Back to Obedience

I almost forget to write about our second trip to obedience class. The first one went well but I had a lot of stress in my life so I lacked focus and it really came across in our performance. Chili knew I wasn’t myself, and took advantage whenever she could. Not this time, this time, I was ready. My head was on straight and I was ready to have fun. That’s right, have fun. Obedience doesn’t have to be about ‘showing the dog whose boss’ or ‘taking control’. Once your head goes in that direction, I think you’re starting in the negative. Start from fun, and go from there. You’ll both get more out of it.

We had a lot going for us in this class. We were focused; it stayed light out till late so we could work outside; Connective Training is located by a school where there are obstacles, things to jump on, and a field; and best of all, we had a great trainer and a great group of people and dogs. The trainers’ style is key to a great class. Michele has a calm way of dealing with incidents and challenges immediately, without any negativity. She makes every experience a learning experience for everyone. She also realizes that we’re all different so she doesn’t try to apply the same set of rules to everyone.

Chili loves to perform. She realized ‘it was on’ and she gave it her all. I forget sometimes just how trained she is overall. I find when I’m working so closely with her, I don’t see her focus and sharpness anymore. I think she’s being good but I’m missing just how good she is. One of the evenings Michele used her as a demo dog to demonstrate what she was about to teach us. I was in awe watching them. I didn’t want the demo to stop. You could see how much fun Chili was having. She was tuned into everything Michele did and everything she asked. The sharpness of her body movements was beautiful. I was so proud of her.

On another night, we switched dogs. I took a moment to watch the other owner working with Chili. At first the owner was a little tentative. Having 80lbs of Boxweiler enthusiasm running towards you can be intimidating. However, once she saw that it was all positive, again, it was great to watch them. I really do love working with Chili and I really do love watching other people working with her. You get to see things from a whole other perspective and it’s so rewarding. I think it’s great that she can happily work with other people and not just me. She should be comfortable with others.

I hope I don’t ever forget the value of working with my dog. Life and routines sometimes get in the way and somehow there doesn’t seem to be time for anything else. Although going to training, any kind of training, is great, even 5 or 10 minutes just working on obedience in the driveway will do. One thing I can count on is Chili. She’ll always remind me that we’re not working together enough and pull out The Bratty Dog when life starts to distract me.

The Magical Halti

Magic comes in many forms. One dictionary describes it as the use of means (as charms or spells) believed to have supernatural power over natural forces. Well, a cookie seems to have supernatural powers over Chili, who you could describe as a natural force. The other tool that I’ve found to be quite magical over a certain natural force is the Halti.

From what I understand, the Halti is meant to keep your dog from pulling on leash. Chili actually walks pretty well, so what am I doing with a Halti? From the time I started training with Chili I’ve been constantly trying to find a way to get her lunging in hand. It’s been a non-stop quest for me. She’s such a great dog except for the lunging. I’d used many different tools and techniques but hadn’t found the right one yet. So, one day Michele (owner of Connective Training) and I were going out for a walk. I was telling her that I wanted to stay on the trails that were wide because they gave me some room to work with Chili when she started lunging. We decided to walk at Beaver Lake.

When she arrived she had left her dogs at home and came armed with some tools. She had a gentle lead, a Halti, and a leash that was only about a foot and a half long. I knew these were meant for Chili but didn’t know what made her come up with these items. They are meant for dogs that pull, and Chili didn’t pull. She told me that after we spoke these items just popped in her head and she just had to give them a try. OK. Who am I to argue with that logic.

Both of these tools are strapped around the dogs snout and head, not the neck. Because of this, they take the dogs power away since you’re essentially leading them by the nose. The difference is night and day. You must use a short leash to avoid causing harm to the dogs neck and spine. You don’t want their head snapping back at the end of a long leash. You must also avoid doing leash corrections as well for the same reason. Unfortunately, most people who use these tools don’t know this. Fortunately for us, we have Michele.

Chili was not impressed with this new development, but I was. Now, the answer to the question of what am I doing with a Halti. The revelation is, just because something is supposed to be used for one reason, doesn’t mean it can’t be used for another. Of the two pieces that Michele brought, my choice was the Halti. I like how it was loose around her mouth unless she pulled, then it pulled her mouth shut, which gave her something else to focus on. I also like that it connects to her collar so if for some reason it does slip off, she’s not loose, I still have her. Now, in the past when Chili would see another oncoming dog, she would stare it down, then lunge. The Halti gives me the control over her head and nose area which allows me to gently pull her head up and break the stare. Breaking her stare prevents her from building herself up to the point where she wants to lunge.

