I don't generally think of my time with Abby starting until she came back from her adventure. But, the truth is that is started almost two months before that when I took her home as a foster dog. Even though she had all those fears, I never treated her any differently then I did my other dogs. She was expected from the very beginning to be able to get in the car, go for walks, go to the pet store, hang out with friends, etc. And it wasn't until she came back that I truly understood the depths of her issues. But by then it was too late - she was already a member of the family.
Looking back on those first few weeks, there were signs that she was going to be difficult to live with, but since she was just a foster, I wasn't too concerned. My job was to give her a warm place to stay and some love until she found her forever home. Unfortunately the rescue she was with and I had very different opinions about what would be an appropriate home for her. They were quite insistent that she would do fine with some guy she never met half way across the country. I put my foot down on that one - and on a few others. And boy am I glad I did! I couldn't imagine what someone would do with her the first 100 times that she peed in their bed!
After two full years of working with her, she still pees in the bed. . .but only sometimes. And everything that I have done to help her become a better dog has made me a better trainer. And it has opened up my world tremendously; allowing me opportunities that I never would have had with my other kids.
And, by the way, Abby did great yesterday in class. It was a new session with all new students and she did great. There were a few times when she didn't listen to me during class, but it was because she was interested in the other dogs! And how can you be mad about that?
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