The following week Toby went to his first dog training session. There was loads of different types of dogs, there were big ones, small ones, young ones and even some older ones, we hoped that this would help him a great deal. Brian decided that because he was the man of the house he should do the training and I should just sit there and watch, fine, I thought, this was not going to be as easy as it looked. First off they wanted everybody in a circle so that they could introduce themselves, everybody started to move and make the circle, well everybody except Toby, he was so excited he kept on running round and round getting the lead so tangled around Brian’s legs that he nearly pulled him over, yes, I thought, I have certainly made the right choice by just sitting here and watching.

The lady looked up and told Brian to walk Toby around the edge of the room as all the other dogs were starting to misbehave, he did this but glared at me when he walked by, though I don’t know why, I was not laughing that much, honest. Everyone was in place so they called for Brian and Toby to come over and join them and they took their place in the circle. They started to introduce themselves first and then their dogs, all was going well, then it was our turn, “hi my name is Brian and this is Toby,” on hearing his name mentioned Toby span round and jumped up at Brian giving him a big wet lick across his face, Brian turned bright red and looking at his instructor said, “well at least he knows his name, at this, myself and a few others burst out laughing but stopped just as quickly by seeing the look on the instructors face, she was not happy, not happy at all.

The class had begun, first up was the sit, you said this but at the same time you pushed gently down on your dogs back, “well done Millie, oh excellent poppy,” you could here her say before she said the next dogs name, I was already hiding my face in my hands but it was not Toby’s name she called, it was Brian’s, “try and keep hold of the lead when doing this exercise,” she said, “and please try and catch Toby and resume the circle,” everybody was looking as Toby was running riot loose, I called him, Brian called him, he did not know who to come to first so he just ran from one to the other until eventually Brian managed to grab hold of the lead and take him back to the circle. The instructor, who I thought was very nice when we arrived came over to me and introduced herself as Mary, just as I was about to reply she butted in and said, “now only one of you can do the training, the other one must just sit and watch and not interfere, do you understand,” she said,” “yes, loud and clear,” I said, giving her one of my not too friendly looks.

The rest of the session they concentrated on the sit command and by the end most of them was doing it quite well, like I said, most of them, Mary told Brian to practise this command all week so that by the time we came back next week she would be able to see a improvement and then the next command might come easier to him, yeah right, I thought, we would see. We made our way home discussing the session the whole way and wondering what next week would bring, and also promising ourselves to get a book on training different types of dogs.

My Tip: I wish that I had come across this dog training publication earlier, it could have saved us a lot of time and embarrassment.

If you are thinking about getting a dog, then take my advise and research to find the best type of dog that best suits you and your lifestyle. Here is a publication that will help your research: Choosing a dog for your lifestyle.