Stupid Schnauzer Woman!

[Krislady]

So we walk past one of those self-storage places in the morning - usually it's deserted (at that hour - of course it is!), but it's evidently one of those 24-hour, key-card access places.

And this morning, some guy had accessed it, though he was on foot, and pulling a rolling suitcase (don't even want to speculate there), which freaked Jar out. Fortunately, the guy was walking the other way, but Jar still felt the need to crane his head around and keep watching the Noisy Stranger.

Until. Suddenly, there, on the other side of the street, behind us, was that IDIOT schnauzer woman.

Jar saw them, I saw them, and Schnauzer saw Jar. Apparently Stupid Woman didn't see us. Schnauzer started going into his leaping and jumping and acting like a fool act, and Jar. . .

Jar said "screw that schnauzer."

Yes, he has a bit of a potty mouth. I blame it on his early upbringing.

Anyway, I told Jar to "let's go" and then - THEN - we heeled.

Seriously! He knew there was a strange dog, lunging and being an idiot behind him, and he HEELED FOR ME!

So the first chance I got, I led him off the sidewalk into this kind of field beside the wall of the self-storage place so we could wait calmly for the moron woman to TURN HER FREAKING DOG DOWN A SIDE STREET IDIOT. (You see where this is going, right?)

Yeah. Schnauzer and Challenged Woman walked on by, past the side street, and Jar. . . just sat. I said "hey Jar," he looked at me and got a click + treat a couple of times, and then THEN he looked up at me without any prompting! (You know, exactly like he's supposed to do because he's such a good good boy!)

So the Schnauzer and his dumb woman walked on by us, him carrying on the whole time, and her clearly oblivious to the fact that there was a perfectly good detour on HER side of the street.

So we let them get ahead of us by about half a block, then we headed out on our side of the street.

Let her see how much fun it is having the dog twisting around trying to see behind him.

Then she CROSSED OVER to my side of the street.

Are you freaking KIDDING ME??? (And yes, I may have said that sort of out loud.)

Keep in kind that this is not a standard Schnauzer, so he doesn't have very long legs and, thus, walks slower than we do.

IDIOT.

However, we walked along behind them, sniffing everywhere that POKEY SLOW dog had walked (Every Blade of Grass He Touched, I swear!), did some more heeling, and it was all good.

Because The Jar is a GOOD GOOD BOY!

[Saralaya]

Jar is THE BEST DOG!! That is FABULOUS!! You are an AMAZING team!!

[Krislady]

Aw, thanks, Sara. But I've got to admit - the credit belongs to my EXCELLENT Jarly boy!

I know how hard it is for him to tolerate other dogs, and he's just been doing SO well.

He was fantastic on Thanksgiving (21 people in the house, plus other dogs and a cat. And a parakeet), and he's been doing fairly well in daycare.

Oh, and I talked to the guy, and he said Jar's been doing fairly well, even with some other dogs. Only problem is when the other dogs start running around, he loses his furry little mind. Hopefully he'll get better about it.

[anne in apex]

It sounds like those multiple trips through the Beginner class are finally paying off. Isn't it nice when something finally *clcks* in their fur brains?

[K9 Owned]

Krislady wrote:

Jar said "screw that schnauzer."

Yes, he has a bit of a potty mouth. I blame it on his early upbringing.

Anyway, I told Jar to "let's go" and then - THEN - we heeled.

Seriously! He knew there was a strange dog, lunging and being an idiot behind him, and he HEELED FOR ME!

He so is a GOOD, GGOD boy!I
That really is impressive.

[Krislady]

HI Anne!

It is nice when it clicks - only, in my case, I think it needed more to click in my furry little brain!

And seriously, I'm almost afraid to get too excited about it - it may have been a fluke.

Though I've been trying to get him to heel whenever we see strangers on the street - look at them, notice them, now "Jarly, Heel!" I figure it's as good practice for rooms-full-of-dogs heeling as I'm going to get at the moment. (Yikes - class starts again next Saturday!)

[Connie Lea]

Awesome Kris and, of course Jar. Don't worry about the next class. Jar will do great. You have both worked so hard.

[Krislady]

Thanks, Connie.