We took Sherman to Petsmart for his first class, only to find out the class had been canceled by the trainer, and would start next week. No big deal, we live pretty close to Petsmart, and we had to buy some dog food anyway. I took Sherman into the training ring and threw a ball around in there, letting him chase it. After a bit, Sherman and I went outside the training ring, while some people came by and petted him. Then Sherman saw another dog on a leash and went all Kujo, barking and jumping like mad. It was, in a word, embarrassing. People looked askance at him, like he was a serial killer. Some people without a dog came by, and he was fine, licked a little girls nose, enjoyed being petted. Then another dog came by, and it was Kujo-mode all over again.

We had mentioned to the trainer when we signed up that Sherman had this “issue” with other dogs. I don’t think I appreciated how bad the problem was. After the little episode at Petsmart, I called a friend who trains aggressive dogs. She said she’d run Sherman through her two week course, and while it was possible that he may never be able to meet a dog on a least, he would at least act civil, not bark and not break his walk or sit. We talked about some other things, and decided Sherman would start a course with her on August 24th. We’ll see how that goes.