I am delighted to share a happy ending story for a dog in trouble.
This tale involves a Shepard mix now named Eric (under the carriage in the photo above) rescued by a woman in our town three years ago from a local animal shelter.
Eric (not his name then) was a nightmare, when he was adopted a bad choice for an older woman living alone in a small house with little land.
He was wild in the house and destructive. He ran off every time he could, and pulled the woman to the ground when she tried to walk him.
He ran off whenever he was good, chewed up furniture, and resisted any training. He was, she always said, a sweet dog at heart, and she knew her home was the wrong place for him.
His owner was equally sweet and loving; I happened to know her. She told me about her plight with Eric, and I urged her to find a new home for him.
She was frantic but loved him. I knew it could never work, and human and dog were suffering.
I had given her my talk about the best way to get a dog, but like most people, she ignored me.
It just was the wrong fit for a dog who needs someplace to run in a house where the elderly human lived alone and gad a bad leg. There was nowhere for him to run.
She had to crate him for much of the day, he was just too wild.
People often get dogs in an impulsive rather than considered way, and the dogs often pay for it. Both of them were paying for this decision.
One day earlier this year, Eric’s owner read my blog and learned that some Amish families had moved to the area.
The woman read about Jacob, Moise Miller’s brother in law and the former turkey farm he had purchased on the Southern edge of our town. It has nearly 100 acres. She knew the Amish handled animals well.
She brought the dog to Jacob and his family, and it was love at first sight, on both sides. They adopted the dog on the spot and named him Eric.
It was really as good at fit as the other was wrong.
The Amish, who have a reputation for mistreating animals (apparently, sometimes true, but not always), also have a great understanding of dealing with wild creatures like Eric.
They are overly associated with abuse and underappreciated for their knowledge and understanding of animals.
Yet another instance of the dangers of stereotyping.
The Amish flip dogs all the time; they flip horses in the same way. Almost every Amish farm has a dog-like Eric, a mixed breed with great energy and protective instincts, but a solid disposition.
They don’t like having dogs aggressive dogs around. Trust is important to them.
They have been living every day of their lives with dogs and horses for five hundred years. They know a lot about how to handle them.
Their ideas about teaching them are somewhat similar to their ideas about their children – they trust them, leave them alone, give them work to do, and do not shout at them or criticize them or overlove them.
There are no helicopter moms in the Amish world.
Children are given space to figure things out, have problems, and solve them to live in trust and safety. They are not programmed and supervised every minute of their lives.
That’s their idea about dogs. It’s mine also.
Their farm was the perfect place for Eric.
He could run and run and wear himself out, find an outlet for his explosive energy. He seemed to find himself there. I saw him a month ago, and I saw him this morning. The change was striking. Dogs live to serve and be needed, and given the chance, they figure out what is wanted of them and are happy to do it.
Few people take the time or give them the opportunity to just be dogs. They will often do the rest.
Jacob told me that Eric ran off once at first and came home limping. I can just imagine.
He never ran off again.
At first, Eruc was tied to the barn. As he calmed down, he was given more freedom.
He is free to roam now. He loves the horses and runs alongside them in the pasture. When the sun is out, he sleeps beneath the carriages while the horses wait to go out.
Otherwise, he lives and sleeps in the barn, the temporary home of the family. They will move to a new permanent home early next year; Eric will live with them in the house.
Eric’s work is to greet visitors, alert the family to strangers, be a fire alarm. Jacob hopes to teach him some herding – shepherds are herding dogs.
Because he can run, he has settled down. He can burn off that energy any time he wants.
He loves to be patted and scratched.
When I come, he comes out, sniffs my leg, licks my hand, and then goes back under the carriage or into the barn. He has damaged or destroyed nothing that does not belong to him.
“He just fit right in,” said Jacob, who couldn’t imagine the dog in a crate all day.
He follows the children all over the farm as they pick crops, help with chores, carry wood, sell soaps and baked goods. He is too tired to run off or cause trouble, and he takes his responsibilities seriously.
I think he longer remembers that side of himself.
He is a content animal, grounded and alert. As with most Amish families, the family doesn’t talk to him a lot; there are no treats, no trips to the vet, no furbaby talk.
