The Art of Bonding

I got the idea for this poste from my fellow TSE classmate, fellow blogger, and good friend, Anneliese. Thanks for the great idea. Anyway, a year ago yesterday, I met Mason for the first time. I must say that he is a completely different dog from the withdrawn, unaffectionate, and stubbern monster I met that day at TSE. When I first got him, he decided right off that I was not his master, and was therefore not important enough to listen too. He demonstrated this by trying to yank my arm off with the leash, deliberately making noise at night since he knew that would make me get up and not sleep, and leading me off every curb we came in contact with that first week. However, I also noticed a lack of trust. This was noticeable because of the way he ignored my presence when we were just hanging out. But, the most interesting behavior he had was making absolutely no noise and showing absolutely no excitement whenever the other dogs would do so. It was allmost as if he was in his own little world, and noone else was a part of it. However, he is completely transformed from the dog he used to be. Now, he is completely attentive, traveling with absolute obediense, which keeps us both safe. Also, he sleeps through the night without a problem, sometimes not getting up untill he hears me get the leash for his morning park time, and I find myself receving countless kisses. But, the most interesting transformation took place when he went from the quiet dog that would ignore everything around him, to the constantly curious dog who is constantly finding something to be vocal about. Whether it be someone walking in the front door, someone walking in the room, or just because it seems like a fun random thing to do, he allways approaches someone with a toy or bone in his mouth and makes a noise between a bark, a growel, and a whine. Durring all of this, his tail is going a million miles a minute as if he's saying, "Okay people, I'm here. You can stop whatever you're doing and give me all your attention.
However, I'd have to say that the most satisfying feeling came when we were at my beep baseball games. I realized how much we'd bonded when I was out in the field, and he turned in to that monster I remember from the first day at TSE. However, once I was back with him in the bleachers, he lay by my feet contentedly as if he'd been behaving like that the whole time. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that the most rewarding things in life usually take time. No matter how hopeless things may seem, they can turn around with plenty of patients and persistance.