My Rocketship Puppy

Attach a dog leash to a NASA shuttle launch and you have a pretty good idea of what it’s like leashing up Penny. Learning to channel and focus her boundless energy is undoubtedly our most challenging training goal. That’s why I love the opportunity our agility class provides to do exactly that. The first rule of agility is to bring your pup to class “hungry and eager.” Penny’s never had an issue with either of those qualifications.

She’s always hungry and on the prowl for another treat

And she’s so eager to run the course that she wants to cut the line

Sometimes it feels like I’m holding on to the back bumper of a car that’s driving away

Rocketship Penny is fearless and confident so she’s happy to run on any obstacle

But as I mentioned, keeping her focused and on task is the real challenge

While running the A-frame for example, Penny just completely sprinted by it because I hadn’t focused her on the task

Dee, our trainer, calls Penny a “three-hand dog” because how many hands you need to keep my nutty pup on track. Some days Penny feels more like a “ten-hand dog”

With Dee’s help and plenty of practice we’re making some really great progress in keeping Rocketship Penny on course

Penny is one of the most energetic dogs from one of the most energetic breeds at the most energetic age. I feel like if I can learn to handle this pup I can handle anything!

One of the interesting parts of class is seeing the different training challenges of classmates. Some pups need confidence, others need focus and one pup in particular needs to learn how to use her brakes every once in a while…

With that in mind, what is (or was) the toughest part about training your own pup?