It took me about a month of using the Halti and practicing moving her head towards me and relaxing before things started working. I was teaching Chili, and me, a new routine. Now, instead of lunging 95% of the time, we have 95% success. The times that she does lunge, since she isn’t being held by her neck, the whole incident loses its power, and so does she. Basically, it’s less dramatic and over very quickly. We’re not perfect yet, but have we ever made leaps in the right direction.

So what’s changing? I’m more relaxed, which makes Chili more relaxed. Since I’m not just focusing on making sure that I’m in the right position to hold her back if she lunges, I’m able to relax, and watch her for the signs that tell me I need to step it up. Chili is learning to walk closer to me when she sees another dog and she is starting to look to me on her own rather than me always averting her stare. We’re working towards the day where we won’t need tools any longer, where when another dog comes our way, she just checks them out and continues moving forward.

Now that would be magic.

The Mysterious Limp Part 2

As you can imagine, Chili was not impressed by this whole situation. Staying at home sucks when you’re used to hanging out with your friends five days a week. It sucked for Brad too since he would drive home every day at lunch to let her out and spend time with her. I felt bad for both of them and had to come up with something to make it easier. I was talking about it with Michele from Connective Training and we came up with the idea of a babysitter. I know, don’t laugh. So, in comes Jas, a friend that I met through Michele. Jas has a beautiful pittie named Cali and I knew she wouldn’t let Chili boss her around. Throughout the month of December, Jas would come in at least twice a week to spend a few hours just hanging out and chillin’ with Chili. It made a difference and Chili loved spending time with her.

I wish I could tell you that the therapeutic laser treatments were working, but it didn’t seem like they were. Although, Chili did enjoy them and would just lay there relaxed unless she heard a noise or a person came in. She had to know everything that was going on. There were days that she walked just fine, and then there were days that by the time we walked the 100ft to the end of the driveway, she would be limping so badly, she could barely walk. She would hold up her leg and look at me then walk back to the house using 3 legs. It was heartbreaking. Other than holding up her leg, you wouldn’t know she had a problem. She never winced, or whined, or showed any other signs of pain. This made it even harder to pinpoint the problem. My little trooper.

Of course, it couldn’t just be a simple thing to go for the laser treatments. Victoria isn’t really known for getting snow but on a couple of her appointment evenings, it had snowed and the roads weren’t that great. Not a problem if you live in a place where you get lots of snow and you change over to snow tires in the winter, but when you live in a place where you don’t get much, and you only use all season tires, it can be difficult. Snow wasn’t the only challenge. During one of her appointments, she was lounging and enjoying her treatment when I looked up and said to the technician, “there’s smoke coming from the laser cord”. He looked at me confused; I think he was trying to soak in what I just said, so I repeated it. By this time I was already laughing and he turned around, saw the smoke and pulled the cord out of the machine. Yes, I was laughing. I didn’t see cause for panic, after all, Chili wasn’t smoking, the cord was. The technician apologized again and again. It wasn’t his fault, no problem. That was the end of that treatment. Sorry Chili.

So what was next for us? At the end of the laser treatment, there was no change. We decided not to continue. At this point it was January, I was done work, and could devote my time to Chili. The next step? I asked for another set of X-Rays. I needed to see if there were any changes in her bones and discuss where to go from here. I know he told me that it wasn’t cancer, and he was confident with that statement, but since she seemed to be getting worse I felt that another set of Xrays would show us something.

So, under she goes again for another set of Xrays. I asked him to Xray her whole leg and shoulder, right down to her toes. He didn’t think it was necessary, but I insisted. If she was going to be put under, I wanted to make it worthwhile. The result, there was no real change. Frustrating. Now what?

Obedience Classes

As we stood there waiting for the class to begin, I couldn’t help but feel the energy in the room. Everyone was anxiously waiting for things to begin and doing their best to keep their dogs calm. Some were doing it with little effort, and others were putting their complete focus on their dogs to get the job done. That was me, one of the others. Chili wasn’t lunging or anything like that, she was just excited to be there and wanted to check out and smell everything.

Michele started out the class by talking about the ‘wins’ in our dog’s lives. You know...like when they beg for a treat and we obey, they take out their little book and put a notch in the win column. When they bring their toy and bump us in the butt with it because they want to play and we obey...another notch. Then, when we want something from them, they take out their little book and think, “Hmmm, I don’t think so. See all these notches? That tells me I’m the boss. Now... get me a cookie!” Sound familiar? Everyone laughed because we all knew it was true. Damn book!

