Radar's First Day at Home

The first thing I noticed on Radar's first day at my home was just how exciting it is getting to know a new friend. Like opening a present, or going on an Easter egg hunt, getting to know a dog is a process we move through in time. Not everything is known about someone on first meeting, or even second meeting, but like the Easter egg hunt as we move through this experience we find different things. Some pleasant treasures and some disappointing rocks.

Radar is not the first dog I have moved into my circle of friends but he is the first dog who had a less than ideal start. Being first a stray dog, then a shelter dog, he had lived a life that had primed him for survival and tuned his mind to many skills and behaviors that served him well when he was on his own, otherwise he never would have made it to the Tulsa Animal Welfare Shelter. Many of these pre-loaded behaviors I found to be happy little surprises, not the least of which was his ability to learn new behaviors very quickly. But other behaviors, while they obviously served him well in his old life, I found to be unpleasant little surprises that would not serve him well now.

I'm looking forward to learning more about my new pup and as we move through the process of becoming life long friends. I hope I can continue to increase my knowledge of him, to truly know him. And along the way I can learn to accept him for who is he while helping him become the very best dog that he can be. This will give him his very best life.

How about you, are any of you experiencing the joys of making a new animal friend, I would love to hear how this is going for you!  Just visit clicketysplitdogtraining.com