Update

Liddy wrapped up her second 6 weeks of Obedience training last night: Basic. Our trainer suggested she repeat this course before attempting the next level: Intermediate I. She's about 8.5 months old now, give or take a month, and her 'puppyness' was very apparent in the last 2 weeks of training. It's clear she needs to mature a bit and really get the basics down before moving on. One option is keep doing the training on our own for the next 1.5 months and have the trainer test her to see if she's ready for Intermediate at that time, or re-do Basic until then (another $110). I feel quite split-in-two over it, because while we want her to be a perfect little dog and have a great vocabulary and obey commands, we still need to cherish all the puppyness! She's doing fewer and fewer puppy things these days. It's nice when we get to see her playful side.