Blue BRATT

After 5 weeks of fairly intense dog training classes, I am now permitted to work with more challenging dogs or in Humane Society speak am a "Blue BRATT." On Saturday morning we had our last class replete with a graded skills test. The skills test made me a little nervous. I didn't practice between classes as much as I should have and I was so worried I would bomb it. They reassured us that we could not fail but I was still sure I would do poorly. I decided to approach it like another learning experience and not be afraid to ask questions if I had to. However, much to my surprise I retained almost all the commands and dog development stages we learned. The only comment my reviewer had was that I needed to be more confident. Well, I am certainly a lot more confident now that I know I know my stuff. Also it helped that the dog I tested with, Wizard, was a brainiac and did all the commands correctly. He made me look good. In all the class taught me hand commands for sit, down, watch, and taught me how to train a dog not to pull on the leash, walk nicely by my side, and get used to me pulling on his/her collar. The nice thing about the class was I also made friends with my fellow volunteers and felt even more involved with the shelter. I love that shelter. They are so fantastic to the volunteers and amazing to the animals. I can't wait till my next shift.