There are many posts I would like to be making right now. I never got a chance to post about our trip to Houston (we had a great time, my first convention in a wheelchair was bittersweet). I was supposed to be posting Yarrow’s triumphant homecoming, ready to take on the world as partners. Unfortunately that is not what this post will be either.
Yarrow has been home from board and train almost a month. Long enough for the full magnitude of her issues to become apparent. We are still waiting on a few more vet tests but the long term behavioral effects are all to clear; our future is not. I’ve spoken with two trainers, one who met her while she was still at K9 Assisted Independence, one who evaluated her shortly after her return home. One says wash her, she will never be stable. The other says she may be able to rebuild. They both agree she will never be as calm or confident as she was before her stay. I have one more trainer to meet with. One more opinion. I know I could get a million opinions and it wouldn’t make this any easier. I know what I would tell me if she weren’t my dog. But she is my dog. She is my dog and it is my fault she was ruined.
Our next few months will be difficult. Full of hard work and hard decisions. I don’t know what is going to happen next. I do know this isn’t the way our story was supposed to unfold.
Dog Powered 