Gracie Training Day 1

I was the girl that walked into Petco with a puppy that was trying to run everywhere, peeing on the floor, grabbing every toy off the shelf and all I needed was a harness and a bag of food. I just lost my job, not out to spend a lot of money but basic necessities of food, harness and leash seemed fairly important.

Cooper came over to help me. She fitted her for her harness, found a leash, grabbed her food and we started talking about training classes. I knew when I was searching for Gracie that I wanted to be able to have her bring joy to others as a therapy dog and training was a big and extensive piece of that. I also knew, the earlier training started the better it would be for her. We signed up! The cost was low, Cooper would be her trainer and it was at the Petco store. Worth every penny!

Day 1 of training, treats! I forgot treats! They were so kind to provide some for me. Gracie and I had been working with Cheerios at home, but Cooper made it so easy to understand that just as people get bored with food, so do dogs. It is important to have a variety of treats for them to choose from so you keep your pup's attention better and longer. Gracie was definitely more attentive with different treats and eager to please to get one. We learned how to get the attention of our dogs, sit and "done" the word so they know they are finished and can go back to playing. She even had playtime with another dog! This was her first playtime, it was awesome! She was so good with her partner dog and slept really well that entire night!

For the remainder of the week, we would practice in short increments of time throughout the day and in between potty times, play times and nap times. We were ready for week 2!