Libby's new training begins

 The day started like normal, with Libby bringing in the paper and waiting for Jimmy to reward her with treats.  This is a trick that Jimmy taught her, with advice from Libby's first trainer, Robert Howell.  But now we've decided we have to get her moved on, to where she won't jump all over the place when she's excited, will stay with us in the yard, and will be able to go with us to downtown events, where she can walk among other dogs and people and not jump on them.  She is really happy and sweet, but still, you don't want Libby in your face! So we're off later this morning to a new class.

 I couldn't catch it fast enough on the camera, but she sits up really high, holding the paper still in her mouth, and "sits pretty" for a few seconds.  So this is after that happened, and we couldn't get her to do it again. So this is all you get.  You have to imagine it!

 Now we're out at Brigadoon Kennels, aka BCU, just north of Wooster, and we're getting ready to start Libby's first new training lesson with Jim Wright, the owner and trainer there.  This was our second trip to Brigadoon, and Libby started moaning as we pulled into the long driveway.  She loves to go to classes, like we did last year at PetCo, because she loves other dogs, and she loves trainers!

 Jim put Libby through her paces, and then got Jimmy and me involved, for a full two hours!

 By the end of the session, Miss Libby was starting to fade out, even though she's only a year and a half old.  :)  But she had a really good time!  Her tail never stopped wagging the whole two hours, especially when Jim brought a cat in, to help us work on teaching her to not be distracted - and the cat surprised us all:  she had a live, sort of live, mouse with her.  Which she ate, while Libby practiced not being distracted.  I don't see that far, so I missed the nasty parts.

 However, she's been sleepy all day, and our evening walk was really easy, because she was too tired to outwalk us.  Then, when I went to take my shower tonight, she took to her bed with the Vapors, snuggling close to her confidant, Pinky.

To be fair, maybe some of her exhaustion was from all the extra kibble she got to eat today, in being rewarded for coming to whoever called her, etc. The treats as rewards will taper off fast, or we'll have a double sized double doodle on our hands!!

You can see she's a worn out student, but I know in the morning, she'll be ready to go!  We have a lot of practicing to do in any free time sessions we can squeeze in before we go back for another lesson with Jim next Tuesday.