Visiting Ace at Doggie School

Ace, our black lab puppy has gotten REALLY BIG already.  As all puppies are, he is full of energy and likes to jump and play a lot.  There's only one problem with that...He doesn't realize his size and when he jumps, sometimes it hurts.  So, like Simba, our yellow lab who passed away a few years ago, off to school it was for Ace!

Ace will not only be a pet but also a duck hunting dog for Hubby.  Either way,  he needs to learn a little obedience.  However, finding the right trainer is important.  We wanted one who only trains a puppy in stages.  Ace will be at school for a couple months and then come home for a while before he goes back again.  This is so that he keeps his relationship with us.  The other thing that was important to us was to have a trainer who is gentle with the dog.  Our trainer is just that!  Yes, he is teaching Ace obedience by responding to hand signals and voice commands but he is just so patient with him.  The day after we took him to school, he called to let us know that Ace had done well overnight and that all of the dogs he trains are kept in separate kennels inside a heated and air conditioned building.  WOW...he will be spoiled by the time he gets home!

Last week, Hubby stopped by to watch him train a little bit, having been at school for a month already.  He told me how good he was doing and sent me a couple of photos of him.  But I got a nice surprise on Saturday, when on our way home from Baton Rouge, he decided to swing by and let me see Ace myself!

                                            Here's Ace showing Robby how he can fetch now.

Having grown so much that he outgrew his collar, we stopped at a little store on our way there and bought him a brand new red one...a Christmas present of sorts.  Whenever we arrived and the trainer let him out, Ace was SO EXCITED to see us that he ran all over the place.  Soon enough, however, he settled right down and showed me all of the tricks he had been learning.  I was even able to tell him to "sit" while using a hand signal and he obeyed me!

We played for a while and I got Hubby to take a few pictures of me with Ace before we left.  I can't wait to have him back home around the middle of January!

                                                             "Look, Mom...I can sit!"

Although we miss having him at home, we know that Ace is in good hands...

                                                                    See ya in a month!