Rasta gets her diploma

Rasta was a Golden Retriever with a classic Golden personality. Mostly.

You could say that she was a handful or that she was a character – and she was – but she was so much more. She was friendly, fun, energetic, and loveable. Sparks of joy seemed to radiate from her body. In our universe, she was the sun.

Not that she was perfect. Rasta was super smart, but her cleverness was often directed toward mischief, which resulted in more than one visit to an emergency vet. She was stubborn, too.

As soon as we met her, we knew she belonged with our family. After she settled in with us, we signed her up for training school. It seemed like she should learn basic skills, and we thought the classes would offer her a good mental challenge. She was also deaf, and we wanted to gain experience communicating with her in different environments.

Unfortunately dog school, like human school, encourages conforming to social norms, and Rasta was anything but a conformist. On our first day of Level One, Rasta quickly grew bored when she realized the classes didn’t involve much socializing. All the dogs and their people were gathered in a circle, facing each other. All but one. Rasta turned her back to the group and refused to engage in any activities that involved people telling her what to do, and no amount of treats would change her mind. Still, when the instructor came around, she beamed at him and soaked up his affection. He beamed back.

Despite Rasta’s rebellion, we persisted, practicing the skills at home and arriving to class with tempting treats to encourage her. She’d participate for a bit, and then get bored and quit. She was the equivalent of the kid who sits in the back of the class and doesn’t open a book the whole semester.

A few weeks later the instructor held a test, with the dogs who could perform each skill earning their first certificate. I led Rasta through the exercises, but she fell short on a couple skills.

At the end of the class, the instructor proudly announced each dog’s name who passed the test. “Congratulations to Max, Spot, Abby… and Rasta!”

Confused, I asked the instructor to clarify. “She’s deaf,” the instructor pointed out. “Things are harder for her. She shouldn’t have to earn as high a score.” Rasta did indeed have a disability, but it didn’t slow her down one bit. We had adapted by using sign language, and could communicate together just as well as a dog with hearing. And what she lacked in hearing she made up for with incredible intelligence. I knew she was fully capable of passing that test in the same way the other dogs could.

But as the saying goes, “Cs get degrees.” Rasta had used that sparkle in her eye to her advantage. What she lacked in obedience, she made up for in charm. We headed home with her diploma in hand, Rasta walking proudly. She had earned it, in her own way.