Chili wasn’t quite calm yet and was pulling on the leash. Emma, Michele’s assistant, came over and suggested that we try the Illusion Collar. I refused and told her that I’ve tried it but it didn’t work. She suggested a harness, but again I refused. I just wanted to use my own gear. As we started moving around the room and practicing different commands, I was still struggling with Chili. She just wouldn’t focus and kept ignoring me. Then Michele walked over and told me she was going to put the Illusion Collar on Chili. I didn’t want to argue so I let her put it on. To my surprise, it was the change that we needed to help Chili to focus and allow me to settle in. I guess Emma was right in the first place. They saw I was struggling and knew that a change would help in our success. I’m glad they didn’t let me push them away. This is what they do after all.

These classes are great and offer so much more than just learning some commands. Working with your dog in this way helps to build a bond between you, a sense of teamwork. If you look around, you’ll also learn something from watching the other people and their dogs. You’re not the only one with issues. (Yes, I mean your issues, not the dogs.) Other people have them too. A lot of times, they’re the same as yours, so when they surface in the class, you get to watch the trainer coach someone else through it. I won’t pretend it was always easy and fun. I had some tough evenings. They were tough because of my own lack of focus. Life was dealing me some stressful days and I couldn’t always push it aside. Chili, being the little opportunist, could tell when I wasn’t ‘on’ and would do her best to bring on her bratty. Dogs know your state of mind and respond accordingly. Don’t take it personally; it’s just what they do. Recognize it, and take is as a sign that you need to get things in order. If you don’t, well, you remember what Einstein said about the definition of insanity don’t you?

Luckily, the classes were about supporting everyone’s success and no one was left behind. Even when one dog, thankfully not Chili, snapped at another dog, Michele handled it in a calm, matter of fact manner. It wasn’t looked at as being a negative thing, it was life, it happens sometimes, and everyone had the opportunity to experience how to handle this type of situation calmly. It was so calm in fact, that if you didn't see it, or if you weren't right beside it, you would never have know it happened.

I’m not going to go into the specifics of each class, I’ll just say, it was worth it. Chili graduated and I walked away with the feeling that I would really like to take this class again. But first, I needed to get rid of what was causing me stress.

Destination Obedience Class

Like us, dogs have their good days and their bad. They go through periods where they’re extra active, or just plain bratty. It was a ‘just plain bratty’ period, lasting a whole week, that made me decide to take Michele’s advice and sign us up for some dog training classes. How many times can one dog give you the finger to your face before you decide it’s time for change. I figured the additional structure was just what we needed. When I called Michele, her response was, “What took you so long?” I knew we would go at some time, I just needed to find the right time. So that was it, we would be starting in the next adult obedience classes.

For the few weeks before classes started I kept telling Chili we were going back to school, it would be different this time, and she was going to be a very good girl. I wanted to set us up for success. I believe in the power of positive energy and thoughts, and how it can shape and influence a situation. It doesn’t work all the time though. Sometimes there are just things or people out there with a different agenda and a greater influence that steer things in a different direction. In the meantime, in my little world, I was doing my part to positively influence our first class. The nice side effect of doing this is that you change the way you do things to help achieve the desired result. I was being much more disciplined with Chili and she was being much more obedient.

As luck would have it, on the night of our first class there had been a few accidents on the road and the usual half hour commute home took an hour and 45 minutes. That left me rushing around the house with just a half hour to feed Chili, get a quick bite for myself, change, grab some treats for class, and fly out the door. As you can imagine, I’m nowhere near calm, and you know that Chili was feeling my anxious energy. I started doing some deep breathing in the truck as we drove to class and told Chili again that we were heading to class and she was going to be a very good girl. Next thing I know, out of the corner of my eye, I see a big paw come down beside me as she attempts to push her way into the front seat. I take another deep breath and calmly tell her to ‘back’. Amazingly enough she listened and settled herself into the back seat.

As we pulled up in front of Connective Training, there were 2 big dogs making their way into the yard. This could set the tone for the whole class. Usually, when Chili is in the truck and sees a dog, she barks and lunges at the windows like a crazed beast. This time, all she did was make a little whimper, I told her to ‘leave it’ and that was it. I did our usual unloading ritual out of the truck. This means that she has to maintain a sit while I open the back hatch and put the lead on her, and then she jumps out when I give the command. We walk into the yard where there are a few other dogs waiting as another class was just ending. Things were going well. Chili stayed calm as the other dogs walked by us out of their class and then we entered.

