Pip returns to Dog School

     I might have mentioned in an earlier post, Pip returned to naughty form with renewed vigour last month and I felt the need for some outside intervention.

     My brother visited from the UK and was appalled when in the space of a couple of hours, Pip bit him twice.

Marley misbehaving in the movie.

  

     Trying to explain to a non-doggie person the difference between a nip of endearment that says ‘Hey, I’m so excited to meet you!’ and a proper bite that says ‘Hmm, I’d like to eat you up!’ is, of course, a big fat waste of time. But after said brother proclaimed I’d got myself a Marley (for those not in the know a VERY bad dog in a very good book and not so good movie (ala Jennifer Aniston) called Marley and Me) and had I considered getting a smaller, less robust dog, I decided it was time to go back to Ruth.

  

   So we enrolled in the Good Dogs of Australia Course. Pip loved it. There was free time at the start where he got to play with the other dogs, running joyfully around a huge paddock. And, of course, the supply of premium gravy beef was on offer.

   I must admit I was a little disappointed that we didn’t address how to deal with problem behaviours – chewing on the lead, jumping up and nipping being the main issues I hoped to address. 

This is not Pip, actually a dog called Tip, but this is the kind of thing Pip does regularly that I hoped to nip in the bud.

   Instead, it was about getting your dog to behave well in public. Come when called, not chase joggers, interact calmly with passing people and dogs, etc. Pip was pretty good at all these things. But it was testing point 10 that was going to be our bug bear.

   It went like this:

Mealtime Manners: The dog must sit and wait while a small bowl of food is placed on the     ground in front of it.  It must remain in the sit position until the signal to eat is given.  The dog should allow the handler to remove the empty bowl without showing any resentment.  (Lessons 2 and 14.)

   

   She was kidding right? Wrong. And just to keep you tuning in Dear Readers – or is that logging on – I will let you know what happened tomorrow.