Tonight is the last obedience class! It was just Tara, Hoagie, and Bailey again. This time, all four of Hoagie's human family members came for graduation. We just practiced what we learned last week, didn't really learn anything new. We did "stand for vet exam". The instructor was acting as the vet, she was a little hesitant about Bailey, who has an injured tail. When she came over to Tara, she said, "I know Tara is good about it" and she did not hesitate to pet Tara all over. The instructor refused to touch Hoagie and his family agreed. Ever since the instructor told the class that Tara has cataracts, Bailey's mom has been very understanding about keeping Bailey away from Tara, she told Bailey, "She can't see, so it's not fair that you are jumping around and scaring her", which was nice in a way. Then we did recall/come. Tara again was not able to locate me after I walk about ten feet away from her. The instructor recommended that maybe I can train her using a hunting whistle to come (I think it's a good idea, but I'm not sure about training any new commands to Tara...we'll see). And she said that Tara whines when I walk away from her. We also did "down-stay", Tara had no problem with that either. Hoagie refused to "down" on command, and they didn't want to force him in the store at this point. But the mom kept telling him to down, and eventually he did. Hoagie really has improved so much since the class started almost two months ago. The instructor said ever since three weeks ago when she scruffed his neck and hanged him, that he appears to be better. However, I really don't think it was what she did that made him appear more confident, I think it's more to do with that when she did that, that was the only class the dad wasn't there, and I think Hoagie acts better now because he feels safer with the dad there, and probably overall he just feels more relaxed since it's been two months since he has moved in with his new family, and I know his family works with him a lot. In tonight's class, Hoagie did snap at the boy a couple times, and the instructor told the dad to scruff him. The dad didn't hang him and I don't think he scruffed the dog as hard as the instructor did. Anyways, one time Hoagie was standing right near the gate of the ring and a couple store customers came up trying to pet him, and he didn't even snap or growl at them (although they didn't actually touch him). I offered Hoagie some treats, he sniffed but did not eat, but at least he didn't try to bite me.
Then it's graduation time! The instructor had her son (who was observing the class) get the "Congratulations!" bandanna and mortarboard from the office. She first came up to Tara and said something like to her, "You're sweet so I know you'll be okay with this", and she put the bandanna and hat on Tara. Tara was so good that she just stood there while she had her picture taken.
