Embarrassing training story?
 

Eddie had a classic moment in Jumper Class tonight that got me to thinking others might have some amusing or embarrassing moments from obedience school. Please share yours here. Here's Eddie's. I'm still laughing.

Eddie is the smallest dog in jumper class, so the instructor always makes a point of having to lower the jumps from 12" to 8" when it's Eddie's turn. Tonight, they added a long, twisty tunnel to the course that Eddie had never seen before. When it was his turn, he cleared two 8-inch jumps and then stopped at the tunnel. I shouted "TUNNEL!" but he just sat down and cocked his head. I pointed inside and again shouted "TUNNEL!" but he just cocked his head the other way and pranced backward. Finally, when I said it again, he ran around to the side of the 16" tunnel and jumped on top of it in one smooth leap.

As Eddie was walking the length of the tunnel to try to find a good way down, I could hear the entire class break up in laughter and I almost fell down in tears. My little man who was too small to clear a 12" jump, according to the instructor, just leaped on top of a 16" tunnel because he didn't understand my command.

I've never been prouder of him.

That is funny.... and you got to admit it.....it was very smart of him.

He was cocking his head at you because he didn't understand why he had to do it your way when there was a better and more fun way to do it.

It sounds like he is doing real good in his class. :coolsmile

I first read this as....the smartest dog in jumper class. Eddie's just proven he aint no dummy. It's jumping class, right? ;)

Megan got some agility equipment to work with Rusty a couple of years ago. He so was not interested. Tucker has taken to it though. Rusty was terrified of the tunnel. Megan would climb through it to show him how to do it. No way! So, the first time she decided to show Tucker, she climbs through it, gets to the end and looks behind her: No Tucker. She comes out of the tunnel and he is sitting there waiting for her! He went around the outside and sat waiting for Megan to go through. I called over to him to give her a treat since she did the trick. Eddie is one smart doggie.

OK, not a Yorkie story, but a training story from years ago..... Had a Borzoi, Fanci Fannie, I rescued and was fostering. (Russian Wolfhound, a large dog. Imagine a greyhound with long wavy hair, a humped back and about 50-75 pounds bigger.)
Always train, socialize and evaluate every dog. So I take her across the street to the park so I can do all three at once. I put her on the lead, and she went to the park ok, and then realized that lead wasn't coming off. So she started screaming. Moaning. Whining. LOUDLY. Kids came over, walkers stopped and stared, people literally came out of their houses. She played for the audience, stumbled a few steps, then fell over. Then screamed some more. I couldn't get her to stop, except when she checked to make sure she was being watched. OMG!!! OK, it's funny now, but then??? Had a couple people come over ready to horse whip me for trying to teach the dog to heel and stay. Eventually got the beast back home. Longest 20 minutes of my life. (After that, started training w/ treats. Any theatrics, no treats!)

Sorry, but I would have been POed if the class was laughing at my little poo poos. :(

Eddie is a smart little guy!

Wow, that's one smart pooch who knew how to work the crowd. I hope you succeeded in the long run. That would be a tough act to go through every day!

And babyfidgette, the laughter was all WITH Eddie, honest. It was the cutest thing you ever saw. He didn't understand what I asked him to do, so he did his best to interpret. He won everyone's respect with his pluck. I did my best to act calm and finally coaxed him through the tunnel, but once he made it I scooped him up and gave him a big hug and a bunch of treats. The one other guy in the class came to me afterward and said, "Man, you can tell you really love that dog." I was flattered.

I had Jazzie in agility class. Like Eddie, she was the smallest dog in her class. Walking the boards - No Problem! Teeter Totter - No Problem! Tunnel - No Problem! The "A" frame - No Problem! On her first and only attempt.

Wanna know why? On her second run, she got 1/2 way up and stopped. The rest of the class started to cheer her on. She is such a Diva that since then she would ALWAYS stop on the "A" frame and wait for the cheers. Such an attention hog... So much for my dream of having an Agility champ!

LOL! I wish I had videos of stuff like that. I can just see her posing.