Last night was the last class for this session of Rally. Only 3 of us showed up, so Ginger decided we could do some off-leash stuff. Two of the dogs were put into the office and back room while the other was working, so there was no danger.
Well, I figured Inara would do okay; not great, but okay. There was a stranger there last night watching class, and Inara loves strangers, so I figured she'd ignore me and go visit with Ginger and the stranger for a bit. How wrong I was! Ginger had me unclip the leash and then run around a bit to keep Inara interested in me, and then we began the course. Inara has NEVER focused on me like she did when she was off-leash. We probably would have gotten a perfect score if we'd been showing and she performed like that. Heeling patterns, left and right turns, u-turns, figure 8's, a jump, a table, down/walk around, etc. Amazing. It was just so cool!
Since most of us are continuing and just restarting the next 6-week session, Ginger said we'll probably start doing more and more off-leash, working up to the point where ring-gates are the only barriers between dogs (we'll have leashes or long-lines attached, so not totally off-leash). I'm really excited!