Frieda had her triumphant night at the Red Fox Bookstore in Glens Falls Wednesday. She had a packed house, and she couldn’t have been calmer, sweeter, nicer. She stayed up front near Maria and me and sniffed a few people and was wonderfully calm and well behaved. The audience, veteran dog lovers, knew how to handle her. Lots of sniffing, lots of calm. I expected a good night, but she is a natural. Couldn’t have imagined it a year ago. Frieda turned a lot of my training ideas around, and also a lot of my biases about dogs.

We had a great night talking about  training Frieda, and training in general. I said the biggest breakthrough with Frieda was beef jerky, something few dog books suggest. I urged people to take training seriously, look to themselves and their dogs and their personal circumstances, and to remember that their dogs are basically simple animals. The more that is understood, the easier it will be to train them.

I was very proud of Frieda, and can definitely see giving this talk in other places. Frieda was a little anxious, but seemed to drift into the spirit of the evening, as my other dogs do. Got some great questions from a highly motivated and intelligent audience. I appreciate Susan and Naftali from the bookstore hosting this event. We talked about training methods, training books. Frieda is important to Maria and I. I would never have chosen a dog like Frieda from a shelter, yet I love her dearly and she has worked hard to weave herself into the fabric of the farm. I told the audience the emotionalizing of dogs was harmful to training, and that training isn’t about obedience, but is a spiritual experience that becomes our common language, our way of communicating. We talked about a lot of things, and Frieda sat quietly for several hours. It was a triumphant night for her and for us.