Back to School - Dog Style

Charlie's new back to school outfit

Charlie and I headed out for an adventure yesterday to his first training class.  Lily and Bruce Wayne were less than thrilled to be left at home while we went out.  I picked Charlie to go because he basically has panic attacks when people come over.  There's no calming him down and he will scratch you like crazy if you try to take him outside when his house is being attacked visited.

When we walked into the class, the instructor told me that the other people had been warned about us because Charlie is completely deaf.  People looked at me with a little bit of pity that I really didn't understand.  Charlie is awesome.  I don't feel at all like I have a defective dog.  I guess I kind of forget about it because we talk to him just like we do to the other dogs and he gets around well enough.  If he's asleep when we're leaving the house, we'll wake him up so he can see us leave and not wonder where we are in the house all day.  We've been doing it so long that it's just a non-issue.

He picked up walking on a leash really well and even stayed sitting next to another dog when he was asked.  We definitely have some challenges because all of his commands are in sign language and I have to get his attention back on me before I can give them.  I'm really proud of him because he didn't panic when any of the dogs or other people came near him either.  I think it's because he was completely out of his environment but I'm going to consider it a win anyway.

I really like the instructor and I think that he's going to do really well with his next five classes.  My only expectation out of this class is to be able to communicate with my dog.  If he learns a few tricks, awesome. If not, he's still pretty cool.

He just leaned over and licked my hand which is as close to an "I love you mom" as it gets in our house.

Good boy.

Have you ever had any adventures in dog training?  Have any tips?