Obedience School is Exhausting #SOL15
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I don't know who's more tired after obedience school...me or the pups. It's more than being exhausted, I am emotionally spent. You see, I am someone who is used to doing things well. I'm ashamed to say that if I can't do a task well, I tend to shy away from it. I'm trying to do better, since I've learned to recognize it in myself, but still, it's hard for me.
Tuesday night is obedience school. It seems that we are worse than the parents who don't check their kids' backpacks to look for homework. We check the backpack and STILL don't do the homework. Last week, Marlo, the instructor, told the class that it was important to practice the "stay" command because of the exercise we would be doing this week. Do you think we practiced the "stay" command this week? Nope.
I told Keith I wanted to skip tonight's lesson. (I know, that's bad isn't it?) He shot back that we weren't skipping just because we didn't do our homework.
"What would you tell your kids if they didn't do their homework?" he asked me.
So, we crammed for tonight's class, practicing "heel," 'sit," and "stay" 30 minutes before it was time to leave. I was feeling a glimmer of confidence because they were doing pretty well.
They even started out well in class. Until Marlo said, "Ok, time for "down."
Uh oh...we didn't practice "down" and Jem is especially bad at it. (Can you guess which dog I had tonight? If you guessed Jem, you are the winner). Yes, I had Jem and he was not going to lie down for anything. I could feel my anxiety rise as everyone else's dog laid down on the floor and stayed there. Even Scout followed directions. My cheeks flushed and my heart pounded harder and harder. I was sure everyone's eyes were on me as I silently pled with Jem to lie down and verbally tried all the tricks I had learned. I'm sure my rising stress level only made it worse and it wasn't going to look good if I broke down in tears. (I'm only half kidding). :)
I gave in.
I asked Marlo to come model for me. Even she had trouble with him, but it was evident she was in charge.
Thankfully, we moved on to some new commands and Jem did much better. Good thing, because I don't think I could have done it much longer.
The last thing Marlo told us was that we were going to do a 1 minute "down" and 1 minute "stay" next week.
Guess what we're going to be practicing this week? I am determined that we can get better at this. Maybe I'm not such a bad puppy parent after all.
I don't know who's more tired after obedience school...me or the pups. It's more than being exhausted, I am emotionally spent. You see, I am someone who is used to doing things well. I'm ashamed to say that if I can't do a task well, I tend to shy away from it. I'm trying to do better, since I've learned to recognize it in myself, but still, it's hard for me.
Tuesday night is obedience school. It seems that we are worse than the parents who don't check their kids' backpacks to look for homework. We check the backpack and STILL don't do the homework. Last week, Marlo, the instructor, told the class that it was important to practice the "stay" command because of the exercise we would be doing this week. Do you think we practiced the "stay" command this week? Nope.
I told Keith I wanted to skip tonight's lesson. (I know, that's bad isn't it?) He shot back that we weren't skipping just because we didn't do our homework.
"What would you tell your kids if they didn't do their homework?" he asked me.
So, we crammed for tonight's class, practicing "heel," 'sit," and "stay" 30 minutes before it was time to leave. I was feeling a glimmer of confidence because they were doing pretty well.
They even started out well in class. Until Marlo said, "Ok, time for "down."
Uh oh...we didn't practice "down" and Jem is especially bad at it. (Can you guess which dog I had tonight? If you guessed Jem, you are the winner). Yes, I had Jem and he was not going to lie down for anything. I could feel my anxiety rise as everyone else's dog laid down on the floor and stayed there. Even Scout followed directions. My cheeks flushed and my heart pounded harder and harder. I was sure everyone's eyes were on me as I silently pled with Jem to lie down and verbally tried all the tricks I had learned. I'm sure my rising stress level only made it worse and it wasn't going to look good if I broke down in tears. (I'm only half kidding). :)
I gave in.
I asked Marlo to come model for me. Even she had trouble with him, but it was evident she was in charge.
Thankfully, we moved on to some new commands and Jem did much better. Good thing, because I don't think I could have done it much longer.
The last thing Marlo told us was that we were going to do a 1 minute "down" and 1 minute "stay" next week.
Guess what we're going to be practicing this week? I am determined that we can get better at this. Maybe I'm not such a bad puppy parent after all.
I would have wanted to skip too! I love your husband's response.
ReplyDeleteYou model for teachers all day long. You don't think less of them, do you? Your instructor probably enjoys showing what she knows! :)
ReplyDeleteToo funny of a post, you HAVE to practice to get better at something. It appears the homework assignment is in alignment for the performance task/ learning targets to build upon the puppies knowledge. I hope to get an update on how homework goes this week.
ReplyDeleteThat picture tells a thousand words!;-) This reminds me of when I was a kid and didn't practice piano between lessons. You will prevail eventually! And if you don't, those pups sure are cute anyway!;-)
ReplyDeleteI love your picture of exhaustion. And good for you for going to class even though you weren't prepared. I'm sure your puppies learned not to give up on a commitment. Or not...at least you wore them out.
ReplyDeleteOh puppy school! We had one that "failed" more than once! It was awful. This post made me laugh out loud and brought back a million memories of my poor parents having spent their every Wednesday night for months! I have to share it with them. Great slice!
ReplyDeleteI like the asides you make to the reader here. They make me feel like part of the conversation, like Ferris Bueller talking to the camera to give us the inside scoop.
ReplyDelete