Frieda was a star during her first grooming. She gave Eileen Quackenbush of Muddy Paws, Shushan, N.Y., a small growl, and then I picked her up and dumped her in the tub, and she was a perfect lady after that, nervous but responsive.  Eileen loves dogs dearly and talked to her throughout, calming her. She was no trouble at all.

After a 10-minute bath, we walked her out for some drying and brushing. She came home, threw up in the backyard,and has been sleeping next to me ever since. I am very proud of her and pleased about how far she has come. At this rate, I’ll be taking her to readings when the book about her comes out in 2012.   She didn’t need a muzzle, collar or leash, and I held her head for a few minutes, and then she settled, and was calm and obedient. Eileen says I don’t need to be present next time.

This is a milestone for Frieda, who was kept away from people, dogs,  groomers, and handled carefully by vets.  She is still excitable, and still prone to taking off after rabbits and deer,but we are working on that, the last frontier of our long and very challenging training. Frieda was by far the most difficult training experience I have had, and I learned so much from her – about trust, persistence, patience and love.

I had to be trained too. This was the kind of dog I always avoided, but seeing her loyalty, affection and intelligence has broadened my thinking about dogs. I am still careful with her, and she still has lots of work to do with me. But this was a big step, for sure, an affirmation. I believe in respecting dogs as the wonderful animals that they are, and the more I cling to this, and the less I see them as people or children, the better they do in the world. Frieda was in need of a grooming, and I thought of her wandering the Adirondacks for several years, and I bless anybody who hangs in there with a dog. I did not think it could be done.  It can be done.