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WHEW! That was a work out! lol
well Cookie sure was the terror of the bunch, to my surprise. I kind of expected the other dogs not to be as well behaved as they were since it is a training class, but Cookie made them look like they've been in training for years! As soon as we got there, the other three dogs were sitting calmly and quietly at their owners feet. Cookie started jumping, barking, pulling and just totally flipping out. The trainers all flocked to us and told us to just start clicking and treating like crazy, I thought this would just reward the bad behavior but it is supposed to distract them from the bad behavior. I am going to have to ask them in more detail how that works. At first none of the treats we brought would work. She wouldn't take anything. We had dried peices of hot dog, dried liver, dried chicken, peices of her kibble, and lamb and rice sausages. Finally, one of the trainers broke out some cheese and that did the trick. We finally got her to calm down, but she had some tantrums here and there and would get up and bark at the other dogs. The excercises, she did OK at, but it was our first class so hopefully she will be better next week. She did great with the homework, but as soon as we got there, it was like she forgot all of it! We're going to work on the homework in more distracting places, and I am going to see if we can work on it across the street at Jax's house so she can get used to training around other dogs.
Better luck next time, but I am not going to get discouraged. Leaving angry certainly won't help her.

Hang in there, Jessie. Cookie will come around eventually.
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Mary Lou & Katie

it could be that next class, she'll be a different dog. you are right, the calmer you are the better.

don't know what type of facility class is held, but any way you could bring Cookie on another day to just hang out in the general area, or at a distance if there are other dogs? for a brief session.

Thats a good idea, country! It's in kind of a sketchy looking area, we were a bit concerned the first time we went, but it's a great facility. It's down a big alley where there are a bunch of auto body shops and mechanics, but not a lot of cars and distractions right around the building. And we could go when other classes are being held so we can train her as other dogs are going in and out. Now that we've been to a class with her, it makes a BIG difference when working on the homework. It is a lot different when someone tells you how to do it, and then you actually do it with your dog. We've been working on some of the excercises the past two days, in environments that are distracting, but not so distracting that I can't get her attention. Like my back porch. It has wrap around windows and a bank parking lot behind it and she comes out there with me but she is supposed to lay down while we're out there, but with the distractions she is constantly getting up and I am constantly telling her to lay back down. So we worked on a couple of the excersises out there yesterday and this morning and she did really well, she didn't get up once!
One of our assignments is the attention excersise. Whenever you take your dog somewhere new or distracting, as soon as you get there you do this excersise. With training it goes like this, tell the dog to sit or lay down and click and treat every time your dog looks at you for the first minute and time yourself (Without calling the dog to make it look at you). The second minute, you do the same thing only don't time yourself and click and give a few different treats every time she looks at you. The third minute you do the same as the first, and your numbers should go up by half. If they're less, the environment is too distracting, and if it's more, it's not distracting enough. I did it with Cookie yesterday on the porch but forgot to time myself but I know she did really well. And this morning we did it again, the first minute, she looked at me four times, and the last minute she looked at me seven times!