Things I Love Thursday: Chloe

This week's Things Dog (that) I Love Thursday is dedicated to my awesome dog, Chloe.  Yesterday was her graduation from her basic obedience class, which is just a baby step in the direction of eventually becoming a full-fledged protection dog.  She's nowhere close to being a protection dog right now, but I'm still very proud of her for having graduated the basic class with flying colors.  She's not exactly a newcomer to obedience since I've been informally working with her since she was just a small pup.  I've trained other dogs in the past, and took my parent's lab to his CGC certification and "open" level in obedience, but Chloe's never graduated from something "formal".

I am just so proud of this mutt.  We had a serious issue with her running away in the past.  Before we got married I lived with a roommate on acres of land with no fence, so Chloe was used to having free roam everywhere.  My roommate had 2 dogs as well, so she spent her days roaming with the pack, and they'd just run around the neighborhood with all of the neighbor's dogs as well.  Full fledged pack.  Just last year I would NEVER have trusted Chloe off-leash even in a deserted parking lot in the middle of the night, but yesterday I was able to do some mighty fine off-leash work with her, with the distraction of other humans and dogs.  She heeled, she sat, she downed, she came, she stayed...everything I asked of her she did...off leash.  I'm so proud of my baby. 

She's such a trooper.  Being a military pet is not an easy life.  She's going to be three years old in December, but so far she's already lived in 3 different states, been on a plane once, been on three 2+ days roadtrips...and that's just the beginning of it.  She's dealt with her daddy walking out the door three times and not coming home for months, and not really knowing why.  She's put up with the addition of a puppy brother, and most recently a tiny little human that sucks up a lot of the attention she otherwise would be getting.  But she takes it all with a tag wagging at 500mph.  I couldn't have asked for a better dog, and to think someone abandoned this cutie along with her 5 siblings in a box by an office building. 

Chloe as a pup

I ♥ this dog