Many Lessons Learned

August 21, 2014

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There are many lessons I’ve learned that I still need to write about, but one of my biggest milestones happened to me this past weekend, so I would like to write about that. On Saturday, my boyfriend and I took Elvis on a hike close to Mt. Baldy – without John.

Although John assured me that he trusted me, I wasn’t sure I trusted myself. What if something went wrong? What if Elvis ran away? I knew Elvis would never attack anyone, but what if another dog attacked him? These thoughts ran through my head the night before the hike. I was nervous, but I shouldn’t have been. As I thought about all the possible scenarios that could happen, I began to also think about how I would react, and that’s when I realized that John had more than prepared me for this moment.

Elvis is an awesome dog, and in the weeks I’ve been working with him, he has learned to trust and respect me. The minute I opened the car door to let him out, he was a perfect dog. He stayed by my or my boyfriend’s side the whole time, even when he wasn’t on a leash. Occasionally he would start to get ahead of us, but one word from us and he was back by our side.

John’s told me before, and sometimes it’s hard to believe him, that Elvis behaves this way because of me. This hike proved that I have made progress. Elvis went from a wandering dog wanting to check out everything to one who didn’t even need a leash to walk beside me.

Taking Elvis on the hike showed me what I was truly capable of with dogs. The one other thing that I was a little worried about was encountering other people on the trail. However, I knew I had to exhibit positive energy, otherwise Elvis himself would get nervous. So, that’s exactly what I did. And of course, the few people we did see all thought Elvis was a good dog, and a handsome one at that!