Charlie's first day of school

So let me start of with telling you what Charlie did today. He is SO smart and sneaky! I got home from work and could see him sitting in the big front window, he obviously got out of the bathroom. I walk into the house prepared to get jumped on and he is not there. I call his name, nothing. Then I walk upstairs and he is sitting right in the bathroom door by the knocked over baby gate. With this "What mom? I have been in here the whole day" kind of look on his face. He is such a little brat!

Anyway we had our first day of class today and keeping with "Charlie and Me" fashion, it was entertaining. I think I should get a movie out of these 6 months Dave is gone based on the comical situations I have been in. We are going to Dayton Dog Training Club. If anybody is wanting to take classes for their dog I would really recommend this place. The people there were GREAT and prices were cheap compared to other places I looked.

When we walked in Charlie was barking at every single dog, I couldn't control him ( I know you are surprised by that!). A very kind lady named Suzie came over and grabbed his collar pushed him to the ground and smacked his dog treat bag in his face. So needless to say, Suzie put him in his place rather quickly. She said "Does he have balls?". Umm yes..... "okay that is why he is acting like this, he wants to show everybody he is in charge" she said.  I immediately love her! She showed me how to hold his collar and control him and what to do when he is barking. We went right to our area because she didn't want him to be around other dogs. Good start to class... already getting put in "time out".

Then another wonderful woman, Kathlyn came over and started talking to me about Charlie. She also works there and has GSD (German Shepard Dogs-learned some new lingo). She said his markings were absolutely beautiful about 15 times. (In my head I was thinking "good, can you put him in some shows and make him earn some money so he can pay for all the stuff he has destroyed!).

Then class started and Ron came over and told me I did not look very confident with Charlie. (yeah I would say that is true!) He is wonderful and told me a lot of great stuff and made me feel very good to be there. I LOVED every single person I met there. I am excited to go back! Ron is going to get Charlie a choke collar next week so I can have better control of him when we walk/run.
During class Charlie kept barking at Baxter and I had to hit him in the face with the treat bag like Suzie taught me. There are only 3 dogs in our class and one dog is a repeat which made me feel good because that might be me and Charlie!
Half the class we had to have one on one training by Ron because Charlie did not want to cooperate. He would not eat any of his treats or others that were offered to him. As the class went on, he did much better. I found out he loves hot dogs! Next week I will bring those and I need to go get a fanny pack (o yeah!) or a tool belt from Lowe's to wear. (Both pretty good looks for me!)
All in all the class was a success. I met some really great people, we got a start on our training and I am looking forward to going back. We have to work on our stuff everyday (attention, sit, stay, down are our targets this week.) Everybody seems to think I have a great dog, we just have to unleash (haha) his potential. I will keep you posted on our progress!

Since this post is all about Charlie, here are some of my favorite pictures of him:

Charlie and Sammy

 Window he destroyed! 

He LOVES his frisbee. He sits like this all the time wanting to go outside, too cute!

Hope you enjoyed...... life is good!