Last week I decided to enroll Maki in an obedience "refresher course". We actually never took him to a class before - I've been to classes with Tigger and some fosters, but Maki was home taught.

Mostly I am doing this for enjoyment, not because I have any big expectations of turning him into a "Lassie". I think he would benefit from the mental stimulation, and an outing for bonding time with me - away from Tigger. I've been wanting to do this for a long time, but I was having trouble finding a trainer that would understand Maki's reduced vaccination protocol. Finally I found a trainer who is also a raw-feeder and gives her own dogs a reduced set of vaccinations, so we signed up.

We had our first class and it went surprisingly well. Maki is so scatterbrained and goofy when he's excited that I figured the class would be quite frustrating and embarrassing. However, he calmed down quite nicely, remembered his commands, and didn't protest too much about obeying them. Towards the end he did get a little goofy, I think his concentration was waning. But all in all, I was very impressed with him. It was really the first time I have ever tried to make him obey commands in a class setting and I didn't know how it would go.

The hardest part is probably going to be finding some time to practice at home!