I learn from my animals all the time, because I see more and more how different they are from us, how differently they think and this helps me to understand them and communicate with them. This weekend some friends came over with their small children and Frieda was barking furiously at her fence, lunging and growling at a five-year-old girl who was trying to say hello to her. I have learned a bit working with Frieda. I came up to the edge of the fence, kneeled down at eye level and waited until she made eye contact with me.

“Frieda,” I said in a voice so soft she was tilting her head to catch my words. “I thank you so much for protecting us. But it’s okay now. We are all right.” And she looked at me, wagged her tail, and just lay down quietly. She did not bark any more. “It took me a couple of years to figure that out,” I told my friend, the mother of the small child, who also trains dogs and other animals in Los Angeles. “That’s okay,” she said, “most people never figure it out.”