Our life was now the “3” of us. No more dinners out, no more afternoons at the biker bars… By the time Chloe was 4 months old, she was sleeping though the night – That was the good news. The bad news—the only way she’d sleep straight through was in OUR bed. More good news—she loves walks- so we’ve been getting a lot more exercise. Any thing done once becomes a routine—so at about 4:30, she wants “Happy Hour”….her time to sit outside with us and watch the scene.Chloe is wonderful--most of the time. She's amazingly smart--one of the things that we really didn't want in a dog.... Fortunately, she's also SO cute that you can forgive just about anything. As John's mom used to say, "God made them cute so you don't kill them". It has turned our life upside down.
On a trip to Ocala (while she was in for grooming), we stopped at Petsmart and saw their “Puppy Training” class. We signed up immediately- realizing that somehow, we had to become “alpha dogs”. 8 weeks of training-- So, every Tuesday, the entire family packed up for the trip to Ocala and our hour of training. They really should
call it "Parent training" since the entire first hour was spent training us- not her! She managed to learn one command - "Watch" (used with a treat held in front of her nose- then brought up to your eyes so your dog makes eye contact with you). We, on the other hand, took about 5 pages of notes on "our behavior". We discovered that we've been doing alot of things right---and quite a few things wrong. They claim to be able to get your dog to "Come, Sit, Stay".By week two, it was time to start the training. Chloe took the award for "last in class".... what a nightmare! She barked incessantly. As Jackie, the instructor, told us, “Just ignore her”. Well, nothing seemed to work. Her behavior was worse than the 2 Jack Russell terriers (Jack and Belle) in the class!!! But, things took a turn for the better the following week.. After mastering “Watch”, “Sit” and “Down” , she was not only a model student, but was also used as an example when Jackie would try to teach a new command.
Chloe also made a new friend—her new best friend is a 3 pound Yorkie named Sabrina. Fortunately her parents are a fun and interesting couple—Igor (from Croatia) and Terri (born in Italy). They live in Connecticut and spoil their little Sabrina as much as we do Chloe. Our visit to their motorhome became a daily event. The two dogs race and play for 30-60 minutes and come home exhausted.
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