Seven has graduated from class!

For the past 5 weeks, Seven and I have been attending a weekly positive dog class titled Real World Manners and it was a great class for both of us.

Our trainer Ruth LaRocque, CTC, CPDT-KA, CBCC-KA was extremely helpful!  I highly recommend Ruth as she's an amazing trainer - clear in her communication to the dog and human plus she gives a lot of attention to each participant in the class.

On our way to class!

I was a little worried with stating a class because Seven goes so over the top when he sees or hears other dogs.  However, I've worked with Ruth in the past with another foster dog (Royal) and I also knew the class was in a large space and that the class size would be small.

What a difference 5 weeks made for Seven - this was due to Ruth's guidance and then our work outside of class.  We can take a class and have the best trainer in the world but, the human has to be dedicated to working with their dog outside of the class sessions.

In class #1 Seven and I were stationed in the far corner of the class, far away from the other dogs.  We did a lot of work around "going to mat", "touch" and began practicing "down" and "leave it". 

Seven had a hard time not focusing on the dogs in the class.

In class #2  we spent almost the whole session in the bathroom.  The other dogs were working on recall and this was too much for Seven.  In the bathroom we did more work with the skills we'd been working on. There were times where we were able to come out of the bathroom and work on his recall while the other dogs were settled and a good distance from Seven.

In class #3 we moved out the bathroom and Ruth stationed us a little bit out of the corner and made a barrier for us to us as a "time out" when needed.  And by "time out" I mean - Seven and I would go behind the barrier (and expen with a sheet over it) and practice our skills mentioned above. The barrier allowed us to be active in the environment but, visually it helped Seven to not focus on the movement of the dogs.

Here's Seven at class #3 chomping on a treat.  He was able to focus and work outside of the barrier - good boy Seven!

Still at class #3 and you can see the black labs in the background, the barrier to the right and Seven looking relaxed and focused on what we were working on in class.

Class #4 was a very special treat for us as we were the only pair able to make it to class!  So we had a lot of individual attention and guidance. We were able to work on Seven's leash frustration both inside and outside so that was fantastic.   

Class # 5 everything came together! While the below video isn't the greatest - what you can see is that Seven can walk around with other dogs in the area and check in with me.  This is a far cry from class one where Seven was, whining/screaming barking, scratching at the ground, pulling hard on leash to get to the dogs in the class.

So way to go Seven - you've made great progress and we'll keep working on all our new skills!

Many thanks to Ruth for her assistance - I was really pretty stumped with Seven and his leash frustration. As you will soon see, the plan that Ruth helped us create to reduce Seven's leash frustration is already working!

And of course lots of thanks to New Rattitude Rat Terrier Rescue!  New Rattitude provides an annual training subsidy to help cover the cost of training classes for foster parents enrolling their dogs (either foster or personal dogs) in training classes using positive methods to modify behavior, develop manners, increases responsiveness and/or build confidence.  I know of no other rescue groups that offer this and this is one of many things that sets New Ratittude above and beyond in terms of rescue groups.

So, stay tuned to see how Seven and I will be working through leash frustration...