getting a bit annoyed with his complete inability to sit straight. And this is just not a dog you can physically place where you want him, if you try it he resists and then grabs your hand in his mouth as if to tell YOU where to go, and ends up bouncing around like a nutcase. Anyways, so boyfriend and I switch off, and I take the leash. Zeeke is getting progressively worse, not heeling and absolutely refusing to sit at ALL (which is weird, he knows very well how to sit). Then I realize he’s not being annoying, he’s being SICK, as I see his back arch into the familiar pooping-position. Aiaiai! I go running off into the woods at the side of the parking lot where he deposits some very runny poop. I didn’t even bother to attempt picking it up, it was like soup. *sigh* Poor baby, we have GOT to find out how to help calm his poor tummy. But after that he was doing really well.

Some a$$**** at the training session brought their kids - actually, several must have, because there were at least four running amok. And I do mean running… freaking he**, who lets their kids go RUNNING around where BEGINNER dogs are learning new commands?? I yelled at them once to stop running around the dogs, they listened for approximately 10 minutes before doing it again. I wish I had a rolled up newspaper or something to SMACK them on the heads. And then the parents, too. Too bad I didn’t figure out who the parents were (because no one was paying ANY attention to them!). The trainer had to tell them to get out of the community center (which I assume is what we’d use if it rained). Good grief.

Then the trainer taught us how to get our dogs to… lay down. She showed us three different methods to get your dog into a down. I knelt down beside Zeeke and my problem was keeping him in a sit, because he kept sliding into a down on his own volition. Did I mention that we already taught him sit and down and a few other things? Yeah. I can stand in front of him and say “down” - he still sometimes requires me to point to the ground, but he does it every time. So that was pretty pointless, lol.

We’ll be starting work on a long line now, too. Got a 20 foot lead for training purposes. So all this week we’ll be practicing the sit-stay (needs work on that, he breaks when he gets bored), the down (need to phase out the hand signal), heeling, and coming.

In other training issues - still working on keeping him away from my food. Putting him on a tie-down is working to a point, but very slowly. He doesn’t seem to be very quick to catch on, which makes me think I’m doing something wrong in the timing or what I say, because as soon as I let him off he goes straight back to the food. Plus every time I snap the leash on he barks for 5 minutes straight. What a way to bring on a headache. But my bf finally finished a can of pop so I grabbed it and filled it with coins. I didn’t know if it was going to work - Zeeke is very unconcerned about loud noises unless he thinks it means someone is sneaking up on the property. A can of coins shaken would have my Oreo running for her life, thunder makes her just freak out. Zeeke completely ignores thunder. But I tried the can thing when he sniffed/licked my food… shook it. He kind of looked funny at it like he wasn’t quite sure what the heck it was. The second time I did it he jumped, then shoved his head towards me to find the sound maker, he kept trying to get around me to see what was in my hands. So let’s hope this gives my “NO!!” an extra punch that he feels like listening to do.

I’m also taking advice and not even petting him unless he sits or downs for me on command. He got a bit snarly at me today when I tried to grab his collar at one point - but boyfriend came over. It’s so frustrating how I do almost all the training and I’m here with Zeeke all day, but bf gets Zeeke’s immediate respect and I have to bust my butt for it. Men. Gah.