the warming and the drying

Last night we took Little Puppy to her first RallyO class. I was relieved to see leashes and a small group... but everyone was so interested in competition! We have no interest in teaching her to compete, only wanted her to socialize and and get over her timidity to some degree. There was a lot of time spent discussing judging and points and all kinds of things that mean nothing to me.

Little Puppy was scared. She kept trying to climb my leg and for the first half hour wouldn't even look at the treats we brought her. The ladies running the class didn't understand us at first - apparently they don't remember our conversation (or email) about wanting her to have fun and socialize as opposed to competing in this as a sport. I tried to explain that her breed is renowned for refusing to sit on hard floors and the they wouldn't listen at first. I said I needed to put a blanket down on the floor to get her to sit and they immediately went off on how I would be disqualified and blah blah blah.

Apparently my own emotional state was only a notch better than Ophelia's because I had a very sharp comment on the tip of my tongue that wanted out, but instead I just said, "Well maybe we're in the wrong class," and looked to Shawn thinking he would say, "Give us our money back, we're leaving."

But instead Shawn explained (again!) why we were there and suddenly the lady was fine with our blanket and our silly needy baby and her silly needy mama. She even turned up the heat in the room so Little Puppy could stop shivering. Shawn's better at explaining things. When I'm flustered I just want to run away.

It all made me realise that I'm responsible for this behaviour, this timidity and neediness. Because I encourage the constant snuggling because I love it! -and in the process I've made her a nervous wreck. Sigh.

Anyway, we decided to stick with the class after all, and I hope that Little Puppy and I both learn something.

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