How to Teach Your Puppy to Lie Down

We were quite a crew as we assembled this morning for our puppy training class. Six of Blake's litter of eight are still living at the breeder's and awaited us behind their white fence, eager to join the party. Some time elapsed while each puppy was dressed by a volunteer in its collar, harness and "cape", a little vest that says it is a companion dog in training.

Eight black puppies in purple and yellow capes are very cute. They are sixteen weeks old today.

After snuggling with them and massaging them, to settle them down, we took them in turn around an obstacle course, urging them to walk over grates,  jump onto a little trampoline,  go up some stairs and down a little slide,  and put their front paws up on a ladder.

Outside on the lawn they went through a tunnel , except for Blake who grabbed the treat and turned around and went back out. Peter helped me by waiting at the end of the tunnel with the treat. They walked up a ramp into the back of a car and down again

We walked the puppies on a lead. We taught them to sit and wait while we preceded them through a door. I learned how to dole out treats efficiently, without dropping them on the ground or having to fish in my pocket to extract one from the camera strap and doggie bags in there.

By now, Blake was crazed by all the treats, and we were both getting tired. We ended our class by having them crawl under our knees on their bellies.  This is called "down". Blake had far less trouble crawling under my knees than I had getting my knees down on the ground.

At our next class we will go on a "field trip" to a real sidewalk. That should be a sight to behold.