Educating Bella

Newly armed with information gleaned from reading every book recommended on Debbie Jacob's fearfuldogs.com website, we were beginning to understand the impact of Bella never having been properly socialized. Bella didn't know how to react to other dogs when she was on a leash and, as previously noted, she usually reacted badly. As suggested in the readings, I thought we had a wonderful opportunity to help build Bella's confidence and social skills at the same time by taking her to an 'obedience' class.

Who needs obedience class?

I already know sit = treats.

Too old for most Puppy Kindergarten classes and certainly not ready for the advanced classes of older dogs, a little research led us to a "Beginner Obedience" class for slightly older puppies who just needed some "assistance" in the obedience department. Obedience wasn't specifically the goal, socialization in a safe, controlled atmosphere was but getting both Jan and I on the same training page could only be a plus.

A note before we get to the actual class to set the stage for our state of mind walking into the training center: Bella was born essentially wild and had to hunt to eat for the first few months of her life. She was very, very good at "hunting" slugs, a bit less so at hunting creatures that can actually move faster than the literal "snail's pace" but she was always, always up for the game.

Not quite ready for Prime Time

Given Bella's remarkably bad social skills, her fear of people and her overwhelming prey drive, we were justifiably a little worried we'd be thrown out of class on our very first night. And yet intrepidely we set forth. We entered the classroom with her tugging and snarling and met our other classmates:

• Tank, the aptly named 8-month old yellow Lab,
• the most lovely and confident Husky-type mix, Peyton (Bella's first boyfriend), and
• a teeny, tiny Toy Poodle whose name I can't remember so we'll just call him "Lunch".

Our blessed trainer, Sheila, started the class by telling us no matter how bad our dog was, it was probably not the worst dog she had ever seen. "Probably"? I'm guessing we all felt certain we were about to be the exception. Bella then proceeded to bark and growl through the entire class alternating between trembling in my lap and trying to "defend" me from any who came near (with the most absurdly inappropriate puppy play bows thrown in just for good measure. Huh?)

Bella's idea of "loose-leash walking"

Our classmates learned more than they ever wanted to know about approaching and working with fearful dogs: how tossing her treats was a good way for her to begin associating people (strangers) with all good things, how to position ourselves between Bella and the fear-inducing item and use high-value treats to bring her attention back to us. We learned that keeping dogs moving can keep their attention off each other and so spent a lot of time walking the dogs around the room.

This too shall pass

We got through the first class without Bella eating "Lunch". We had tons of questions and Sheila was so patient with us. One thing we learned very quickly was that Bella was very, very smart and we weren't asking enough of her. She absolutely loved learning. (Actually, I think she just absolutely loved tripe and if she had to perform some dumb trick to appease the stupid humans to get it, well, she could live with that.)

By the end of the 8-week session, we (and she) had learned all the basics: the puppy push-up of sit, down and stand; come and stay; front, look, touch and loose-leash walking. We learned about shaping behavior and one of Bella's most reliable "tricks" to date is still the "down" she learned on her own without us tugging or pushing or forcing anything. (Her enthusiasm for this particular command is still the cutest little thing.)

Tank eventually dropped out of class. I'm pretty sure his mom was last seen flying behind him holding on to his leash somewhere in Ohio... Peyton became a rock-star hanging out at doggie day care with the famous Vick-tory dog, Handsome Dan. Bella and "Lunch" went on to have more classes together eventually learning how to play (gently) with each other. Bella even passed her very first "Pup Quiz":

Near the end of the class, we got to try our hand at some agility obstacles where Bella managed to demonstrate her intelligence once again as she continually out-foxed us with the tunnel. She did go through it once but Bella is particularly wary of barrels so we never really expected her to go through one lying on its side. We were proud of her for trying but never forced her to go closer than she was comfortable doing on her own.

She showed such enthusiasm for the jumps and weave poles, however, that we have recently started her in an "Agility for Reactive Dogs" class. She's going to be amazing!