Monday, March 8, 2010

Obedience Classes?

Haven't been updating much lately; I've been busy with my job and with school, and with Jake.

So I've been thinking. I want to start taking Jake to obedience classes at our local club. My only inhibition has been him and dogs.

I don't think he's DA. Every dog I've intentionally introduced him to he has done fine with; he pulls on the leash to get over to a dog, but once he meets them he pretty much ignores him. The one incident was with an off leash dog running over to us and trying to introduce himself without warning. I believe in that situation it was my mistake; I tensed up, Jake sensed that, and snapped at the dog whose owner called him back as I started to quickly walk away(Jake lost interest when we started walking again). I also believe that Jake has some barrier frustration/aggression issues due to Charlie running the fence with him.

My neighborhood has an un-contained dog problem.

The fact is, he needs to be worked around dogs, which isn't something I can just set up in my yard. I introduced him to Chelsey's dog Keeva(unspayed female) for the first time the other day and they had no problems. He displays excessive interest in running dogs, but again, I can't work on this without exposing him to it to an extent.

I would love to do agility with him someday, for fun. Or Rally. I don't think he's the right dog for competition level Obedience, but who knows? I just know he's smart as whip and loves to run. So keeping him away from situations that stress ME out is unfair. It's worth a try.

Thoughts? Advice?