My beautiful Shepherd Coyote has never cared for dogs. I found Coyote years ago as a stray and took him to German Shepherd Rescue’s picnic to meet the president and get listed for adoption. Well, everyone sure knew we were there with his performance! So we started our training to walk politely past dogs.
During our early weeks of practice, as we were walking past a dog and he was having a difficult time keeping it together, I blurted out “this is your own species!”
As we continued walking, I thought about my own words and contemplated at how myself don’t always like my own species. When exposed to some of the neglect and abuse stories that we are, it is easy to get hard feelings toward humanity and sometimes even cynical.
I choose daily to focus on the good I see in others and I do always find it. The folks who drop everything to help a stray, the folks who foster, the ones who work tirelessly in shelters and rescue to find homes for their protegees, the ones who feed strays, spend hours talking to adopters, discount training and health services, build fencing for chained dogs. The goodness of humanity is indeed endless when you stay focused in the right places.
Sylvie Pleasant
Certified Dog Trainer and Behavior Consultant
K9 Solutions LLC
www.nck9solutions.com
K9 Solutions 