Sigh....Rough First Class

Grover's first day in Intermediate class was tonight and....well....it did not go well. There were only 2 other dogs in the class and they have all been in several classes and are much older than Grover (Grove is 8 months). So, of course, I wasn't comparing him to them. But, even still, it was a rough class. He did wonderful in Beginner Obediance class. He was a star. But we've had a couple of months off and he just acted like a stink pot tonight.
First of all, we practiced sit-stay's and he WOULD NOT stay. We've done these before. We practice them at home. No go in class. He did okay with the "go get it" commands. But any form of stay was just not something he was willing to do. I was getting super discouraged and feeling like maybe he just isn't ready for intermediate yet. But maybe it was just the first class. The teacher is the same we had last time, so she's seen him do really well. I think she could tell I was getting really discouraged because she did reassure me that he is young and it was his first class, so I should just keep practicing at home and coming and he'd come around. Anyone else have this experience? Surely it's just that we've had such a long break, right?
Is 8 months too young to be working on intermediate work? I'm doing this because I want it to be fun for Grover, tonight he DID NOT have fun. He LOVED his last class. But he just seemed to be bored and onery tonight. Poor honey, I feel bad for him because I know he wants to please me, he just wasn't on board tonight.

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Comment by Tina on September 12, 2008 at 8:28am: We are going to start Ein in his second training class in a couple of weeks, he'll be about 7 months at the time. I think Grover was just having a bad day. We were always told in class to expect that our dogss might not want to cooperate because of all of their surroundings (new dogs & smells). We should just have low expectations for their performance in class but expect them to do well outside of class.

But, that is just one trainer's point of view..

Comment by Parker on September 11, 2008 at 10:10pm: Thanks for the encouragement Geri & Sidney! I just re-read my post and realized that it sounded SO negative! I would like to add that Grover is a WONDERFUL pup and is absolutely my best friend. So yeah, one bad day in class is certainly not anything that's gonna make me love him less. He's my sweet Grover-Sausage and I adore him!

Comment by Geri & Sidney on September 11, 2008 at 8:57pm: They have off days, don't worry! Sid was around 8 months when he went to intermediate; some days he performed like a champ, and some days he decided all he wanted to do was sit under a chair or goof off. He still does, at drop-in classes. What a stinker!