It’s a sad day in a mother’s life when her baby grows up and graduates from school. Fortunately, mine isn’t leaving home. In fact, he still needs me to feed him, do his laundry and give him a bath. Nevertheless, I gave Larry a talk on graduation day. My dad gave me “the talk” every time I had a life milestone or needed to be reminded to be safe, so I feel talks are an important part of my parenting. So I told Larry how proud I am of him and how well he’s done in class. Then I tried to make him to wear his pretty red bandanna to graduation, but Larry found this embarrassing, so we loaded up the car for the last trip to puppy class.
It wasn’t all fun and games. First there was the “final exam.” Overall, Larry did really well and I got to see how much he’s learned over the past few weeks. “Sit” was a breeze and he even did “stay” as I walked in a circle around him. He came when I called him, but the exercise where another owner called him was super tricky. I explained to him how that exercise was going to work but he still ran the wrong way. It’s like he didn’t even understand what I was saying. But, he was even a pro at loose-leash walking! In the end, Larry did a lot of things I never thought he’d do. He finally learned to lay down on command and will walk on one side of me when we’re out and about. He still chews my socks, but I can give him the “drop it” command and make him stop. And he’s an official puppy school graduate! He even got a graduation card from his grandparents (it was addressed to Larry Young) with a PetSmart gift card that he can’t wait to spend. He’s really been eyeing this huge rawhide chew.
A huge thanks to the amazing Tina Rivera, Larry’s trainer, who has a hilarious blend of patience and honesty. She’s going to post her new training schedule as it comes available at http://www.lakenormandogtraining.com/. Larry is already excited about middle school (the intermediate class). I think Merlin and Pepper might be coming back to school, as well. I know Larry will miss them over summer break. From what Tina explained, intermediate class will work on Larry being able to execute the commands with distractions. This is definitely what we need to work on!
Class Photos
Merlin's mommy and I tried to get Merlin and Larry to sit together for a picture.This is as close as we got!
Stanley was always really good with the "down" command. He doesn't have far to go with his short little legs!
Pepper taking a break after final exams.
Merlin doing a great job with "sit"!
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