I love teaching puppy socialization classes. I get a puppy fix and send the dogs home and I hope I'm giving the owners good information to make puppyhood more pleasant for them. And I work really, really hard to give the pups the best start at good socializing with other puppies, dogs, people, and new situations. The last two sessions I have been blessed with some of the most amazing puppies and owners I've come across in almost 6 years of training. It was bound to come to an end some time...

Don't get me wrong, these puppies are adorable and the owners seem to be very interested in learning how to do things and concerned about doing the right things for their dogs. That right there is half of an instructor's battle. And there are only 6 puppies (instead of 10 for me and an assistant to work with) so there is lots of individual attention for the pups and owners. And I have a wonderful assistant that I've worked with tons so we've got this teaching thing down pat.

BUT...I have 5 sporting breeds and a doodle in my class. Can you IMAGINE the energy shooting out of every inch of the room?!?! And to top it all off, the only two females in the class, the dogs who could potentially calm the crazy males, have decided that the males are TOO crazy and feel more comfortable in an area by themselves at this time. And I suspect the male dogs were all raised in hunting kennels so there maybe wasn't quite as much human supervision/intervention as I personally would like in raising a litter. (Read - a free for all with the puppies until they left for their new homes.)

I think I'm going to have to shrink down the size of the play area for the males so we have a chance at catching them for frequent obedience breaks to keep the situation sort of calm and under control. And I may bring in an adult "play police" dog to help if we need it. Not a dog who is inappropriately rough in ending play, but one who will get in the middle of wild dogs and help to settle them.

To add insult to injury, I was trying to give a Lab and a viszla a little time out from overly rough play and the Lab decided he didn't want to settle. He went for the V's ear, I went to separate him from the ear and now I have 4 punctures and a 1/2 an inch tear on my hand! Little bugger bite down and re-gripped - "soft mouth" my tailfeathers! Thankfully my hand will heal easier and more cheaply than a V's ear, but what cracks me up is that the Lab's owner was convinced he was beaten up and bloodied by the other dog and was checking him all over for blood...as my hand dripped blood on the floor and my leg. I found the irony in talking about bite inhibition while gesturing with my bloodied right hand funny enough to get me through the rest of class.

I know class will get better as the owners and puppies get to know each other and what's expected in class. The last 3-4 weeks will be completely awesome. Just give me patience and energy until then!!!!

whooo boy, that sounds like a daunting class! I *know* I couldn't deal with that! Good luck getting them on the right road.

Wow! That is a lot of puppy energy in one place! Yikes. Good luck to you!

What a challenge! Good luck corralling energy!

Yikes! Sending you lots of patience, I'm afraid you're going to need it! Hang in there.

Bleh! I hope you get to the last awesome 3-4 weeks, soon!!!

Wow - sounds like you have some battle scars!

The very first time Snoopy and I went to obedience class he was a complete TERROR (he was an adult) - our trainer said "Well, you can certainly tell the beagle is here" because of all the noise he made not to mention the lunging, growling, howling and general disobedience. I was mortified. She told me "In four weeks, you will have a different dog." And she was right. (No, I didn't trade Snoopy in for a doppelganger Snoopy....) I was stunned at the change in HIM when I got MY anxiety under control. Kudos to training coaches!

(btw... I know you know all that stuff, but sometimes it helps our spirit to hear a success story, right!?)

You really DO have a bit of a masochism streak in you Ruffysdad

I commend you. I usually run out of energy when dealing with a single puppy, nevermind a gaggle of sporting breed pups Good luck with the patience. I'm sure it'll start to go smoothly soon.

We have 17 puppies in Puppy K this time. If you can believe it, we have 2 Great Danes an Irish Wolf Hound and a Newfie!

Kathleen - 17 puppies is insane!!!! We've had 3 additional dogs added to our roster...ALL hunting dogs!!! I've never had this many hunting dogs in one place. We separated the dogs into 3 playgroups and it was hell. Each group needed intense hands on intervention, even with frequent breaks. Next week I'm either going to drag in one of the flyball teammates or we'll have to stagger the play breaks so someone is there to be hands on. Another puppy bit hard enough to draw a lot of blood, but at least it was the owner and not me this time.

Our total:

2 Viszlas
1 Lab
1 Golden
1 German Wirehaired Pointer
1 Weimaraner
1 Doodle
1 Nova Scotia Duck Toller

If we could bottle this energy I'd be rich!