Training for humans

We both heard the crunkling sound of plastic coming from the other room, so I went to investigate. Otto somehow managed to tip over the garbage can just enough for my plastic salad container to fall out. The garbage can is still standing, fortunately. There was about a quarter cup of iceburg lettuce, salad dressing, possibly some corn and chicken left in that bowl when I threw it out, and now it's licked spotlessly clean. I can't wait to see how that plays out in our next walk.

So I started obedience school today. I say "I" because dogs didn't attend the first meeting, just the humans. When I walked into the organic pet food store (clearly we live in LA), I was kind of excited to meet other dog owners. It was about 6 women my age and older and one young married guy. I was all, we have a common interest and probably live in the same area, and began envisioning our dogs having play dates and stuff. The slighly older women were quite nice, but unfortunately the two women who looked closest to my age were both kind of nuts.

I get that dog owners are a little overinvolved with their animals, and clearly I'm no exception. Since we got Otto two weeks ago, most of my conversations involve him in some way, and I have to make a concerted effort with my husband to not make him the center of all of our conversations. Plus learning about training methods and dog psychology is a fun hobby- it's an awesome excuse to surf the net and watch the Dog Whisperer.

But seriously, this meeting involved each person talking about their pups and the issues we want to work on. I had to go last, and honestly it took about an hour and a half for five before I went. People can really go on about their dogs. The first woman, in particular, reminded me of a pre-school mom on her first kid. First she kept interrupting the trainer's orientation of what materials we need (i.e a leash and a collar). She needed all sorts of clarification (well, how do I know which brand I need? What material is best?) When asked about her dog, she took up pretty much a solid half hour. Soon after that, she had to leave because she had to relieve the dog's babysitter. Yes, the dog's babysitter. I did enjoy a moment of eye rolling with the woman sitting across from me, but it wasn't quite the environment for me to be all "Dude, that lady's a freak" and have someone else be all "Word." Except I don't actually know anyone who says "Word."

Upon the leader's recommendation, I picked up Otto a bone full of marrow. He's way into it, and pretty much avoided both of us for a long time while he gnawed intently. This was before the salad incident, so like I said, I'm very curious to see how this all manifests in a few hours.

We're also working on our first exercise. Getting him to focus on me when I say his name by holding a treat up to my nose. It worked, but I'm not sure he really got the association.