Best In Class

Im showing off now about my darling girlie!

We have been in adult training classes since last August and I love this trainer- she only uses positive reinforcement and if the dogs struggle with anything then she will adapt her lesson to suit. For example last week it had been raining so the dogs didn't like laying down on one of the tasks- the trainer saw this and made it a sit task instead of a lay down, I love the way she listens to the dogs. She will always adjust the difficulty of tasks too if a dog is finding it hard to grasp something.

As Misty can be too much on the lead we don't let her actually meet the other dogs as we just want her to be calm throughout and listen to us. There is a stunning example of a bull breed in our class at the moment - he is a Staffy x English Bull Terrier and this boy is unbelievable- he is so intelligent and the sweetest dog ever- he meets anyone, dog or human perfectly. He is just a lovely dog and so chilled out- hes beautiful.

Ok so Saturday we are doing normal lessons and we have done previously a Go Round command where you have your dog on your left hand side and send them around a pole. Misty loves this game so on Saturday we do a massive distance where I stood and sent her around this pole- next thing I see is the trainer come out with another two poles and says ok its too easy for her now so we will try this. She arranged the three poles into a triangle and said first walk with her to make her go round each pole separately and then you can practise at home standing in the middle and telling her to go round each of them without showing her. Well after walking with her twice that was it. She did it on her own just from me speaking to her in the middle. That dog is so intelligent!! The rest of the class (who were still on one pole as its quite a new trick we have learnt) just stopped and watched her. We were blown away- the trainer filmed us and put some lovely comments about her on the net. The class was told that they now have to aspire to Mistys level!! I was over the moon- she is so clever- I was showing my dad her latest trick the other day and he said that she is the cleverest dog he has ever seen. Obviously this doesn't include recall but trick wise she can pick things up ridicously quickly- if ever she doesn't understand something its hubby and me who are making the error not her.

I really want to get her into an agility class- Ive found one not too far from here and they do private lessons so am thinking in a while to book her into a private lesson and see how she likes it

aww you so deserve to show her off!!well done Misty and to you too Emma

Oh wow, well done Misty and you for showing how smart Staffies are.

You'll love agility, I've never done it as we found out about it when Flo was a little too old to really enjoy it but everyone that's tried it here on the forum has said how much they and their Staffy have loved it.

Aw thanks both! She is such a little star and has come such a long way.

It's so good to hear, you're right to be proud of her.

Have fun with the agility - as long as it's not a competitive group you should have a great time.

you should be so proud you have done so well with her - I tried this trick with Buddy - one pole was great - two poles..he just carried it around the class pleased as punch , to everyone's amusement- think we have way to go yet to get to Misty's level lol

What a star
Well done you must be feeling so proud