obedience training ...

Allie and I began PetSmart's puppy obedience training yesterday evening. I either need reassuring that it'll all be okay, or some nice way to scold other puppy owners.

As we arrived at class, almost everyone was there. There is a Boston terrier, a chihuaha, a cocker spaniel, a jack russell mix, and little Allie. There's supposed to be another puppy there, but the lady didn't follow directions, and left her puppy at home.

The terrier was confident he could trample my baby, and was pretty successful. She spent most of the evening hiding under a stool, or under the trainer's wheeled shelf. She was nibbled on part way through class by the spaniel. To my pleasure, she nipped back towards the end of class, finally tired of being picked on. The chihuaha, Millie, was the only civil puppy there, even making an attempt to protect my little Allie. They seemed to get along good, and neither made an effort to "alpha" on the other one. The jack russell mix was crying out "neuter me", mounting on ALL the other dogs. He tried to mount my Allie, and I quickly put a stop to it, not wanting my 3.5 lb baby to have to go through that from the 20-25lb other dog.

Allie didn't learn *anything*,and spent most of the hour-long class hiding. The trainer's only comments were "she'll be fine", and a reminder at the beginning "not to coddle the puppy in class, and we all need to leave our puppies to explore during the course" (said plainly while Allie was hiding on my lap - so I put her down).

Reassure me... tell me what to do ... I'm planning on raising holy "hoooo-ie" if next week isn't better for my girl.

TIA,
Jennifer