13/07/2022
On unconditional love and dog sports:
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When I brought Aspen home I brought her into my life with the purpose of her being a sport dog that I would compete with. I brought this tiny puppy home that had been on the planet for 9 weeks and I had her whole future planned out. I know many people do this and are successful but it meant our first maybe 5-6 months together were a struggle. And it was because I was trying to make her fit into my vision rather than seeing what was right in front of me.
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I’ve done this before and you’d think I’d know better but when we set goals and have dreams for ourselves and our dogs it can be hard to let it go, reassess, and readjust.
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Aspen was in heat for 4 weeks recently and we ended up doing literally nothing but hanging out together.
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And while our relationship has been improving for a while now, us doing nothing while she was in heat really catalyzed the change with our relationship.
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The pressure has been taken off.
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The results?
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- Less deflating when we do train (which isn’t very often at all!)
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- I’m getting WAY more tail wags than I’ve ever gotten from her before (😭💜)
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- A more eager learner when we do work on things (which, like I said, we really barely ever train)
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I’m not saying we aren’t working towards certain goals, because we are. But I’ve readjusted my mindset and it has done wonders for our relationship.
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- We’re moving WAY slower than some of my dog trainer friends (so hard not to compare!)
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- And, we honestly may never compete (which is hard for me to accept but I’m not going to force Aspen to be or do anything)
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What I do know is she is my dream dog. She is so socially appropriate with other dogs and people and kids it’s insane, she is so biddable, she is a great hiking and running and adventure companion, she is so so sweet, she is goofy, she is cuddly, she can go anywhere and do anything!
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Sports are not the end all, be all. But the pressure is real!
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At the end of the day what matters is the relationship I have with my dog. And I can say with utter confidence and happiness that our relationship has never been better and I cherish Aspen so much 💜
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