Jasmine's first day of school

I was a little nervous about Jasmine going to class with me today. She's not mean to other dogs but she gets pretty nervous about other dogs. She was the first dog there so she got to wander the room and sniff everything she wanted to until another dog got there. By then, she had settled in by laying next to my feet.

The class is full of puppies which means exubrant energy. That makes Jasmine super defensive. We were sitting next to a beautiful Siberian Husky that was full of that energy and also has a mild case of dog aggression. At first, Jasmine growled at him but after a few minutes, she relaxed and even though he barked at her a number of times, she didn't care.

She already knows the commands they were teaching (sit, down, stay) so I had her practice a few times but then we would work on other things to keep her attention. Actully, we did a lot of focus practicing. She's great at that at home but with other dogs around, she really was having a much harder time.

Then we worked on loose leash walking. Now that's always something Jasmine needs to practice on. She fought it every time we passed the doors... she really just wanted to leave. But then we would get past the doors and she would do well again. Then we walked back and forth across the room. We ended up in all positions next to many of the other dogs and Jasmine really reacted well, not growling once. Then, the husky got into it with one of the other dogs...not biting the dog, just some jumping and dominating.

As I was helping put the chairs away, I had Jasmine in a sit-stay. She did really well and didn't move until I released her. She did really well and I was happy. She was just happy to finally walk out the door.