Class demo puppy

First, to follow up from the last post, Breeze had a small temper tantrum on the grooming table for her first round of nail grinding (with a Dremel tool, coarse sandpaper disc), but settled right down when I made it clear that she couldn't escape.  I praised her when she relaxed and "contained" her when she struggled.  (A lot of novice owners "restrain" the dog.   Restraint causes the dog's muscles to tighten, which creates opposition reflex.   "Containing" the dog, thereby allowing minimal movement, is more effective.  The dog doesn't struggle as much.)

Breeze is now coming out of her x-pen at the beginning of my sets of classes (3 or 4 hours in a row), as students are coming in with their dogs.  I have her on leash and my goal is to keep her engaged with me and the tug toy, regardless of the distractions around her.  I am also working to build her drive (stronger grip and more intensity for the tug toy) and concentration (a few seconds longer) with these distractions.   I want her default behavior to be paying attention to me (rather than paying attention to other people and other dogs.)   I want her to believe playing with me and interacting with me is a lot more fun that those other people and dogs.   Breeze gets to "go visit" when I give her permission to do so.   When I do selectively allow her to go visit people and/or dogs, I know in advance that the person will handle her appropriately, and the dog will be tolerant of her puppy behavior.  I would never put Breeze in a position to have a bad experience.

After we tug for a minute or two and I talk to the class, I take the toy away and Breeze goes back in her x-pen.  It's important to end the game on my terms, and to leave Breeze wanting more.  If I played the game for too long, she'd get bored and the game would lose its thrill.

After an hour of chewing on bones and entertaining herself in the x-pen while I taught the first class, Breeze came out for the breed ring class.   It was her first time being a real "demo" puppy!   She showed the class how an almost 12 week old puppy can start to learn freestacking with bait, gaiting on a wide collar (so she doesn't choke), and the "judge" command.   When I whisper "judge" to my puppies I want them to look at the person approaching with ears up and tail wagging, anticipating a treat for standing still.   This lays the foundation for the judge's exam.

My pretend "judges" are instructed to only feed Breeze when she's standing perfectly still and her ears are up.  If she jumps, sits, moves around or puts her ears back my "judges" wait until she offers the correct behavior...then they quickly stick a cookie in her mouth!

This morning I found an old retired metal scent article and tossed it for Breeze as a toy.   She chased it and brought it back a couple of times...so it's now in her x-pen along with her real toys.  This will help her get used to metal objects, in preparation for learning Utility scent articles on down the road.