Well, I did it. I signed up at PetSmart for a beginner obedience class with Frankie. I hope we do ok! I liked the fact that when I turned in the paperwork the trainer said that we couldn't use choke chains or prong collars. She also said that if I wanted to use the clicker during class, it would be ok.
So our training session in the afternoon and evening consisted on brushing up on sits and downs and adding some stays in there, too, just to see how she'd do. She did well! I was able to put her in a sit/stay or down/stay and walk around the chair or duck behind a wall for a bit. At first, with the downs, she wanted to go into her play dead trick, so that was a bit frustrating, but ignoring her usually does the trick. She finally got it.
In other news, I'm trying the positive reinforcement in Sunday school again today. I know the older kids caught on right away, but I'm still thinking about a way to implement this with the younger kids (they're separated so that the younger ones 4-8 come in right after church, and the older ones 9-11 come in later). They tend to sing well, anyway, so I might reserve the treats for just the older (stubborn) kids.
 And the rain is back. Yay.
That's all for now.
Ellen & Frankie
