Although I stated 8 years of experience, it is actually longer than that if you count my youth. As a kid I was not allowed to have a dog… too much responsibility my father would say. My neighbors poodle April didn’t get the message. April figured out how to open our back door and jump on my bed to wake me up every morning. My mother fessed up to unlocking the door. My neighbor use to kid that April was my dog and only came home to sleep. I fed, walked and washed Ms April. When I was a teen April passed away, I was devastated. A new neighbor had a litter of puppies, one of which the mother rejected. I took on the task of raising the little girl, after all it was summer so I didn’t have to worry about sleep. We took her to the vet. At a few days old the vet told my mother and I not to name the puppy, she probably wouldn’t make it. My father figured the vet was right and let me keep the puppy. I named her Trixie. I woke up every three hours and fed her with an eye dropper, then wiped her behind with a wet washcloth until she pooped. By the end of summer the vet gave her a clean bill of health. By the end of winter I had trained Trixie all the basic commands and a few more difficult ones. She was a great running companion for my father, his new best friend ran with him every day. I have a regular client Tasha who has emotional issues. She likes cats but can’t stand other dogs. She is a nervous tale wager, so other dog parents don’t understand when I ask them to keep their babies at a safe distance from my furry friend. I taught her to heal, sit, stay, and how to ignore other dogs. One day when we were on our walk, a beautiful blue gray pit bull puppy across the street came running to Tasha while his parent just sat on his lawn. I yelled at the puppy’s parent to leash his dog. “He’s harmless, he won’t hurt your dog” he yelled back. “I’m not worried about him, I’m worried about what my girl might do to him”. I commanded the dog to stop, sit, he understood no commands. The man didn’t move and the puppy came right up to Tasha. I told her to sit as the puppy came up to sniff her. She did, I made eye contact with her and she locked with my eyes. As the puppies parent finally crossed the street to get him. I picked up Tasha because she was shaking, and I held her until she stopped, we walked away. The man leashed the puppy and pulled him back across the street as he yelled at him “bad dog” I yelled back “NO, bad parent”. All children do as we say if we respect them. Your furry family members are honest in their affection and loyalty and I’ll do my best to reciprocate. I will treat your baby like my own.