A Great Day!

In one of my first posts here on DSD I shared some information about some clients of mine who'd become frustrated with their highly active, adolescent Shepherd mix, and showed up one day in class with him wearing an oversized choke chain at the recommendation of some neighbors. I pulled them aside and re-explained why I thought that was a bad idea at this point in time, encouraged them to stay the course, yadda, yadda, yadda, and then they disappeared. It bothered me. I know we can't save them all, but still, I knew I'd always wonder how Rebel was doing. This was just before the holidays and I hadn't seen them since. Well, I'm ecstatic to report that they're baaaaaaaaack! Today they stopped by, with Rebel in tow, wearing an appropriately fitted martingale collar and walking very nicely on a loose lead, I might add. :) Additionally, he was much calmer than I remembered and his attention and recall were greatly improved. It was clear they'd been working hard with him. Come to find out, their disappearance had nothing to do with their experience in that last class. They'd moved, changed jobs, blah, blah, blah, and life happened. And now that their lives are on an even keel again, they signed him up for additional classes! So what's the moral to the story? Sometimes even when we think we're not getting through to people, we are. And sometimes, even when we doubt that we've made an impact, we have. We should all try really hard to keep that in mind. I know I am. Yep, this was a very good day!