Learning with Roma, "Sit, Watch Me, Down, Leave it..." Pee in the house?

Roma is definitely a smart dog. No doubt about it. She knows when she's doing well, she knows when she's being a stubborn adolescent, and she certainly knows when she is in trouble or has done something bad...

Training at Petsmart started last Friday. In our first session, we basically held Roma back from being the pain in the a$$ dog. She was hyper and distracted.

We learned the "watch it" command and how to properly walk on the leash... Basically you get the dog to watch you, so that both are in sync with commands, listening, etc. She didn't do well there, but by the end of this week and last night's class, she was a pro. With the walking you have to continually stop if she's pulling you. We are walking her, not vice versa. This is hard for her at times, but this week she did really well. At times though, you have to give her some latitude especially when you come home from work and she's all amped to go to the bathroom!

Last night we reviewed our progress and showed off our command of "sit," which she does really well. We did the "watch it" really well for our trainer, too. She was impressed and proclaimed our smart dog. Then we showed that she could walk well on the leash, a complete 170 from last week. Not quite all the way perfect, hence, 170, but she did awesome. Then we showed off next week's command "down" which Debbie has been working with Roma on. She lunges down but still she's starting to understand what we want.

Lastly we touched on "leave it." Granted, this would have been useful on Wednesday night when she decided to start chewing gum. Not once, but twice. It was gross for her to put in her mouth, but even worse going digging in her mouth! Ewww!

Overall progress is there, but she's still being a pup. With her estimated age at 6 or so months, her behavior apparently is going to get worse before it gets better. This scares the both of us! Worse? How about we take her to the bathroom and bring her back in...10 minutes later, pee! Then 45 minutes later she decides "i'm going to pee again!" Yup, this was pushing us...and this was last night! After her great showing at Petsmart. Oh well, she'll get there.

Hopefully I don't expedite my hair going gray, I was saving that for the kids! How do I blame the kids if I'm gray by the time we are having them? Oye...puppies!!

Bonus photo...after all the rain the past two weeks, we have to keep toweling her off. She thinks it's a game...actually it's pretty cute and a lot of fun!