Good update!!
Yesterday we graduated from our beginner class at petsmart. I started in the intermediate, which was actually before beginner, so we ended up going to our intro class there and met the other dogs. It was packed, but Monet surprised me. We were actually able to work on our obedience with all those other strange dogs, some of them very loud! It was great. Afterwards, while waiting for the next class to start, the trainer, two others, and I all stayed in the room and did a make up session where I'd been fighting a nasty ear infection last week.
We continued on sit stays, and moved on to do some more recall work. To up the ante a bit, we left the other two dogs in the room while the trainer and I worked on his recall. I was so proud of him. He completely ignored everyone else in the room, and while it took a little coaxing to get him to the trainer, he immediately ran to me any time I asked. I let him relax in between sessions and he was great.
It would have been best to quit there, but I did have the beginner class where I was just graduating. Little did I know how busy and hectic it would be - one of the participants has three kids (7,8,10 I think) who run around like little heathens in the class. They terrify Monet. They love sitting next to him and they inevitably make a ton of noise... It's like they have a case of super ADHD. He hid underneath my chair, and refused to do anything. He'd been able to work through the scary distractions, but tonight they were in rare form and were even crazier and louder than normal. So I just let him sit, ignored the kids, and took him behind where the instructor usually teaches, away from the kids. As soon as I took him to the other side of the room, he was back to normal and giving me sits and downs.
I took him on a jaunt around the store, and he actually let someone approach him holding 3 rats.
It took a while, but he relaxed and as soon as he let her pet him, he was immediately up and visiting. It's neat, when he's thinking once you stop petting him, he runs closer to you. Such a change!
So, fast forward to today.
I took Monet out for a hike, and he was great. We had a wonderful time, jogged a bit, and visited with my two friends and their blue merle aussie/rottie/hound mixes. It was cute.
After we hiked for about an hour and a half, we went to lunch at a cafe, and he sat out with me at a table out front as we ate. He did get scared once when a sign fell, and spent a vast majority of the time under the table, but he wasn't shaking and he ventured out for a second to smell a passerby who thought he was cute.
We finished the afternoon at a local dog park. After
closely inspecting the fences on the small dog part (plank fence covered with wire mesh) and armed with vienna sausage in case anything happened (oh boy he loves that. More than chicken liver! Definitely only the occasional treat), I dropped the leash and let him go. Believe me, I held my breath for a moment. But, with all the great recall work we'd been doing, and the fact I hoped he could not escape, I let go. One of the blue merles was in the pen with us, in case he needed a buddy.
A few minutes passed, and Monet had not transformed into a terrified dog, trying to hide in the corner. It was encouraging. Since he kept marking and I was afraid he would pee on his leash, I just bit the bullet and took the leash off. In the back of my mind, I could just see having to add another county to our "lost and searched for Monet" list. I'm going to have to start getting magnets or something if this keeps happening.
But, he didn't freak. In fact, he did the opposite. I let him run for a bit, and then opened the vienna sausages. I called for Monet, and guess what he did...?
Ran to me. Ran!! He was happy go lucky, and was so excited when he realized I had yummy food. He immediately went into his little bag of tricks and sat. It about made me cry.
He would follow me like, well a puppy. I would run off and he'd joyfully follow. I would stop and he'd sit. If I stopped paying attention and let him go around, he would run around and play, but if I called his name and asked him to come, even at the far corner, he would RUN at top speed to me. WHAT A CHANGE!! I just wanted to shout to the heavens. He did this with another dog or by himself.
I took him to the big dog part and kept him on leash, because I knew there were some holes he could escape through. He was excited to see the other dogs and really wanted to go play, but I kept him with me. Eventually, he started jumping up on the picnic table and watched from up there. At one point, he was visiting everyone sitting at the table, including a strange guy he definitely didn't know. He didn't waver when the guy pet him, and just stood there actually enjoying the attention. He then proceeded to flop down on his back and let me sit there rubbing his tummy.
It makes me think there is hope. It's amazing the change in just a few days. I really, really hope that it continues like this. I want him to be a happy go lucky dog, I don't want him to quake in fear at every little thing.
Poor boy, he goes in to be neutered and microchipped tomorrow. I don't think he knows what's coming, lol.
