Fly

That dog can dance!

I woke up to find Breeze cuddled in to me contentedly; the events of last night had only made our friendship stronger as we both knew the heartbreak that he could cause. I was now fully able to understand just why Breeze had reacted the way she had when we had first met a few short weeks ago.

I watched her sleeping for a moment. She looked so at-ease and carefree. Nothing like the dog who held the stress of the world on her shoulders every single day. As much as I wanted to let her stay there for a while longer, I knew we needed to get up; our first heelwork to music lesson would be starting soon!

I nudged Breeze to make sure she was aware that we needed to get ready and left to see my girl. She was sat at the desk in her room, already hard at work despite it only being 7AM. She turned to see me poking my head through the door and chuckled softly. "Hey bud. I'll be out in a minute, I just have to finish this essay first". I didn't know where to go so I just walked a little further in to the room and sat down at her feet under the desk. She quickly reached under to scratch my head before returning to her work.

About 15 minutes later my girl had finished her work and we both made our way to meet Lily and Breeze who were waiting just outside the dorm building. Since neither my girl or I had been to the building out training was held in, Lily and Breeze had waited for us.

On the way up to the arena, we met up with Joe and Elvis. They were also in all the same classes as Breeze and I. The three of us trotted happily in the early morning light, running around and playing together like we had known each other for a lifetime.

When we did arrive, we were greeted by all the other dogs in the class who were running off lead and getting to know each other. I knew Breeze and Elvis obviously, and I had met Pie before in the dog park. He was a large, light brown lurcher. There was also another dog who not even Breeze knew. She was a Beagle; small but with a kind face. While the rest of us were playing together, her owner already had her hard at work. I felt bad for her after seeing the pleading look in her eyes.

There wasn't really enough time for much concern though as minutes later our instructor, Mrs.Scott, walked into the arena to begin our lesson. She called for the class to bring their dogs to heel, then told us to gather in the centre.

"Hello. Welcome to your first lesson in heelwork to music. Now, we'll only be covering the basics today so that I can assess the level of obedience from all your dogs. Can you all introduce yourselves please, telling us about any experience you have too".

First in the line was Tom. "Uhm... My name is Tom and this is my Border Collie Elvis. We've been doing heelwork to music for two years now".

Mrs.Scott nodded and turned to look at the next pair in the line. "Well, I'm Jess and this is Pie. Pie is a lurcher and we have only recently started doing this so we really want to learn how to do it properly!"

Again, Mrs.Scott nodded and continued to look down the line. "This is my dog Breeze and I'm Lily. We also haven't been doing this long but Breeze knows lots of tricks we just don't do routines yet".

Next to me in the line was the Beagle. She seemed to be intimidated by her owner judging by the submissive look in her eyes. While the other students were introducing themselves, I saw an opportunity to get to know the mysterious dog. I turned to face her only to see her gazing intently at me.

"Hi, I'm Storm!" I started. "Are you new here too, it's just, I haven't seen you around campus?"

She looked uncertainly at her owner then back at me, speaking in a barely audible voice. "I..I'm Roxy" she managed to stutter. On hearing her dog whimpering, the girl holding Roxy's lead snapped her head round to see why her dog had uttered a sound. When she saw the two of us together, the look in her eyes was one that could have easily turned me to stone right there.