If you’ve ever walked a large dog on a leash, you understand pretty quickly that pulling is not a particularly effective long-term strategy. At well over 100 pounds, Remington is perfectly capable of letting me know when she has a different opinion about where we should be going. I could pull harder on the leash,
Remington notices everything: a dog walking on the other side of the street, a delivery truck pulling into a driveway, a sound I haven’t heard yet, and, of course, the occasional squirrel that has apparently appeared for the sole purpose of completely disrupting our walk. Learning to notice what’s happening around her is important. In
Remington notices things I don’t. We can walk the same path we’ve walked dozens of times, and suddenly she stops. Her head goes up. Her ears become alert. Sometimes her nose goes directly to the ground. As far as I can tell, absolutely nothing has changed. But Remi knows differently. There’s a new scent. A
One of the very first lessons Remington and I learned together had nothing to do with “sit,” “stay,” or “heel.” It had everything to do with trust. Imagine being a puppy experiencing the world for the very first time. Every walk introduces something new—a passing bicycle, another dog, unfamiliar people, unexpected noises, and places you’ve