Homework: My Training Journey with Molly
It all began in May, 2022 when Molly was just a pup. I already knew Roxanne and I knew I needed to enroll in her puppy course. I had never had a puppy so I had no idea what to do with her other than feed her, play with her, take her out to potty every 30-40 minutes and try to keep her from chewing on absolutely everything. At the first Mannerly puppy session, Molly met the Lee pack for the first time. Good old Sugar was there to help her understand what is appropriate puppy behavior and what is not. Quite an invaluable lesson! We finished the Mannerly puppy course then moved on to the Foundation Course (FC).
In late spring/early summer 2022 Molly and I began our training journey. At the first lesson I was already overwhelmed and truly believed Molly and I would be the first to fail the LL and never move on past Lesson 1. I had no confidence in myself, my dog, or the training but as we moved through the weeks, the KMODT started to make more sense to me. The homework and the exams were hard but seeing my dog choose to obey more often than not and to ignore distractions gave me a sense of hope. Fast forward to today I have a well-trained dog who brings me lots of joy. As I write this, Molly currently has an injured foot. She honors commands to stay, place, and wait so we can help her up stairs, into the car, etc. I feel the training has helped her in her recovery and kept her from doing more damage to that foot. I absolutely “trust the training” and I’m so thankful for it.
In the fall of 2022, we started the Retrieve Course where that foundational layer of obedience is key. It was a challenging course but I am so glad we went through it. Molly and I have a deeper bond of trust and the course reinforced all we learned in the FC. I now have a dog with a formal retrieve. I’ll never take her hunting. That’s just not us! But, she does fetch her bowl after she eats and brings it to the sink and carries small items. This time through the course, Molly is going to be working with other materials such as leather and metal. She does not like metal at all so it should be interesting. I know we’ll learn a lot going through a second time.
I just want to add that it is such an honor and a privilege (not to mention fun) to sit in on the FC lessons and go through the RC as a “graduate”. I love seeing the transformation between the handler and their dog. I also love being able to encourage and cheer other students on, just as others have done for me through the years. We need one another on our journeys. Thank you to all those who have invested in me and Mo, especially Roxanne and Jessi. You two are awesome!
Oh, one more thing. If all goes according to plan, we’ll have a puppy in our house again next month. I’ll get to start all the training all over again with her! Yay! Can’t wait!!
