Obedience

About a month ago I was in Petsmart with Shea. I used to like to make fun of people who brought their dogs to pet stores. I thought it was ridiculous. Now, it seems like a enjoyable outing for Shea. Anyway, while at Petsmart that day, we ran into a lady with a german shepherd. Shea got extremely excited, as he does whenever he sees a dog of similar size. I made sure I had my feet planted stably as he pulled toward the german shepherd. The lady minding the dog said, "stay!" in a strong, authoritative voice. Miraculously, in my world, the dog stayed. With great exasperation, I commented on how I wished Shea would do that. She proceeded to hand me her card. She is a dog trainer, and I could plainly see that she is good at her job!

Shea is a very smart dog. He knows all the basic commands and then some. Sit, stay, lay down, roll over, play dead, stretch. He can speak, he knows drop it, and he knows leave it. He also pees on command, whether he has to go or not. He's a talented dog!

Wow! He looks like such a good boy, doesn't he? He is. Really he is. So, why would Shea need a trainer? Because this is what he did to the card the trainer gave me at Petsmart that day.

That shouldn't be happening! On top of that, Shea sometimes picks and chooses when he listens to his commands. For example, if there is another dog, he chases after him. When he is mad, he may try to run away. Those are the moments he doesn't respond to "come!" Jeff and I want him to respond all of the time.

Shea's other hang ups are stealing food off of the counter and laying down in the middle of the street when I try to run in a direction he doesn't like. Some would say he is stubborn.

So you see, in order to keep our food safe, and in hopes that we will at some point in our lives, be able to have house guests over for dinner, we are seeking additional training for Shea. I would also like to be able to go for a run with Shea in any direction I'd like. The pointing and laughing when people see him lay down with nothing but dead weight is not amusing to me.

Our first lesson will be Friday. The trainer let me know that she may bring her lab so I can see what is possible for Shea. Jeff doesn't think this is a good idea. Not only because Shea will want to do nothing but play, but because it will make me see how utterly embarrassing Shea's behavior is. I think Jeff has a tendency to overreact; the drama queen that he is!

I know he just misses his best buddy!