Joy Unleashed by Jean Baur

Author:Jean Baur
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2016-07-19T04:00:00+00:00

Cathy parked her car and we got out, giving the dogs plenty of time to sniff around and do their business. Cathy’s appointment was right before mine, and I was happy to see a bench outside the firehouse where Bella and I could hang out in the October sun.

“You are going to be great,” I told Cathy, and then they were called in, and Bella and I waited. It seemed like forever. I talked to Bella, I sat, I got up, we practiced a few commands, and then I told myself that I needed to relax. Such good advice, but impossible to follow. Finally, Cathy and Brandon came out. Cathy was grinning ear to ear and Brandon was his usual nothing-can-bother-me self.

“You passed!” I said, and she nodded.

I gave her a quick hug and one of the evaluators came to the door: “Jean and Bella.”

“Here we are,” I said, and we followed her inside the building.

I had to fill out a form and Bella stayed quietly beside me despite the two other dogs in the room. They were far enough away that Bella ignored them.

“Let’s have you walk around the room with Bella on a loose leash,” said one of the evaluators.

I did this and then she had me put her in a sit-stay and I had to drop the leash and walk to other side of the room. She then had to come to me when I called her. She was perfect!

I was asked to have her sit on my left while one of the evaluator dogs, a huge German Shepherd, walked in a circle around us. I saw Bella’s hair rise and I repeated sit and stay, but when the dog got behind us, it was too much for her and she got up and whirled around.

“Bella, sit!” And she did. She didn’t growl, didn’t go after the other dog, but was clearly afraid.

The other evaluator put a chunk of salami on the floor and asked me to walk Bella past it and tell her to leave it. I could see her interest in the meat, but I kept her moving and she obeyed. Then both evaluators came at Bella with a walker and a wheelchair and dropped metal pans on the floor. She was calm and collected and looked up at me to see if this was all right.

“Good girl,” I told her.

I also had to walk up to one of the evaluators who had her dog with her, shake her hand, and Bella had to stay calmly at my side. She did this. I tried desperately to read the faces and body language of those two women, but couldn’t. Would they say no because Bella didn’t stay seated when the dog circled her? Why couldn’t they have used a smaller dog, one that Bella wasn’t afraid of?

I don’t remember the rest of the test; it flew by in a blur. Finally, they called us over to the desk and handed me some paperwork.

“Did she pass?” I asked, with my heart in my mouth.

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