Today at class I got there first as usual. The trainer’s two dogs (one shepherd and one border collie) ran over to say hi, and Zoe did really well. She had her tail between her legs, but she stayed standing and didn’t look too out of sorts. I told the trainer it was okay, she’s good around dogs. Her 4 year old son also attempted to give her a cookie (following mom’s directions of “hold your hand out and look at me, not the dog” ), but Zoe wasn’t having any of that.

So today in class we worked on our recall with distraction (for Zoe just being there was distraction enough to work with) and our long sit-stays. Zoe did well today. She laid beside my chair all relaxed for most of the class. At the end the trainer put a bucket of smelly yummy food in the middle of the room and we got up one at a time to work on “leave it.” Zoe only needed one correction, and she avoided the bucket. But mainly I was proud of her for walking around in the middle of the room with all the other dogs around, and not panicking. When we were all outside lined up to do our recalls, we were standing pretty close together and Zoe again did really well, just sat beside me.

At the very end we practiced our holds - some dogs get very annoyed when the owner tries to hold them still, but Zoe’s excellent and has never minded me manipulating any part of her… I can pick her up, pin her on her back, clean her eyes and ears, whatever, she’s great. Then the trainer and assistant came around the room to treat each dog while they were in the hold. Zoe took the cookie!! Right from her hand!! I was thrilled! That’s a first for Zoe - she’s never done that in class before, never taken a treat from a stranger. She actually was pretty relaxed about it, too. I think she felt more confident because I was holding her… I just really got the sense that, with me hugging her to my body like that, leaning over her, she felt safe. In any case, it was a huge step for her.

I’m so proud of my baby-girl! But now we’ve got to kick it into high gear to get prepared for graduation in two weeks! I completely intend to move on to intermediate class with her.