Sent to the principal's office

This week, I was very excited to discover we’d be learning the “leave it” command during class since the “it” is typically my socks, my dinner, my mail and, especially, my favorite Rainbow flip-flops. But, we started out by showing the trainers and the entire class our best “sit.” Larry did very well. Everyone even clapped for him and told me how much he’d seemed to have calmed down. Later, I realized Larry’s calm demeanor was due to something else he’d brought to class – his attitude.

When it was time for one of the trainers to demonstrate the “drop it” command, they chose Larry to give it the first try. I was excited that they chose him because I thought that must have meant he was doing well. Enter the attitude. Suddenly, in front of the entire class, Larry refused to do anything the trainer told him. She tried using his favorite liver treats and even those didn’t seem to interest him. So Pepper kindly stepped in and Larry and I sulked off to the back of the class. I tried to practice the trick with Larry and he got it four or five times before walking away to sniff the grass having completely lost interest.

During break, Larry continued to have his surly attitude. He went over to Merlin only to steal a few sips from his water bowl. When Pepper came to say “hello” he finally started to play. But, when Larry took a few chews of Pepper’s leg, I’d had it with him. Now he was just being rude. When break came to a close we worked more on loose-leash walking. Larry was a disaster. He pulled on the leash and ran around until our trainer, Fran, came over and took control. I put my head in my hands as even Fran has a hard time with him. When class was over I packed Larry and his attitude in the car and headed home.

Later, I tried the commands again. “Leave it” was far more interesting this time around and he sat like an all-star. Loose-leash walking … let’s just say I’ll have to consult Fran on this one.