Maggie Goes to School

Lots of puppies with a lot to learn
Today was my first day at puppy motivation, known in better circles as "retriever training". It was pouring rain - perfect wet dog weather. There were lots of retriever puppies like me - black, yellow, golden and chocolate - and I wanted to play with them all!

Many of the puppies attending the course are in training to be hunting dogs. And, there are a few, like me, who are in training to be family dogs. But, except for the puppies' people, it was hard to tell the difference between a hunting-dog puppy and a family puppy. The hunting-dog people were dressed to kill (pardon the pun) - with English field coats, tweed hats, high water boots and whistles around their necks. (If a duck had flown over our group, he'd been a goner for sure.) The family-dog people were dressed in jeans, raincoats and running shoes. One family-dog person even had a camera with him and was taking photos of the puppies and the people. But the hunting-dog people didn't smile much for the camera.

We milled around a lot at the edge of the forrest waiting for all the puppies and their people to arrive. In the meantime, all of us puppies were on leashes - pulling, coughing and straining to sniff and play with each other. Sometimes we got tangled up in each other's leashes. The people didn't like that much. Especially the hunting-dog people, who were there for serious training.

I can't count but I can tell you that we were many, many puppies, and because we were so many puppies, they had to split us up into two groups. Our group made our way from the parking lot into the wet, rainy forrest where we formed a big circle. The moment we'd been waiting for had finally come! All the secrets of how to be a good puppy were about to be revealed. But first, because of all the excitement, I had to make a visit behind a tree. When I rejoined the group, our trainer, a person, was in the process of teaching us puppies the basics of sit, heel, stay, come and "walk nice". I did my best but I thought the sticks on the ground were more interesting - as was the back-end of the hunting-dog puppy in front of me.

But, I learned two things today: First, I get a treat when I do something right. I'm not always sure what I do right, but I sure like those treats. Second, black puppies like me get just as dirty as yellow puppies - you just can't see the dirt until you dry off with a towel.