My disruptive dog

It’s official. Larry has learned how to sit. But I’ve now realized that I could teach him practically anything if it included a yummy treat afterwards. Now anytime I have a treat in my hand, he just sits in anticipation of eating it. I don’t even have to give the command. The only problem here is that he won’t sit without a treat. Just this morning, I tried to make him sit so I could take off his leash. It wasn’t happening. He looked up at me with his big brown eyes as if to say “I don’t smell a treat, I’m no dummy.”

But, obviously, class is going well. Larry is a fast learner and very sociable … maybe too sociable. I think if he got a report card he’d have all A’s but in the comments box “Talks during class.” He just makes these happy play noises. One of our trainers, Fran Iwanicki, actually paused class because Larry was trying to play with Merlin and was being noisy and disruptive. While this just makes Larry look cute it makes me look like a bad mommy. So I stood there all embarrassed while Larry continued to play and Fran just gave up.

Larry and Merlin seem to have hit it off. As soon as Merlin comes to class Larry gets really excited and has to go play with him immediately. Then, when Merlin leaves, Larry whines. Merlin may be about half Larry’s size but he’s scrappy. When they first met, Larry went to introduce himself and Merlin just swatted him across the nose. They’ve been best friends ever since. Merlin has even learned to go potty on command, just like Larry. Whenever Merlin plays with another dog Larry sits there looking dejected and confused. This is probably why I got upset when Pepper’s mom announced that Merlin and Pepper had really hit it off. “But Larry is Merlin’s best friend!” I wanted to say. I held back in order to set a good example for Larry.