Last night was the first night of puppy school for Monty. I'd been waiting for this for 5 or 6 weeks now and had purposely not worked with her in the interim because I didn't want to start teaching her one way of doing things and then confuse her with a different method.
Despite being a German Shepherd, Monty is a fraidy-cat at home. When she hears the neighbor's dogs bark, she immediately runs and hides behind me. While I really wanted an attack dog, I was somewhat happy with her submissiveness, thinking that she'd be quiet at school.
EPIC fail. Epic is in caps for a reason, it was the mother of all fails.
We arrived a few minutes late which really set the tone. Before we left, I checked my little duffel bag to make sure we had everything we needed. Sadly, I forgot to put everything back in, so as we were driving to school, I realized the mistake and headed back home.
So, as mentioned, we arrived a couple minutes late. We walked into a group of people, all holding the leases of their little pups. Monty immediately started barking at them. And barking. And barking. And barking.
Despite what some may think, I don't normally like to draw attention to myself. Sure, once in a while I do, but most of the time I'm quiet and try to keep to myself. That didn't happen last night. Everyone was making sure to see who the deadbeat dad was who couldn't control their dog.
After a few minutes, the assistant to the instructor, and old bag of a lady, walked over to me and said, "I wouldn't let him get away with that." (By the way, Monty is a girl) My first reaction was complete shock. It totally caught me off guard. My second reaction was to tell the old bag of a lady to get out of my business. However, I'm now on happy pills and far more mature than I used to be so I went with my third reaction..."Well, I'm hoping you guys will teach me how."
Another minute or two of barking ensued before the bag lady came by with a spray bottle. She gave Monty a quick spray and it shut her up. The bag lady smiled a horribly, ugly smile and turned around. Monty realized she was ok and proceeded to continue barking. The bag lady came at Monty one more time and zapped her. This time Monty snapped at the water bottle. While it probably wasn't the proper thing for Monty to do, I was very proud of her for letting the bag lady know what's what.
A couple more minutes went by before the lead instructor mentioned, "Maybe you should take her outside and walk her around the yard." Seven or eight minutes in and we'd already been relegated to time out. This wasn't the start I'd hope for.
Hayden and I walked the puppy outside for a few minutes, then went back inside. At this point, Monty was settling down and getting tired of barking. She only barked when another puppy made eye contact or got too close. The class went into introductions and when it came to me, I mentioned who Hayden and I were and said, "You've already met Monty." There were smiles, except from the bag lady, and the introductions continued.
The whole time, the bag lady was staring at Monty. And then at me. And then at Monty. And then at me again. Bitch.
For the rest of the night, Monty did fairly well. She only tried to eat a couple of the dogs and for the most part only barked when she felt another dog was staring at her or tried to invade her space.
I'm already not looking forward to next week because I'm afraid they're going to give me my money back and ask that I leave Monty at home. However, I'm very proud of Monty for both snapping at the water bottle and for trying to fend off the bad puppies, even though the other puppies weren't bad (the little Great Dane puppy might have been as cute as Monty).
I don't know if she'll ever learn to sit, stay, and not jump on people, but at least the house will be protected.
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