The Puppy Mutiny

I told you some weeks ago about my very first puppy class and how very well-behaved I was. A few weeks had gone by since then and I was now allowed to walk from the car into the hall on my own paws. I was feeling much more confident and I felt it was time to liven things up a bit.

We all did a little walking on our leads with our bipeds and then the trainer asked us all to go and sit down. She said it was time for us to do our recall – I could hardly wait! The first puppy ran down the hall to his biped, as normal. It was my turn. We went to the trainer. My biped unclipped my lead and the trainer held my collar. My biped jogged to the other end of the hall, got down on her knees and called, “Clowie, come!”

The trainer released my collar and I set off towards my biped. I ran about a quarter of the way and made a sharp turn. I headed towards Bess, a Labrador, who was always keen to play. Bess was really excited, but her biped held tightly onto the lead and all Bess could do was roll around on the floor. This wasn’t quite what I’d hoped, but we played as best we could. My biped arrived near me and the trainer told her not to grab me, but to try to entice me away with treats. There wasn’t much chance of that happening, as I was having a wonderful time!

Suddenly someone was bouncing on my back – it was Benjy, the Dalmatian! He was trailing his lead, he’d managed to get away from his biped. There was nothing Benjy liked better than to run as fast as he could, so we set off on a circuit of the hall together. The trainer shouted to our bipeds, “Just catch them!” Benjy and I did not make it easy for them, but they caught us after a few laps of the hall. We returned to our seats and the trainer said it was Bess’s turn to do a recall.

Bess’s biped went to the other end of the hall and, as soon as the trainer released Bess, she ran over to me to continue our game. I did my best to get free of my biped, but I couldn’t no matter how hard I bounced and pulled. Benjy appeared, he’d managed to slip his head out of his collar. He and Bess set off on a circuit of the hall, their bipeds in pursuit. This was so much fun! All the puppies were trying to get free now, so that they could join in.

Once Bess and Benjy were caught, it was the turn of Tim, the Yorkie, to do his recall. He ran around and barked at everyone, until his biped caught him. When it came to Benjy’s turn to do a recall, he was so excited he was jumping up the trainer while she was trying to hold him. He went and bounced on Bess then ran across and bounced on me, before he set off on another circuit of the hall. He was having a wonderful time! None of the remaining puppies did a conventional recall, but they were all caught quite quickly.

The rest of the evening was much livelier than usual and all the puppies enjoyed themselves immensely! The trainer told our bipeds that they must do a lot of training in the week and she expected us all to be much better next week. She also said that they should all think hard and provide more interesting treats for us puppies. I was still excited when we got in the car to go home, but I soon found myself drifting off to sleep and dreaming about the wonderful treats my biped would soon be giving me.

See you next Wednesday!