A new training milestone!

Last night I graduated my very first puppy class! I was the lead teacher for 7 weeks with these puppies and their owners. It was so much fun and not as nerve wracking as I thought it would be. Of course it was nice to have my guru there as a safety net, Misti Fry, so I knew I couldn't screw up too bad; she wouldn't let me! =) I learned a lot throughout these 7 weeks about how to teach a class versus a private lesson, which I thought I was going to have a lot of trouble with. The way Misti sets up her classes makes it easy as she has assistants to help the students as well as the lead teacher. It's kind of like how we teach the owners to train their dogs; set them up for success and make training fun! These owners and puppies came in eager to learn and boy did they ever! Puppies walking nicely on leash, coming when called, sitting, staying and doing all kinds of tricks! Plus the owners have an arsenal of strategies at their disposal to deal with any issues that come up! I hope they all continue on with their training and have a long, happy relationship with their pups! I can't wait to start the next session, hopefully there will be enough pups signed up so I can have my own class again!
Here are a few photos from last night's graduation:

Stay

Mat Game

Loose leash walking game

Recall game