It was about a year and a bit ago that Mylo first came on one of our Trailblazer walks at Beaver Lake. When Lorri arrived with Mylo, you could see the fear in her eyes. She was so afraid that Mylo was going to attack another dog—you could feel her anxiety a mile away. Peni went over to meet them, and after some preliminary words of wisdom, we were all off to hike the back trail. Lorri kept a firm grip on Mylo’s leash, a bit overwhelmed by the number and variety of dogs in the Trailblazer pack. Even more amazing was the fact that these dogs weren’t on leashes. I’m sure that when Peni first told Lorri to drop Mylo’s leash, she probably though “this woman is out of her mind!” But the power of the pack kicked in, and Mylo, while not behaving perfectly, did a great job on his first outing with the Trailblazers. But one of the best things that we saw that day was not just the start of a transformation in Mylo, but it was watching how Lorri began to relax, and to understand that there was hope for Mylo. She’s a great gal, and she has great love for her pets. We knew she would fit right in with the Trailblazers right from that moment. And sure enough, she went off to coffee with us that first day, and she’s never looked back.
She kept coming on the walks with Mylo (and occasionally bringing JJ, until JJ passed away), and hubby Randy joins us when he’s not at sea with the Coast Guard. Then, silly girl, she brought Mylo to agility. What a great thing that has been for Mylo. He’s a natural! And it's a great way to channel all his enthusiasm and energy. She and Mylo did an agility demo with us right after finishing his agility classes, and they’ve been doing demos with us ever since. Mylo was entered in a fun trial, and did great, and then entered his first real trial this past winter, and got a Q! Lorri was very nervous taking him out on the course for his first run, but they did great. Looked like seasoned pros.
Mylo has grown in confidence, and in maturity. He’s not quite as argumentative as he once was with dogs he doesn’t know, and Lorri and Randy know the signals to watch for that indicate that they need to remind him of his manners. Mylo’s learned to swim, to play nicely with other dogs, and to come out of play when called. Lorri and Randy have worked hard with Mylo to bring him this far, and it’s a great partnership to watch in action.
Why am I writing this today? Well, it’s because when I was watching Mylo play with the border collies yesterday, it struck me just how far he’s come in the last year. Congratulations Mylo, Lorri and Randy!
1 comment:
What a great web log. I spend hours on the net reading blogs, about tons of various subjects. I have to first of all give praise to whoever created your theme and second of all to you for writing what i can only describe as an fabulous article. I honestly believe there is a skill to writing articles that only very few posses and honestly you got it. The combining of demonstrative and upper-class content is by all odds super rare with the astronomic amount of blogs on the cyberspace.
Post a Comment