Having had a week off from school we were all very excited to see each other. Rachel was keen to find out what our owners thought that we could do. So, she set a series of challenges for us. The tasks involved everything that we had learnt so far, but presented to us in a different way. For instance, Julie was asked to lie down on the floor and then to ask me to sit. This is quite useful because, Shep tells me that, Julie has often fallen over whilst out running on the hills. Apparently, Zak, was always very caring and would fuss around her until she was able to stand up. I need Julie to be able to trust me too.
We also had to show how good we were at leaving our food or toys when we were asked to do so. I found it very hard to leave my toys!
Next, very strangely, our humans were asked to put both hands on their head and then, to tell us to sit and lie down. With no hand signals I hadn’t got a clue what to do but Olive, the black Labrador was brilliant at it.
All of the tasks were really tricky, but it just goes to show how much more we need to practice in order to perfect them.
Apart from all of the training, our humans need to be sure that they can keep us healthy so one of the tasks was to be given a piece of food as if it was a tablet – that wasn’t too difficult, but I am not sure if I would take a pill so easily.
Of course, there will be times when we are poorly, and we will need to be checked over by our humans or by a vet, so our humans had to show that they could check us all over.
By the end of the puppy class, we were exhausted, but we had all passed our Kennel Club Puppy Assessment and each of us was presented with a certificate and a rosette.
I was really sad that puppy school had come to an end – I hope that I will see my classmates again at some time in the future.
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