Pierre's First Day of School

Last night, Pierre attended his very first class in Behavior Buddies at Camp Bow Wow. He's starting out at Level I for Adult dogs.

Despite his hound antics, Pierre is actually pretty well behaved most of the time, but we had a few issues we wanted to work on.  He really needs to learn that "leave it" means, well, leave it.  We also need to work on keeping him calm when approaching other dogs and runners.  Pierre gets SO excited to see them that he starts pulling and barking in excitement. It's a friendly, happy bark...but for any of you who have heard a basset hound bark, you know that it's a pretty deep and loud bark.  People don't always understand that he's only as aggressive as a teddy bear.

Although we were a little afraid that he might be too stubborn to benefit from these classes, I'm pleased to say that he actually did REALLY well!  The trainer used a clicker and treats for positive enforcement, and last night we worked on the "watch me" command.  Pierre came home with homework to work on until next week's class, and Eric started him out on it bright and early this morning.

Of course, you all know Pierre, and it didn't take much to wear him out...obviously, going to school is the most exhausting thing ever.

I'll keep you all updated on his progress as we move along.  Next week we're working on the infamous "leave it" command, so we'll see how long his good behavior lasts!