The Change

The Change is starting to happen. Just a little here and a little there, but I am starting to see it. I'd be surprised to see it this soon, but I know Tessa pretty well by now, and it doesn't really surprise me.

Tessa had her second class last Thursday. It was a little bit easier to separate her from her buddies this week. She still stood by the front door until I leashed her to take her to the car, but she wasn't barking at the door this time! And she got right into the car. Score one for that!

When we got there, she seemed happy to go into the building. It feels so natural and normal walking through the parking lot with her. I don't know what it is about Tessa - I wish I could say what it is, but even walking through the parking lot with her is a great experience. If I ever trial with this dog . . . well, that's very far off!

So, we went in and went right onto the floor. I set us up at the back of the building near a small dog. I did some warm up exercises with Tessa - lured her sit - down - sit - stand, and had her do a couple of left finishes and did a few comefores. She got right into it.

Then we did our "power walk" and she really likes that. The instructor put out some "obstacles" like hula hoops and a board and some cones and we were to let the dog to choose if and how to interact with them. Tessa avoided the board the first couple of times around, but she went over it the last time! She weaved in and out of the cones with me once! And she walked over the hula hoops! She really enjoys those power walks.

She did well with most of the exercises in class. One of the biggest was when the instructor came around to be a "distraction". Since Tessa isn't ready for that, the instructor came over to feed her. At first Tessa would not take food from her hand, but she would eat it when the instructor dropped it on the floor.

I noticed that Tessa was more comfortable with the exercises we had done last week. I saw her starting to understand the turn in the left finish and she started to do it a little more smoothly. She rocked the stay exercise. She held her stay while I picked up three treats - one at a time - from the floor to give her!

At one point she started to get a little overloaded and she was unable to take treats from my hand. I dropped some on the floor for her and then had her lie down and I petted her for a bit. Then we got a break and that was good. The minute I got her outside, she started to look back at the building with an expression like, "Hey! Why aren't we in there?" She seemed happy to go back in and she went back to taking treats from my hand.

The best part of the class was the heeling exercise. I let her choose her side and her heel position. She is a natural! When she gets moving, she has a lovely style. She did really well and doing these exercises with her was almost like . . . dancing. Oh yeah, everyone in the world sees where that's going!!!!

The instructor had us start a recall. She would take each dog's leash and have the owner walk about 10 feet away and call. I wanted to make sure this was a good experience for Tessa, so I had the instructor feed her. By now Tessa was taking treats from her hand willingly! We did reverse open bar/close bar! As I walked away, she fed Tessa and stopped feeding as I returned!! When I called her, though, she didn't come!! She wanted to stay with the food dispenser lady!! Ha!

Finally, we ended by introducing the barrel of the chute. Tessa was cautious even though she has gone through a tunnel at home. On the first turn, I got her to stick her head into it to pick up a treat or two. On the second turn I put piles of food inside of it! She ended up all the way in, but backed out! She made great progress.

All in all, it was good. I can't believe how far this dog has come. But the biggest thing is that I am starting to see a difference in Tessa at home. I see her looking around more. She's sitting in new places. She seems more aware of what is going on around her. Sometimes I have a good treat to give her and I lure the left finish! She is doing it much more readily now and the turn is becoming a normal thing.

Tessa has always trusted the dogs, and she has come to trust me much more than she used to. But for the first time I'm starting to see her start to trust herself.

She's amazing. I don't know if I will ever get over being amazed by her. I hope not. This is the ride of a lifetime.