jcj528
Well-known member
Ziggy took his Level 1 training test on Saturday. Petco did a really nice job with our class and really got Ziggy and me ready for the next step with the Miami Obedience Club Level Two.
Oh you want to know how Ziggy did on his test. Well with everything that happened here in the house last week, we had not practiced much. So I went with some doubts as to our possible success. But I got Zig ready and we went anyway. Well, when we got there, I found that the other two members of the class had opted not to take the exam. So it was just Ziggy and me! In front of the two trainers, the store manager, a couple of dogs and their people who were going to start their training as soon as we were finished and of course my two classmates! I came close to opting out and just going on with the others to the nearby dog friendly ice cram parlor. But the trainer asked me to try as he was pretty sure Ziggy was going to pass. So up to the front of the training area Ziggy and I went.
Then came the real kicker. Ronnie, the trainer, introduced me to everyone and then said to me, "your exam will be done silently."
"Great," I thought and then I remembered that I had left my treats in my bag a the back of the area. "Wonderful," I thought, "I have to take this test on hand signals alone and without treats."
If you don't want to read the details skip the next paragraph.
Ya'll have to know that Ziggy did us proud. His sit, stay and finish were just about perfect. Next came down stay and come. This was the one I knew we would have trouble with. He pulled it off though. He went down on hand signal and stayed while I walked to the diagonal corner. Standing there I realized that I had no idea what the hand signal for come was. Ziggys was getting anxious too. So I looked him in the eye and then pointed by my foot. He popped up, literally leaped to my side, did a pivot and put that little Cavalier butt on the floor. After that it was all down hill. His "leave it" has always been good and his heel has been easy also. Then when I thought we were finished, Ronnie ordered, "standing stay." What, I thought? Then I figured it had to be about the same as his old show stack. It wowed all the people watching and I tried not to laugh as I head a bunch of "oh wows," coming our way. Then store manager came up and briefly examined Ziggy, opened his mouth and looked at his teeth. After his examination, the store manager said, "you can always tell the dogs and owners who have become a team. You and Ziggy are quite a team." Then Ronnie went over the score sheet with me and though we have really only got 7's, 8's and one 9 (out of a perfect 10), we did pass.
It gets less boring here.
After we passed the exam, our pictures were taken with our certificates. Ziggy and I got a Certificate of Completion and the other two got Certificates of Participation. Then we all went to the ice cream parlor and everyone and the three dogs had a really good time. All in all a nice outing for Ziggy and me.
Yesterday we were going to do our first supervised therapy visit to a local nursing home. But Miami-Dade County is plagued with brush fires so the nursing home canceled us as they might have had to evacuate. Plus I had to sing in another service today. (Note: Singing in this smoke filled area wasn't easy.) So we'll try for the first weekend of June.
Oh you want to know how Ziggy did on his test. Well with everything that happened here in the house last week, we had not practiced much. So I went with some doubts as to our possible success. But I got Zig ready and we went anyway. Well, when we got there, I found that the other two members of the class had opted not to take the exam. So it was just Ziggy and me! In front of the two trainers, the store manager, a couple of dogs and their people who were going to start their training as soon as we were finished and of course my two classmates! I came close to opting out and just going on with the others to the nearby dog friendly ice cram parlor. But the trainer asked me to try as he was pretty sure Ziggy was going to pass. So up to the front of the training area Ziggy and I went.
Then came the real kicker. Ronnie, the trainer, introduced me to everyone and then said to me, "your exam will be done silently."
"Great," I thought and then I remembered that I had left my treats in my bag a the back of the area. "Wonderful," I thought, "I have to take this test on hand signals alone and without treats."
If you don't want to read the details skip the next paragraph.
Ya'll have to know that Ziggy did us proud. His sit, stay and finish were just about perfect. Next came down stay and come. This was the one I knew we would have trouble with. He pulled it off though. He went down on hand signal and stayed while I walked to the diagonal corner. Standing there I realized that I had no idea what the hand signal for come was. Ziggys was getting anxious too. So I looked him in the eye and then pointed by my foot. He popped up, literally leaped to my side, did a pivot and put that little Cavalier butt on the floor. After that it was all down hill. His "leave it" has always been good and his heel has been easy also. Then when I thought we were finished, Ronnie ordered, "standing stay." What, I thought? Then I figured it had to be about the same as his old show stack. It wowed all the people watching and I tried not to laugh as I head a bunch of "oh wows," coming our way. Then store manager came up and briefly examined Ziggy, opened his mouth and looked at his teeth. After his examination, the store manager said, "you can always tell the dogs and owners who have become a team. You and Ziggy are quite a team." Then Ronnie went over the score sheet with me and though we have really only got 7's, 8's and one 9 (out of a perfect 10), we did pass.
It gets less boring here.
After we passed the exam, our pictures were taken with our certificates. Ziggy and I got a Certificate of Completion and the other two got Certificates of Participation. Then we all went to the ice cream parlor and everyone and the three dogs had a really good time. All in all a nice outing for Ziggy and me.
Yesterday we were going to do our first supervised therapy visit to a local nursing home. But Miami-Dade County is plagued with brush fires so the nursing home canceled us as they might have had to evacuate. Plus I had to sing in another service today. (Note: Singing in this smoke filled area wasn't easy.) So we'll try for the first weekend of June.
