Fridays with John: Good Girl

By now some of you are probably familiar with the animal above from pictures we've posted or through previous posts. Last time, I wrote about Kingsley's importance in our lives and the experience of finally owning a real pet--thanks Mom and Dad. I also spoke about our love for her, but more importantly her biggest flaw--the jumping--and how it led us to talk to a trainer. Fast forward a few months. We started working with an excellent trainer last week and have now had the first 3 of 6 scheduled sessions. She's responded amazingly well to all of this. It seems that most of the training, commands, and respect are in place. The root of many of our trainings "issues" has been boundaries, and her ability to push them and our letting her do so. In short, we've loved too much. Drawing these new lines in the sand initially came as a bit of a shock to her (and us at times), but after a few days of repetition she responds as if this is how things have always been. There's still a lot of work to be done, but it's amazing to see what these slight transformations in our actions and her behavior have already accomplished. And when she's a good dog, we're finding reasons to love her more.
Have a great weekend.