Dunedin Diary: Monday

Monday, March 14, 2022

Monday

It was mostly sunny and 79 degrees today, much better than the last two days.

We gave Toby several walks to prepare him for puppy training this afternoon. Mondays are stressful for us because of training. It takes a lot of concentration, and if you haven’t done your homework for the week, it’s going to show. We hardly ever feel prepared. Thankfully, the trainer is very understanding of human nature as well as doggie nature.

After lunch, I rode my bike to Weaver Park to exercise and mentally prepare. It was 75 degrees with a 10 mph breeze, almost cold on a bike.

Training was so hard! We had to do many commands without treats. We had to do a heel and front (sit in front) and then any 5 commands in a row. So hard. We will definitely be taking this course again. I couldn’t even get his attention to sit, much less heel, and for the life of me I couldn’t remember ever learning “front.” We had to do it in the middle of the circle with everyone watching. The trainer came to intervene and proceeded to get Toby to do all the commands flawlessly. Then she told me to try it again. My brain was mush and my confidence gone, so I handed off to John. Training can be very humbling.

Some things we could do. And the other dogs struggled too. It just wasn’t our day.

She asked us to stay after class for an extra 30 minutes to work on come commands. She went out in the store and brought back freeze dried minnows. Toby went crazy for them as we practiced the come command. I thought that we had that one down, but without treats, he ignored us.

We were all three exhausted afterwards.

We’ve recommitted to practicing more during the week.

This was the sixth week of the course and technically the end, but our trainer has a loose interpretation of time. We’ll be going at least two more weeks in this course. She may also be adjusting the end date based on their progress. Who knows? We’re retired and have nothing else that we have to do.