As soon as we enter the facility, Chili starts getting rambunctious. I’m not surprised; there are a lot of smells from other dogs, people, and treats. She’s likely also anticipating that something is about to happen, which it was. Although I’m certain she was hoping for playtime instead of work time. So this was it, the beginning of being back in class.

The Freedom Tool

Michele and I met at the park again. Holy hell was I nervous. This would be our first E-collar experience. Michele put the collar on Chili. I walked her and she held the collar remote. She wanted to make sure that I was very clear on how to use the collar before she handed the remote to me. The idea was to snap Chili out of her trance before she got to that hind brain state where she started to lunge. It wasn’t about making her screech, it was about breaking her train of thought. That thought being, she must lunge at the oncoming dog. It was working. As Chili would start to tense up, and stare at a dog, Michele would hit the remote and it would break Chili’s concentration. We would tell her to ‘leave it’ at the same time, then ask her to ‘look ’ at me, to redirect her stare. We were making a connection between the collar and the command.

One of the things that I really noticed was the absence of a dramatic incident. In the past when Chili would lunge, it was very stressful. She would be lunging, I would be telling her ‘No’, and giving her corrections on the choke collar, or the pinch collar. She could care less about the corrections so it would prolong the show. It wasn’t pleasant for anyone. I guess the question here would be what is worse, the couple of minutes of struggle, or the zap that takes a second?

Once the connection was made, and after many outings, I started letting Chili off leash more and more. If she didn’t ‘come’ on command, I would use the E-Collar to remind her that she must obey. I would never have thought that she would be free of the leash, but there she was, running and playing and coming when called. I don’t know if this would have been possible without the E-Collar. Thank you Michele.

You might be aksing, “Why does Chili have to come right away when called?” Am I that controlling? The answer to that depends on who you ask, but in this case the answer is safety, of course. Chili thinks she knows what’s best. She is very stubborn and when she gets an idea in her head, it’s difficult to change. This resulted in her being on leash most times and not experiencing life to its fullest. For example, if Chili saw something of interest on the other side of the road, she would just go. Luckily, I always had her on leash. Now, after training with the E-Collar, if she starts to go, I only need to use a voice command to get her back. Another example; Chili loves people. She thinks that everyone loves her, and they want her to run up to them and give them tons of kisses. She doesn’t understand that although she’s a Boxweiler, she looks very much like a Rottweiler and there is a stigma out the there that Rotti’s are mean. So, when she runs up to say hello, it scares people. Not all, but some. After all, some people gather up their children and their dogs, give us a dirty look, and veer away from us when we’re walking. Oh yes, and this is when she’s on leash and just walking along with a happy face. I need to protect Chili from these people creating an incident out of nothing. So, thanks to the E-Collar, I can walk with her off leash, and when I see people coming towards us, I just tell her to come, and she walks off leash at my side and doesn’t go near the other people.

I take my responsibility for Chili very seriously. Everything I do is with her best interest at heart. I’ve learned that there is no easy way, no magical wand, and no fairytale that will make her that perfect storybook dog. We’ve had to work hard for our successes and that makes them sweeter.

The Controversial Collar

While on one of our pack walks, Michele asked me if I ever considered trying an E-Collar on Chili. My immediate reaction was, “NO!” I mean, really?? Isn’t that cruel? I’ve learned through my experiences with Chili that I have to step outside of my comfort zone sometimes. So far, I liked Michele’s style and she is an experienced trainer, so she must have a reason for suggesting this tool. For me though, on this day, that was the end of the discussion. No.

On the next walk, she asked if I’d thought about her suggestion of testing out the E-Collar. I had thought about it. Thought that it was not for me. Why was I so anti-E-Collar? Was it because of my experience? No, I didn’t have any experience at all with this collar. It was because I had already made up my mind without having any facts. The only fact I had was that it would give my dog an electric jolt and that was cruel. Only cruel people use them. Now, if I wanted to be true to that line of thinking, I was already a cruel person. I had used a choke collar on my dog. That “chokes” the dog. Isn’t that cruel? I had used a pinch collar. The pinch, pinches points around the dogs neck when you give it a correction and can do some damage if the prongs are digging into the wrong spot. Isn’t that cruel? I had made up a story in my head about the E-Collar, and people who use it, that wasn’t based on anything. I was doing to them exactly what people do to me and Chili. I think I need to find out some facts first before I make another judgement. Besides, as we all know, you don’t need a tool to be cruel.

