Charlie the super smart, happy, good dog

On the night after I arrived I picked up Charlie from Kate's house. That night he was happy and curious but just didn't seem like himself. I think he remembered me but his behavior just seemed a bit reserved and made me so nervous about what it would be like to bring him back to FL with Tank and a new home. Luckily, when we woke up the next day he was his old self. He has been SO very happy and well behaved and I am so proud of him. His entire body wags when he gets excited. That's true happiness. I decided to take him to group training class with our dog trainer, Stacia, to gauge how he is with other dogs since he has had issues in the past and has been an only dog for the past 6 months.

Group class is held in a park so I was walking with another classmate to the class location when an off-leash dog came walking toward us. As the dog approached I called out to the owner to please call off her dog. I nervously started walking in the other direction with Charlie not knowing how he'd react to the approaching dog. The dog eventually got right up to Charlie and started sniffing and then standing quite close in a dominant position. Basically, the dog was showing Charlie "I'm bigger than you." I went through Charlie's commands of 'leave it' and 'heel' to get him away and ignore the dog and, to my surprise, he did. Then, the off-leash dog started humping Charlie! Charlie growled a little but stopped quickly. A year ago Charlie would have growled immediately, shown his teeth, and possibly attacked the dog. At this point I am irate at the dog owner and I tell her she absolutely has to call her dog off and should put him on a leash. She pulled her dog off and ignored me.

Leash laws are created for a reason, people!

We then walk to class and twice during class the off-leash dog leaves his owner and comes up to the other dogs in class. Let me be clear. We aren't in the middle of a dog park. The park is not fenced in any way. The owner is 50+ meters away. This dog is not under control. This time a young guy comes to get the dog and I tell them 'You have to put your dog on a leash!' He replies "Yea, sorry it's not my dog." Sigh

Anyway, Charlie did great in class. He 'placed' on a big rock and was patient while other dogs walked passed him and came up for greetings. While at Brendan's he hasn't jumped on people when they walk in the house, he doesn't go through doorways unless invited, he doesn't get up from a sit unless released, hasn't barked, whined, whimpered, or growled at passing dogs/cats/squirrels, pulls less while walking, and always comes when called. Such a good dog. I can't say the same for my sweet Tank but his training is part of my new two-year plan.  More on that to come.