At the beginning of every year, I celebrate both the new year and my dog, Tricky. She turned 9 years old on January 2. For me, each dog is associated with a chapter in my life or a journey that I am on. Instead of measuring my life in the years of each decade, I do so with each dog. The journey I have had with Tricky has been a meaningful one for me. Our life together started during a difficult time. Within a year after adopting her from the shelter where I worked, I had lost two dogs to cancer, and, separated from my now ex-husband. It was a time of loss and transition for me–I couldn’t have done it without this little dog. After my divorce, Tricky was the reason I got out of bed when I was depressed. The healing power of an animal can be miraculous.The lessons I learned with Tricky expanded beyond those of resiliency–she took my agility training out of my comfort zone. I was constantly uncomfortable because, at the time, I was a perfectionist. I wanted to be right and have it look flawless and under control. I learned how to be silly, laugh at myself, and get messy because I had this little terrier as my teammate.
Other lessons I learned from Tricky is acceptance and letting go. I had to retire her at the peak of a very promising agility career. By age 5, Tricky started showing physical symptoms that were caused by degenerative disc disease. Had she continued agility training, the disease would have progressed faster and caused her pain. For me, who is naturally competitive and impatient, this was a hard pill to swallow. Tricky’s well-being and happiness was the most important thing, so I swallowed that pill without regret or looking back.
Tricky is the one who opened up the world of terriers to me. I adopted 2 more terriers after her: Marvel and Topper! Working with terriers has forced me to become more creative with how I train. As you may already know from previous newsletters and blog posts, I have also had to work through a number of behavioral issues with Marvel. Thanks to my terriers, I have been able to help many other people with terriers in my private practice, behavior work, and animal welfare work.
This all may seem like dog training and providing a good life for a dog…in actuality it’s about life lessons and my dogs contributing to a life I love.
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