[Deegan's mom]

Saturday was our first puppy class with the dogs. I brought Deegan an half hour early so we could walk around PetSmart to get him used to the place and the other dogs walking around too.

He seemed to be fine, until class actually started. There are 7 of us in the class, 3 labs pups, a huge golden retriever, a cocker spaniel, a min. pin. who is the same size as Deegan, and of course... us.

So to say the least they are all fairly larger than he is, except the min pin. But he was so nervous while we were in class. He kept going to hide in the corner, cowarding away when the dogs would come up to sniff him. He would try to fit in between my feet or just try to climb up my shoulder if I was kneeling down.

This surprised me in one way, because all the other dogs I bring him around to play with - he usually clobbers the crap out of them because he's so rambunctious and excited. But then again, they are dogs that are all his size too, so that is a factor.

In class we did a thing where we all got in the circle with our dogs and the trainer would take one dog and that owner would go around making all the other dogs sit and give them a treat to each dog to get them used to strange people. Well, when ever someone came over to Deegan I would have to pull him out from the corner and place him in front of the person. They would ask him to sit, and he would try to climb up me, or go back in the corner or, get this..... he would just turn around and face me and sit down burying his head in my legs with his back to them. It was so pathetic the way he was acting.

Do you think that he will come out of his shell more, as we go to more classes? I hope so - that is the main reason I brought him to class - so that he can be better socialized and get used to a wide variety of dogs.