People often feel guilty about giving their dogs away for a better life, but that is a mistake. Eric isn’t pining away for his farmer home, he is too happy and too busy.
And his owner, who loved him enough to better his life, is going get herself a small dog to live inside of her small house.
Eric reminds me very much of Tina; a dog permitted to be a dog; who keeps an eye on things.
I asked Jacob and one of his sons how they trained him so quickly and so well.
Jacob looked surprised. “We just let him be a dog,” he said. The world of social media is filled with sad and sorry stories about dogs.
I am pleased to be able to present a happy one.
I couldn’t love this story more❤️
I rarely comment, but I do love this. Jacob’s surprised response is delightful. Nice to have a happy story in these often unhappy times.
Thanks for posting Anne.
This IS a really great story! (so is your VICTORY in thumb wrestling!!!). I remember when you chose Zinnia, how much you cautioned folk getting a dog to RESEARCH the kind of dog they thought they wanted and CONSIDER their lifestyle before choosing, don’t be led by emotion only. All that wonderful instruction helped me immensely to not make the same mistake this dear, older woman made, and has corrected.
Thanks Annie, this is what I was born to do, I think, thanks for the message
“We just let him be a dog” I LOVE THIS! Far too few people understand that animals need to be the animals they were born to be. One of the reasons I stopped taking dog training clients is because it hurt my heart to see so many people not allowing their dogs to perform basic, natural, completely normal behaviors.
So —- for over a year I researched dogs. My husband and I live in Vermont on a dirt road on acres of farmland with a pond and nearby walking trails in the GM forrest. My research led me to Icelandic sheepdogs, they are friendly, love children, like to hike, etc.. I called 4 breeders ( FOUR) and told them we do not want a dog that needs a job or needs to work (i.e border collie types) or needs strenuous exercise. I learned this from reading your books, Jon. I was told they are not herding dogs, they are ‘driving’ dogs, need medium exercise and would be a perfect fit (we had 6 pugs before Loki arrived!). I drove to Maine and got our puppy – the dogs did not live in the breeder’s house – they lived outside in kennels (this should have been a red flag), roamed in a pack on 20 fenced in acres. I read that Icies like to bark and chase cars, otherwise need medium exercise and are fine without a job. We love Loki, but he chases cars, barks at birds and planes (birds were predators to sheep in Iceland) – he sits by the window waiting for a car to drive by. We have taken him to trainers and had trainers come to our house. My friend up the road has an Icie, he sits in their barn, has no interest in chasing cars and hardly barks. Icies have a high pitched piercing bark. I feel that Loki would be happier on a farm with other animals and sheep to ‘drive’. And he hates to swim and won’t get in the pond. He is almost 6 and we love him – we walk him on an old road off leash 2 miles every day – he wanders off but always returns. I think we are probably not a good match for Loki and I do feel guilty. But I also think the breeder wanted to sell dogs, and I drank the kool-aid – she said one of her dogs lives in Brooklyn. Naively I thought Loki would roam on our 12 acres, swim in the pond, follow us on hikes – I cannot let him out of the house unleashed as he waits for cars. My friend’s Icie is much more mellow, so maybe it was just luck of the draw. All this said – we just love him. Sorry to ramble…
Sounds tough Jean, you love a dog but can’t get easy with him. Good luck with it and thanks sharing the story. I hear it a lot. I hope for a happy ending.
your words spoke to me and are relevant to that sweet older lady, dogs come to us when we need them and they leave when their job is done”. She figured out what the dog needed, with your help…and now has a more appropriate &, managable poich. Way to go-♡
I, like Jess, stopped training dogs for people. It was too hard for me to see dogs with so much potential being ruined because people couldn’t grasp the simple concept of letting dogs be dogs. For some bizarre reason they wanted them to think like they did. How is that possible? It was the most frustrating job I ever had. The success rate was minimal. It led me to believe trainers just take people’s money without having a conscious. I believe understanding animals is somewhat of an innate talent. Some are very good at it, most are not.
Thanks Linda, I think the problem is that we see dogs as children, not as dogs. The Amish see them as dogs, and children as children. A culture that gets the two mixes up is harming both, I think.