After months of anticipation and buildup, the day was finally here. Hershey knew of Terran from the  t-shirt of his that has been in Hershey crate. The crate, the ‘safe’ place, her home. Terran was already a familiar smell to that area of hers. Kind of like the smell of pumpkin pie reminds me of Thanksgiving…..

The first part of the video was when Hershey first walks in. Let me start by saying Hershey was walked in by Rachel (trainer/foster) who left her immediately and went in the back room. Where Joe, Gibbs and I were in there waiting. We wanted to give Terran and Hershey some ‘alone’ time to get to know each other. I forgot to mention that the place we were in is a Veterinarian clinic. The smell of other dogs, the cat cry coming from he back room, the food crumbs of treats…..none of this overpowered the smell of chicken laying in Terran’s hand….

Hershey immediately recognized Terran! Not sure if it was  the T shirt, or the piece of chicken, but regardless he had her full attention. Terran made Hershey ‘sit’ as he feed her pieces of chicken. It only took a few minutes til Hershey was more interested in Terran than the chicken. Tail wagging at full speed from the second she went to him, her body moving from side to aside at times, as she crawled right up to lick his face.  I exhaled along with a few drops of tears…..

After a few minutes of alone time, we brought Rachel, Joe, and Gibbs from the back room. Gibbs and Hershey had meet before, Gibbbs came on quite strong, Hershey didn’t know how to take him (at first back then) but hours into the 24 hour car trip they were fast lovers. Yes, the were kissing each others face most of the way home. These two have not seen each other since then, almost a month.  So this was a big challenge for us to continue class and let them reunite only as a reward after training.

We had Terran and Hershey working together right away. Walking around, matching pace, learning to know each other, and trying to ‘sit’ on command.  We trained, walked, rested and played. During the rest times, where we would sit and talk, Hershey was by Terran side. She didn’t try to go back to Rachel, or come say hi to Donna and I. At one point, she laid down, right over his feet and let out a deep sigh. She was perfectly content! (Tears again)

We had about a good two hour long class. Not just for Terran and Hershey, but for Donna, Rachel, Joe  and myself.  Watching this process unfold is truly an amazing experience….