Gigi Moss's Puppy Class

We've been taking Pickles to a puppy class hosted by Boulder dog trainer: Gigi Moss.   She holds drop in classes for puppies 8 - 18 weeks on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings.  We really like her techniques, style, and the class in general.  Pickles gets to play with a handful of other puppies of all shapes and sizes.  Gigi also answers questions, gives lots of good advice, and explains typical behaviors.  She usually has one or two exercises for us to work on during the class in between the puppy play times.  Some of the topics she's covered include: sit, down, stay, loose leash walking, wait (at a curb or doorway), impulse control, eye contact, being comfortable on a tether.  We've been taking Pickles at least every week and sometimes twice a week.  It's really vital for puppies to spend a lot of time playing with other puppies their own age to learn good dog manners.

Mark rewarding Pickles for being patient

Today, we worked on impulse control.  The goal is to teach the puppy that he won't get anything when he is being pushy.  So you take a treat and hold it in your hand in front of him.  At first he tries to lick, bite, or scratch it out of you hand.  As soon as he stops trying though and relaxes you give him the treat.  You move up to leaving the treat in your open hand and then place it on the floor in front of it.  Pickles had worked on this exercise at one of the previous puppy sessions so he was already a pro and Gigi had us move on to eye contact.  In this case, you hold the treat until he looks you in the eye and then give it to him.  The first time, I made a noise to get him to look at me, but then he caught on really quickly to and would look at the treat once and then immediately look up at me.  This exercise is supposed to be a really good base for off leash training because it sets the foundation for him to check in with you

Pickles playing with Clover (Burmese Mountain Dog) and Wolfgang (German Shepherd Mix).