So, why did Michele recommend the E-Collar? From her own experience, the E-Collar was the tool that allowed her to give her dogs a better quality of life. Freedom. Better yet, freedom with safety. The E-Collar gave her the power to keep them out of their hind brain and teach them a new reality. To come to her when they feel afraid and stand by her side. She would protect them. They didn’t need to take on that burden any longer.

When it gets to the point where a dog will harm themselves or their owner with their fight or flight instinct, or, when an owner has tried everything else and their lives are being ruled by anxiety because of their dog’s actions. Or, when you dread the walk and you have to build yourself up for it. It’s time for the next step. Although Chili is a great dog, and I never had a worry that she would bite, she would still lunge and make poor decisions for herself because she is so headstrong. She’s a dog, and doesn’t understand that my commands are protecting her and she must listen. Nothing I had tried so far, was working on these issues. This caused me anxiety and kept her from having freedom. Neither one of us deserved that.

Like any other tool, the E-Collar isn’t for every dog. Out of the approximately 4500 dogs that Michele has trained, she’s recommended its use for about 20. As with every other tool, you should get a professional to give you training with it BEFORE you use it. Every tool has the potential for harm if not used wisely.

It was time. After much consideration, I asked Michele if she would show me how to use the E-Collar.

The Pack Walk

After the home visit with Michele from Connective Training I was really looking forward to joining her for a pack walk. I knew it would be good for Chili and I was eager to learn some new techniques. We met at one of the local parks, me with Chili, and Michele with her pack. I will admit that I was somewhat overwhelmed and a little intimidated. After all, she is a trainer, and her dogs were all running off leash, and there I was holding on tightly to Chili trying to show that I had some type of control, which I did. I had worked hard to gain a solid foundation in her training and now it was time to learn something new. Although we’d already come a long way, the one thing that I couldn’t seem to work out was her lunging at other dogs while on leash.

I felt bad for Chili, having to watch the other dogs run free while she had to be walked on her leash. She had pretty good recall but I couldn’t always guarantee that she would come when called if there was something that really interested her. There was also her generally poor greeting style to consider. The pack was well behaved and I was impressed by the control Michele had while at the same time allowing them their freedom to be dogs. Chili didn’t do too badly either. She did lunge some but I think she was also taking in this new situation of being with a pack of dogs, and having someone practice different techniques with her. Michele has a very calming way of coaching you and the dogs and it works. That doesn’t mean she can be pushed around. She stands her ground without being angry, and I respect that.

As we walked and talked it was very clear that not only was Chili going to benefit from gaining a great trainer, I would also benefit by gaining a great friend. She suggested that we enrol in one of her classes. Although we already knew most of the commands she teaches, we both thought it might be good for Chili to work around other dogs. Also, it never hurts to do some structured training with your dog. It builds teamwork and strengthens their obedience.

This was the first of many pack walks. Chili absolutely loves them. Guess what! She doesn’t even try to be the leader. She quickly slides into the pack as if she’d been there forever. She is completely in her element running and playing and taking her place. She’s happy to just be a follower and do as she’s told. I was surprised myself, but there she was, being put in her place by a little dog that weighs about as much as her dinner. Who knew?

Yes, eventually Chili did get her freedom and was allowed to run free with the pack, but it didn’t come easy. It came after a lot of agonizing on my part. There I was, again, being challenged to move outside of my box and my beliefs to consider a new training tool to help give Chili her freedom. It never ends, the challenges I mean.

Albert Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” It was time for change, and working with Michele was the start. After all, I owed it to Chili not to live the definition.

And the Doggie Gods Smile Again

Working with the right trainer really does make an incredibly huge difference in your life. I’ve personally seen both sides now. I chose the wrong trainer in the beginning but was smiled upon by the doggie gods when my friend Carol offered to help us out. Now that I had taken the plunge and decided to try another trainer, the questions was, ‘would they smile upon me again’?

So, there I was, waiting for Michele from Connective Training to arrive. Now that I had calmed myself down, I was hopeful about the visit. This was going to work out. When I heard her pull up I prepared to keep Chili from jumping all over her. Chili was persistent and greeted Michele in her usual Chili way. Paws, body checks, and tongue. Isn’t that a proper greeting? Just what everyone wants, a bossy little girl throwing her weight around and slobbering all over you. Welcome to our home! I apologized to Michele and acknowledged that this was on the ‘to do’ list for training. What was interesting was that Michele kept Chili back by walking into her and using her body to take away Chili’s space. She handled the situation without being rude or making me feel like I’d done something wrong. This was a great start.

