Some set backs.

Last Sunday we started the other basic class that I am just taking with Simon I plan to take it later with Sadie. I had to go there straight from work on the plus side they are at the same place. Simon who has been doing great in the other class and on our adventures together surprised me and was pretty terrible.  Now I know I had very high expectations of him and after thinking about it a little bit I am not surprised he found the situation challenging.

The first thing that come to my mind is that for our Wednesday class he normally has time to relax and be calm before we leave the house. Because on Sunday we have to go straight from work which he finds super exciting so he was super excited from the start. Another factor is the Simon normally goes to that building for Daycare so he is used to getting to play and be hyper there he is not used to having to be calm and listen. Some of the other thing I think were making the situation more difficult for Simon are that the other class is a lot of dogs in a large building so you can have your own space. In this situation it was almost the same number of dogs in a much smaller space. Also there were a few reactive dogs who were very vocal and would lunge or bark and howl and Simon got very excited when that happened. Normally if we were at the other class I would move away from the excited dog till Simon is at a distance that he can focus and relax. But because of the smaller space that wasn't really an option. 

I felt pretty disappointed in how Simon behaved but once I thought about it and realized how difficult it must have been for him I saw it in a new light. This new training is going to be a good way to up the difficultly for Simon in a different situation. I just need to work the behaviors at home or in other less difficult situations.