Azza's Last Day in Class

Today was Azza's last day of class. As usual, several amazing things ensued.

She walked from the car to the door of the facility wagging her tail. Never happened before--I couldn't believe my eyes.

During a recall exercise, the instructor held Azza's leash while I walked about 20 feet away, which was certainly a significant achievement on its own. But Azza was wiggling and googly-eye-making and eating treats off the instructor until I said "Azza, come!" in my best happy voice and she FLEW to me. The instructor almost got teary-eyed when, after getting treats from me then getting permission to leave me, Azza turned around and ran back to her for more petting and treats (I used the command "go see!" to send her away). She declared Azza "the most improved" and I'd have to agree.

When she started the class, no person or dog could even look at her, much less make eye contact, without causing her to growl and try to spiral down into one of her little meltdowns. And here she was playing a recall game in the middle of a room filled with dogs and people all looking and laughing at her. She was loving it.

As you know from my previous posts, I never expected Azza to do this well in class. I never expected her to willingly greet strangers and deal with strange dogs without a meltdown. Tonight she approached then sat by my side within five feet of a GSD that she had never seen before in her life, looking at him then looking at me for a treat. Wash, rinse, repeat. Later, she greeted his owner and promptly rolled over for a belly rub.

As a result, I am definitely getting her into a rally obedience class. I can of course teach her everything she needs to know at home--rally isn't that complicated. But the class environment is the true challenge for my orange feral dog.