We chatted about Chili for a bit then took her for a short walk. At one point Chili was being her bratty little self and not paying attention so Michele gave her a ‘touch’ correction. Chili ignored her. I told her that Chili is a very strong girl, both mentally and physically, and doesn’t really respond to touch corrections, or choke chains, or pinch collars. It depends on her mood. So Michele shifted her strategy. That’s what I like, a trainer who doesn’t play by just one set of rules. She started using her own body to get Chili’s attention by walking into her, bumping her, and blocking her. Basically she was acting like Chili, but without the slobber. Chili responded.

Back at the house we reviewed the visit so far. We didn’t just talk about Chili, but we also talked about me. What was my state of mind? What was I thinking when Chili and I were out walking and I saw another dog approaching? How did I feel about where Chili and I have gotten so far, and where we wanted to be? She recommended that I come to one of her classes and just observe. She also invited me to take Chili for a pack walk with her and her dogs. Wow, looks like the doggie gods were smiling on me again.

As we were talking, Chili took it upon herself to lay on the couch. I told Michele that I had been trying for a while to keep her off the couch with no luck. I would be firm and tell her ‘off’, nothing, and then I would grab her collar and drag her off the couch. Chili loved this game and would just jump right back on the couch. Michele’s remedy, ‘sit on her’. Sit on her? She then proceeded to sit on Chili until she moved off the couch. Chili’s whole body language changed. She didn’t like this game. Michele said to just put enough weight on her to make her uncomfortable. Over the next week I only had to sit on Chili 3 times then she gave up trying to get on the couch altogether.

It was as if I had spent a couple of hours with a friend. Another friend who was knowledgeable about dogs. I would definitely be calling her soon to join her for a pack walk, and maybe even a coffee.

Time to Test another Trainer

There comes a time in every training regime where you need to look at other options. We’d come a VERY long way from the wild, untamed beast that we started with and through consistent training she was slowly getting to be easier to live with. A lot easier actually. We had some setbacks but it’s hard to be ‘on’ every moment of every day. Sometimes you just want to enjoy your dog and the stupid moments that come with them. A couple of things were still challenging us and we weren’t getting further ahead. One, was her lunging at other dogs when she was on leash. I consider this to be coupled with her poor greetings as well. I knew in my heart that some day we would find the solution to this problem. The other was her tendency to just bolt when she saw a rabbit or squirrel or anything she considers prey. She would try this in the house too if she saw something through the window. The blinds have one too many nail scratches in them now from her trying to get through them. My biggest concern from both was her safety. It was time to try another trainer.

I don’t take this decision lightly, and I’m not really that happy about it. We’ve already had a bad experience with a trainer and I will not have that repeated. I needed to choose wisely. OK, who do I choose? Wow, there are a lot of trainers. Were they handing out dog training businesses at the ferries one day or what? I can’t believe I’m doing this again. I started by checking out some websites and seeing who I vibe with. After about 2 weeks of looking I kept going back to the same one, Connective Training. There just seemed to be something about her philosophy that was a little different from the rest. I needed different, so I called and left a message. Actually, I hung up the first time, then thought about my decision again, then called and left a message.

Michele, the owner of Connective Training, called me back. She sounded good on the phone. Seemed to listen, didn’t sound condescending like she knew it all, and kind of sounded like she wanted to help. Hmmm. At this point I’m still suspicious but felt good enough about the conversation to set up a home visit. Now, between the time I hung up and the time that she actually came to our house for the home visit, I had concocted a number of scenarios in my head to make sure that she wouldn’t screw us and take our money. I was going to be prepared this time. It’s going to be my way. This time, I’m going with my gut.

Time seemed to pass sooo slowly as I waited for her arrival. You have to understand how important this visit was for me. I didn’t have the money to waste. I didn’t have the time to waste. I didn’t have the patience to listen to any bullshit about my dog. I needed someone who would take the time to understand Chili and give me the tools we needed. It’s my responsibility to ensure that Chili gets the best training possible to live a balanced and healthy life. I can’t make the same mistake twice. I have to get this right.

Trust yourself, is all I can say. I felt confident enough to set up this appointment and have her come to our home. I went with my gut. This did feel good. Wait, am I just hoping this will work out or do I really feel this will work out. I think I do feel this will work out. That’s why she’s coming. So throw away all the negative scenarios, take a deep breath, and start visualizing how great this is going to be. Yes, I’m actually getting nervous excited at the possibilities.