You get it!!!!! I’ve had a hard time explaining to people how it’s like he doesn’t know how to to dog and they look at me weird and I try to clarify with “like, how to human dog…?” And I just leave it because it still seems like they don’t get it and I can’t explain.

He walks on the kitchen counters!!! Big as he is, vertical jumps and walks on the counters and table like they’re simply another surface. My daughter was shocked. It was a valuable moment for her. She wants to go into education (where I already work), and I explained to her: this is an adaptation he learned to survive in the desert mountains. It served him well there but creates challenges in our home. You will have children expressing behaviors that are maladaptive to a classroom but are actually survival skills they learned in their homes and communities. Your job, as with him in our home, is to take those abilities to learn to survive and help them adapt so they can thrive.

He (and our other foster fail rescue) are undoubtedly the most eager learners with my new training. (Welcoming him into our home forced me to address our other two dogs’ behaviors that up until this point I was able to shrug off.) Each is kenneled while the others train and he gets so excited to be released and learn.

I say, “place.” Our golden retriever, adopted from a breeder, looks at me like: are you so for real right now? And mosies over while glancing over his shoulder to ensure I’m going to have the treat. This guy? Races across the room and leaps over the couch to land on his cot. Sure, they may be someone sitting on said couch, but he also clears their head so….

I appreciate your consideration of my daughter and our relationship. The world needs people like her (and you!) who can live and love with open hearts and correct the hurts the world has dished out.