She passed!

Every time I doubt her she pulls through!  I think I should learn something from this: trust Neko and don't ever doubt what she's capable of!  A very intelligent friend of mine spun it differently: keep doubting her because she'll inevitably impress you and do what you want.  Either way, my Gordon Setter passed Intermediate Obedience at 6 months of age!  It was an off-leash obstacle course: "finish" to start, heel in figure-8s around cones, auto-sit, "go to your bed/rug", heel up a ramp, "wait" at the top, come down the ramp, sit/stay, come through/over a hoop, heel to a stand/stay inside a hula hoop, switch to a different hula hoop for down/stay!  She "broke" during the stand/stay (or she would have but I "cheated" and released her 6 seconds early), but that was the only task she failed.  I am so incredibly proud of my little Lady!

Sorry for the blur on the right - I took this while she was practicing on the ramp during play-time.

We're still planning to re-take Intermediate because I want to build her confidence (and mine, apparently)!  My goal is to complete the class entirely off-leash this time.  Hopefully during this course, Mary will offer some task- or trick- training courses and we can get Neko restarted on her service dog path!  She's definitely well on her way to Canine Good Citizen - we'll be looking for AKC Obedience Trials come Fall.

Take care everyone!

You're getting sleepy...