Dog Gone It.... He Graduated!!!

For the past 7 weeks (with the exception of Thanksgiving) our family has spent every Thursday night at Doggie Class. Jak has always done a really good job of listening to Chris (the alpha of our house) but only listens to me when it is convenient for him or I has a delicious treat in hand. To help Jak understand that I am his master too we decided to go to Doggie Class. We have learned to...

sit (with both signal word and hand motion)
watch me (he must make eye contact with me)
lay down (with both signal word and hand motion)
say hello (he shakes your hand with his paw! its a real crowd pleaser!)
leave it (this is his signal that he is not to look at, smell, or taste whatever has his curiosity)
take it (he must wait to take the treat til given this command)
stay (the release from this stay is us patting him on the head)
come (he is really good at this at the house...not so much at the doggie park)
drop it (awesome for fetch since Jak loves to play tug-o-war)

In order to graduate for the beginner class he had to pass a test. I was really nervous!! He is so good at everything at home but in class with all the other doggies and people he gets distracted ALOT! A very common trait for a husky. Jak and I rocked the sit, lay down, say hello and take it. The watch it was a little harder instead of looking at me he wanted to show off the latest trick we've taught him, "speak". We finally got "watch me."

Now is where it got really tricky! He had to stay for 30 seconds which might as well have been 5 mins. You could tell it was torture for him but HE DID IT!! No, he didn't sit perfectly still for the 30 secs he sat up then laid down then rolled on his side but he stayed in the same spot so it counted!!

The last test was by far the hardest...we had to walk through an obstacle course with temptations of treats and toys at every corner. He had to "leave it" and not touch any of them!! Chris says I looked like I was going to faint when Jak and I were up. We started walking slowly and made it past the first toy. The second toy was a little harder, I practically screamed "LEAVE IT!" The most crucial part was the treats. Jak was sniffing away as I was firmly saying "Leave it! Leave it! LEAVE IT!" Chris says I then hip checked Jak out the way so he couldn't eat them. I say I was a mommy and helped him make the right choice. I mean really how often is he going to find freeze dried liver treats (trust me they smell as horrible as they sound but he LOVES them!) in the street. And if there was poison or something in his path I wouldn't even let him get close to it! Hip checking him in that situation would be the right thing to do. Either way he didn't eat the treats so... WE PASSED!!!



This is Tucker, Jak's best friend in the class. They buds! Tucker is a rescue and when we first started the class he was terrified of everything! He wouldn't go near the other dogs or any of the people. By the end, we had to keep him and Jak on opposite sides of the class or else all they would want to do is play!