The day started with our normal dog walk. We walked round with Jackson, our Labradoodle friend, which is always fun – Jessie loves to chase him. They’re very well matched and both need the exercise to drain off some of that excess energy. I didn’t take any pics today but this one was taken in the summer of Jackson and Jessie playing with the tennis ball.
Popped back home for a cream cheese sandwich 
and then more or less straight out for Jessie’s first training session.
Also joining us was Buffy (Jan the trainer’s dog showing us how it should be done), Fluke, Marley, Drizzle, Bobby, and a Weimarana I didn’t know but who was trying very hard! Jessie’s challenge is not reacting to other dogs when they’re on the lead so there was a lot of walking round each other and getting the dogs to focus on us. Lots of treats and tiny bits of cheese for the hardest bits.
Jessie did well and especially liked the food! I need to get her into the habit of leaving whatever she’s doing when I say ‘Leave!’ – whether that’s barking at another dog or trying to eat a left-over sandwich that someone’s left in the street.
Again, no photos I’m afraid. I was too busy remembering which hand to put the lead in, making sure I had something nice in my other hand for Jessie, and concentrating on what Jan, the trainer, had asked us to do.
Training takes place outside in a public area with lots of normal distractions (rabbit poo being the main one for Jessie). Some BMX riders joined us half way through which made it a little tricky but we all seemed to co-exist pretty well.
I really enjoyed it and so did Jessie. When we got back there was lots of canine hugging between Jessie and Georgie – they’re not used to being apart very much. And then Jessie settled down to a big sleep on the sofa and snoozed right through her normal dinner time – something that’s never happened before!
