Tonight I received a link for a video on YouTube that had been put together by Susan Garrett. I don’t know this trainer, but I have to say her slideshow really hit home. I didn’t get to see all of it, YouTube was being temperamental but it got me really thinking.
Sometimes we are so busy “training” a dog that we forget to stop and listen to what they are trying to communicate to us. Owning a dog is not just about the training, or dog sports, and the dogs all have something they can teach us. If we don’t learn this lesson, the opportunity may come around again….so why do we get the dogs we do at the specific points in our life when we have them? (this was the gist of the slideshow).
This got me to thinking…what HAVE my dogs taught me? Oh boy that list could go on forever. So I decided to look back over past dogs and pick 1-2 things they taught me or are trying to teach me now. Maybe it will inspire you to think of your dogs in a different light!
Tyler taught me to love everyone and everything more fully. He did not care what species you were, he just did his thing and enjoyed everyone.
Zeppe taught me compassion. He was a bit nervous about things when I got him….I had to work hard with him and I learned to love him through his difficulties no matter what it cost on the trial field.
Ilio taught me to think outside the box. He did not think the same way most other dogs do. He also taught me to handle distraction training completely differently then I ever had before.
Maverick helped me overcome my shyness and taught me to “enjoy the journey”. He was never super at any dog sport, but he taught me that we could have fun doing anything as long as we concentrated on having fun.
Kaos has been teaching me to LIGHTEN UP. Don’t take life so seriously. He taught me that even a trial situation does not need to be so serious, and that sometimes it’s good to laugh at ourselves.
Cosette has been teaching me to be quick on my feet and quick on my game. She is always one step ahead of everything. She is also teaching me that sometimes it’s ok to be a bit different.
Cyrano taught me to get intense when it matters and throw your heart into everything you do.
Maestro is teaching me to be patient with independent thinkers!
Phoenix is still trying to teach me something, WHAT that is I have yet to find out but it’s bound to be interesting!
The point is, sometimes we really do spend so much time thinking about what we need to teach the dog, when in reality, the dogs are probably teaching us so much more then we could ever teach them. Love your dog! Enjoy your dog! And don’t forget to let them teach you to enjoy your journey with them!
I am so with you on that one! I have always wanted dogs for specific reasons in my dog training career, but every one of them end up training me more than I train them, on all levels of the spectrum and taking me on tangents I never even imagined.
Definitely something to remember the next time one of them “does not perform” as desired