Graduation from Second Step

Sadie and I graduated from our Second Step Obedience Class at Canine Craze on Easter Sunday. We certainly made progress from week one to week six.

I haven't written about week one but I should have. The Second Step class started in early March and Sadie & I were repeating it because the criteria had changed since we first took it back in November. I didn't take a class with Sadie in January and February because I'm not as motivated to go out during the icky winter weather. However, I did work really hard with Sadie during those months at home and was feeling good about what we accomplished...until the first day of Second Step. At that first session Sadie was TERRIBLE! I said she acted like she'd never been to a training class in her life. Renee, the class instructor, said that wasn't fair to say. I was so frustrated I started crying...in a room full of strangers!! Grrr! Renee finally suggested the "problem" was that early on in my training with Sadie, we (she & I) hadn't identified that the treats I was using with Sadie at class didn't have high enough value with the distractions. I promised Renee I'd spend that first week finding higher value treats. Well...at Hy-Vee I've discovered cubed ham, cubed turkey, cubed chicken, and cheap hotdogs! Week two was much better than week one.

I've only been using the "high-value" treats at class. Until tonight. It's really nice here today (about 80 degrees) so after work I thought I'd try doing some training outside. It seems that even the cubed ham is not as exciting as the leaves and twigs blowing down the street! Sadie had no interest in me or the ham! Sadie wouldn't even do hand touches for me. Agggh! Now I don't know WHAT to do! We're never going to compete if everything around us is more exciting than I am. On Sunday we start the Third Step class so I'll have to ask Renee how to proceed with getting Sadie out more and if she has any ideas for higher value treats.