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Well, a lot has happened in the past week! I have gone through an emotional roller coaster of despair, elation, terror, and doubt. Class last week was a disaster! It was actually a great class, I just felt like a total clod. The class focused on heel. Only 4-5 dogs attended (St. Paddy's day celebrations?) so there was plenty of space to work on heel. However, I felt like I was all thumbs with two left feet! Something about coordinating the dog's leash, the clicker, supplying the treats quickly and efficiently and working on the dog's position left me feeling very overwhelmed. Did I once say working on heel was easy? Ha!

Plus, this was the first time I was introduced to the different standard that applies for a dog that will be competing in obedience versus a regular pet. Boy, I wasn't happy with that difference! Panda's heel should be tighter with proper head position on his part and better body language on my part. I spent the whole class trying very hard but feeling very clumsy. I left class depressed and convinced there was no way I was ever going to step into a ring! Not because of my dog but because I felt like I couldn't figure out how to be a decent handler.

The next day or two, I was still feeling really down and only worked with Panda minimally. When I did work with him, I worked on "touch" because I just wasn't up for heel. Then as time went by, I realized I think I got too focused on being perfect right away. This was, after all, our first real effort on learning heel. So I sucked it up, went outside and worked with him using our neighborhood sidewalks and people's driveways (hope they don't mind but it serves as good turning areas). After that I felt much better. I got the rhythm down a little more, plus I used treats more conducive to heeling. The hot dogs had been sticking to my fingers and/or dropping to the ground so our momentum was always interrupted because Panda had to stop to pick his treat up off the ground. This time I used little hard kibble and cheese. Worked much better.

After that, Panda had a great weekend of all really fun stuff and we noticed how much more brave and confident he seems to be. In situations that normally freak him out, he either recovered much more quickly or wasn't phased at all. For example, I saw him push through a person and a dog to get to the top of the stairs (he normally loathes tight spaces). In another instance, Panda initially was freaked by a rocking chair — it was moving — and ran out of the room. But then a few minutes later, he came back in the room and lied down next to it while it was still rocking! I was so impressed.

Training wasn't too focused but I have taken him out for at least a quick heel session each day. (I'm still having problems with it being cold.) And I do little touch session here and there. We've also started clicking when he stretches which look like play bows. At first, I was only catching about half of them and I'm probably clicking too late so he was a confused dog. But he looks like he's finally catching on! It's really neat to see especially because I was so skeptical about clicking for cute behaviors whenever they occur (as opposed to focused training time). I may get hooked on this yet!

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