Practical Living

This weekend, Chip and I started yet another class: Practical Living. There are only three other dogs in the class and the instructor is our favorite, so I'm hoping for great things. Puppy Kindergarten and Puppy Gymboree (agility) classes went well, but now Chip is big enough (36 pounds as of last Friday) that his pulling on the leash is about to dislocate my shoulder! I'm hoping that the Practical Living class -- which focuses on things like loose leash walking and how to stop dogs from jumping up on people -- will be a big help.

I was hoping to take Chip to the beach almost every day this summer, but with Toronto's garbage strike entering its third week, I'm afraid of what we might find down there -- especially in the form of chicken bones. So we'll stick close to home for the time being. And although we started the Family Dog class a few weeks ago, it just didn't work out. Twelve dogs and one instructor in a noisy, sound-reverberating hall is not a recipe for effective learning.

After the six-week Practical Living, assuming we complete it successfully, we'll be able to sign up for a real agility class! Woo hoo!