29 Apr Happy Tail for Teeka!
“Slow and calm introductions,” “consistent positive training.” Those were the phrases used on Teeka’s (formerly Wes) page to describe him. There were others too, but those were the ones that stood out to me. What kind of dog was this? We had dogs in our home so we weren’t totally inexperienced, but our dogs were the kind we never worried about. They greeted everyone with a wagging tail and pure joy. Then, we met Teeka and it was love at first sight. At an event, a foster talked to us about Teeka. We listened to everything she said and took in all her advice. She kept emphasizing that Teeka needed patience and Teeka needed direction. Teeka seemed to look at us as if to say, “yep, yep, true, true,” but his eyes also seemed to say something else to us – “I’m a good boy, I need a chance.” Our whole family sat around the dining room table to talk about Teeka. After all, this wasn’t the kind of decision to be taken lightly. We knew if we adopted Teeka, we would not only be making a commitment, but a promise to Teeka to never give up on him. We would need to make some changes, maybe temporary but perhaps permanently. We would have to say no visitors for awhile until Teeka was comfortable not only in a new home, but with us. Looking back, what a small, insignificant sacrifice. Teeka has now been in our home for about a year. I could write a book on what a good boy he is and how much happiness he’s brought us. We still do slow, calm introductions and we still give consistent, positive training and it has all paid off. We kept our promise to Teeka to never give up on him, but he definitely kept his promise to us to be a good boy and love us unconditionally.