The kindness of strangers

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BBP

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There is a lady who trains her dogs in the field adjacent to where I have just moved my horses, she has an agility course set up and I often see her up there working with her dogs. I happened to speak to her the other day and mentioned I had a little collie who had a few behaviours that I found challenging and how I’d had a really upsetting experience with a professional sheepdog trainer last year. She offered to meet with me today and give me a few pointers on improving his focus. Well she was just fantastic! She spent over two hours with us, in my house and outside, observing him and us, giving us little insights into body language and behaviour, training tips and ideas and ways to fit it into our home life. She gave me a big binder of things to read as homework and a few toys to use with him. She was so lovely and positive and great at explaining things in a way that made sense. She found lots of nice things to say about him (including how she would happily steal him for obedience training due to how his brain works). And she has said she is happy to help me out whenever I need it (the dog is soon to live with me full time, he currently spends mon-fri away at work with my partner but I’ll have him on my own soon and need to figure out how to balance full time dog, full time job and the horses - dog cannot come to the yard with me as he is not good with the horses. I was wondering how I would manage as I also have some heart issues and trying to keep on top of my Lyme recovery/remission but with this lovely kind experienced lady offering her support, plus my wonderful family and a very well regarded local dog day care I all of a sudden feel pretty calm and in control. I’ll be busy, but the dog and the horse (and the job!) are worth it.

I know the lady wont see this but I just wanted to share how fantastic she was and what an amazing difference that support can make to someone like me who can sometimes feel anxious and overwhelmed. She wouldn’t even accept any payment, she just said if I insisted then to look for a really good breed or general rescue and make a donation to that. What a lovely lady!
 
How fantastic was that BBP :)- and so nice to read a lovely upbeat post about one of the truly decent people in life who seldom get a mention sadly. I look forward to further updates - and isn't it such a relief when those little things that have been worrying and niggling at us start to sort themselves., somehow the bigger things don't seem so insurmountable then.
 
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What a great post. She's a genuine dog lover with the knowledge to back it up. I really like the way she enabled to make life better for one dog and it's owner and declined to take payment. There are many decent people who live life quietly doing small but great things and go unrecognised. It's nice to hear about positive stuff sometimes.
 
Sometimes people just come into your life right as you need them, and I think this was just the right time for you.

She sounds like such a kind hearted, generous woman. People like that are few and far between and it hurts!

I suppose the lesson we can all learn here is that we should all pay it forward with our own random act of kindess (and not expect anything in return)

Hopefully the collie will learn with you and you can have a great stress free life together. :D
 
That's so fabulous! We went through several totally useless trainers until we found 'the one'. It revolutionized how we managed puss cat and has made life a great deal easier.
 
she may well read this :) i do agility and am amazed at how many handlers have a foot in the horse world too.
a lovely post x

have just returned from a comp with 100`s of dogs and not one incident, yet go for a local walk and sure to meet a rude untrained dog/owner.
 
Moobli said:
What a lovely lady. Who knows you might be able to meet up for more regular training sessions together?
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We are meeting up again next week for a catch up. He’s still a funny little dog in that he doesn’t really do playing for more than a few minutes with any great enthusiasm so I’d like to get him more engaged in games and understand his mindset and body language a bit more. Horses are easy but I'm still learning dog! She’s also suggested I try a vet physio as he has a slight roach back and she thinks it’s worth checking to make sure he isn’t in any discomfort.
 
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