PUPPY TRAINING FOR BEGINNERS

Barney flops out in one of his beds after an exhausting first visit to puppy training classes.

The local Golden Retriver club run a series of dog training courses at a local village hall and these range from `basic training` through the bronze, silver and gold awards as the training progresses

When we enrolled Barney, we were asked whether we wanted him to do field trials, become involved with shows, formation dancing teams and all the rest but we said we just wanted him to be a happy, well behaved family pet. So, he`s started the basic training and he seemed to take to it quite well. It certainly tired him out though, so both he and we had a good night`s sleep afterwards.

One of his classmates was a very comely young puppy named Sorrel who will be trained to become a guide dog. Barney was much taken with her winsome charms - no wonder he slept well. I was quite impressed by Barney`s ability to sit down, stand up and walk around when told to do so. Reminded me of my own National Service basic training!