Three Months with Hannah

Three months is the big one, they say in rescue circles. Three days, three weeks, three months. Those are the big transition periods. I'd say that our transition periods have been relatively easy.

Hannah is just a good dog. She wants to please, she's easy to please, she's friendly, smart, and quick to forgive mistakes.  She's the top of her Canine Good Citizen classes, although I don't think she's going to pass the meet and greet portion of the test.  She is my best girl.

She fits right in with our household. When I want to walk, she's happy to come with me. When I want to chill on the couch and read a book about dragons, she's more than happy to curl up in her bed and rest, too. She's about the most perfect fit for our family that I could have imagined.

But she's also stubborn. On Wednesdays when I go to pick up the CSA vegetables, I almost always take Hannah with me. It's a quick half mile there and half mile back and we cross a major street in town and it's just a good training opportunity. And almost always she gets to this one intersection and she refuses to go. She just lays right down. And damn it if I don't have to sit with her on the sidewalk and wait for her to be ready to move on. Thusly.

But this test. This test is coming up in the next month. I am an academic. I have high pressure to perform! Here is how she will be graded.

1) Accepting a friendly stranger - A stranger approaches us and Hannah  has to be chill. No jumping/nosing the stranger while I shake hands with the stranger. Hannah can do this no problem.

2) Sitting politely for a petting - Absolutely no problems. Anyone can touch Hannah anywhere. She seriously does not care.

3) Appearance and grooming - The dog is checked to see if it's healthy and groomed appropriately. Hannah might get some guff because she's skinny and has bad skin, but I swear we're in regular contact with a vet about this. She also has to allow a physical examination and get groomed. Hannah will easily pass that part of things.

4) Walking on a loose lead - She can totally do this as long as we're not in a brand new environment.  She's so good at walking now!

5) Walking through a crowd - She did pretty well at this last week in class, so I'm not terribly worried about this part.

6) Sit down on command and stay - Hannah can do this as long as she can see me.  Since she can see me during the test, I think this will be fine.

7) Coming when called - Hannah only wants to be with me. This is maybe the easiest thing in the whole test.

8) Reaction to another dog - We need to be able to meet someone walking in the other direction with another dog. Hannah needs to be chill and not try to jump/nose the other dog or the other person. Hannah is TERRIBLE at this. She's constantly trying to get into the other dog's business.  I don't know how to practice this at home because we don't have a lot of well behaved dog friends. *sigh* This very well may be the thing that prevents her from passing.

9) Reaction to distraction - She shouldn't panic or get aggressive when there's a distraction.  Since we adopted Hannah and construction on our road began almost immediately, Hannah isn't easily distracted. Fortunately there will be no squirrels or chipmunks in the testing arena.  I think she'll be fine.

10) Supervised separation - Hannah can be left with a trusted person while its handler is away, without getting overly anxious. We've done this a handful of times in class and Hannah is okay at it. She's definitely interested in where I've gone, but she doesn't whine or bark, so I think she'll pass.

And that is our big worry right now.  OTHER DOGS! How vexing.