Last night was our next to last Dog Class.  We're working on Moving Sit/Down/Stand during Heel.  That means that Patches is supposed to sit/down/stand whenever we tell him while we're walking along.  Then we walk to the end of the leash, come back, turn around and he starts heeling again.  It takes a while for him to sit/down/stand, but he's actually doing it. 

Last night felt like a turning point for all the dogs.  Everybody was behaving well.  Patches was GREAT in heeling.  He also did all his sit/down/stands as well as Front and Finish with only hand signals and no verbal signals.  By next week, he needs to learn to Stand still so that the trainer can pet him in order to graduate.  Next week we're also going to work on Park It! so that he will go lie on his bed when we tell him.

Training is really so much fun.  And he loves it and is so good at it.  We did a routine this morning of down/sit/down/sit/stand/front/finish and multiple variations thereof and he is focused and quick and happy to do it.  It's really cool to see him learn and to respond so well.

Dave's parents arrived last night after a hellish flight involving a one hour delay in taking off and a detour for refueling to South Carolina.  They arrived 3 hours late!  I met them after the class when they had finshed dinner.  We had the remaining homemade peach ice cream and decaf coffee.  At least, I thought it was decaf coffee until everyone was drinking and I re-rechecked the bag and saw it was French Roast REGULAR coffee.  "STOP DRINKING!  PUT YOU CUPS DOWN!  STEP AWAY FROM THE COFFEE!!!"  Fortunately, I was the only one who had already had a full cup by the discovery and we were able to toss and restart.  I had no problems going to sleep.

Today, we're off to the Appalachian mountains for the Highland Games.  We'll be back Monday!

8:46:41 AM