Who was your most influential teacher? Why?

I find teachers are seasonal in my life and there hasn’t been one special one that stands out in my mind. For this season, Riddick is my teacher. He came into my life as an adult dog who had lived most of his life outside following his whims. No real expectations, no city experience. I had previously lost my heart dog and had planned on waiting for my grief lessen before getting another dog. Situations changed in his life and he joined my life about a month after the loss of my other dog. I was still feeling his loss and Riddick was dropped into an entirely different life.

Week one involved him seeing a toilet for the first time and figuring out it probably wouldn’t eat him. Every day was many, many new experiences for him. To say he was overwhelmed would be an understatement.

He also had to deal with my unrealistic expectations. Every day I felt the loss of not only the dog who had been with me daily for almost 5 years but a dog who had 5 years of training, he was easy. Needless to say the first few months didn’t go as well as they should have.

Riddick has taught me to be very flexible with my expectations. He insisted I be fair and clear with him. Once I was able to start meeting him on his terms, we started building trust. Months down the road and he has taught me patience (I only thought I was patient before) and to meet each dog where they are, even my personal dogs. The ones I have the most invested and have the highest expectations.

We are still very much in the beginning of our journey and we learn new things every day. But now I have a much better understanding of what he needs and giving him that means we both get to grow together. Mostly he taught me that I still need to be humble because there is still so much I need to learn.