Training is not about obedience for me. It’s not about how close we are, what my hand movements are, where I am standing.

For me, training is the language through which my dog and I begin to learn how to talk to each other, and how to listen to each other.

This is the spiritual connection that  has pulled dogs and people closer and closer together over time.

This is precisely what humans seem to struggle to learn how to do with one another. Dogs have been willing to speak with us for thousands of years, most of us can’t listen or don’t want to. We are too busy turning them into our dependents.

Bud wants to talk with me, and I want to talk with him. We both need that, it seems, and I think it is healing for both of us. Teaching Bud to “stay” this week is the beginning of our conversation together, one I hope will deepen and grow over the years.

We’re off to a good start. Come and see the joyous feeling when we begin to break though to one another. Training is not about obedience. It isn’t about come, sit and stay. It is much deeper than that.