He was an ace. Naga was applauding his ear scratching skills (well, she would be, if she had hands capable of that). The happy panting and occasional barks served as her thanks and applause.
Straightening up to her height, because she was quite proud of herself, actually, Korra told John a little bit about herself. "I'm at UC Irvine right now, I study Environmental Science. I also play on a ton of my school's sports teams." Okay, that was a lot about herself.