[MyPemCharlie]

No, Charlie and I will be joining a class this year to "proof" his basic obedience skills and hopefully get his CGC (Canine Good Citizen). I've been working with dogs since late 1997, first training my rottweiler, then training basic skills with hundreds of shelter dogs at the local SPCA to hopefully make them more adoptable.

I'm training at home and socializing with neighbors' dogs and at the dog park. The trainer who helped me immensely with my rottie will let me take the second half of her obedience class, which is working with distractions and final finishing for CGC. (The first half of her class teaches the basic methods for sit, down, wait, etc which we're doing at home.)

We are a little hung up right now with the loose leash walking, but once we get that worked out, we'll be signing up for "distraction" work, skill proofing and CGC. (Hopefully sooner than later.) We'll probably do an advanced obedience (maybe Rally) before intro to agility or flyball while we wait until Charlie's old enough to start athletics without damaging his bones.

I may pay for a private lesson or two soon with the leash walking (which I messed up), as I think we're ready-to-go with all the other basic commands.