Before Sadie Mae, I had never been a guardian to a reactive dog. It was a world completely unknown to me.
Before 2004, I didn’t have a clue what was going on with a dog that barked and acted aggressively at the end of the leash. My advice was to U turn or walk on the other side of the street. All of that advice came from a place of seeing the behavior but not taking a hard look, a empathetic look, at the WHY of the behavior.
Skip to 2007 and I am a guardian to a reactive dog and I have no choice but to look very closely at this dog and explore the WHY a little deeper. A whole lot deeper.
The first time Miss Mae lept up and put her mouth on someone’s elbow, I was shocked. I didn’t justify it, ignore it or make excuses; I knew immediately that I had a problem. For two weeks I thought about rehoming her. I felt out of my element, full of anxiety, unprepared, but mostly, I didn’t want a dog with this problem.
But, I knew that with the responsibility of adopting her I took on the responsibility of all her quirks, good and bad.
And so the journey began.
I immediately started to be proactive and do for Miss Mae whatever worked for her. I walked her while she held a retrieving dummy in her mouth because it soothed her; she reacted less. I tried her at my day care and it was clear that wasn’t the place for her. I started to implement a sit and ‘wait’ before I allowed her to eat to help fix her re-directed behavior towards my other dog. I encouraged her away from the window and all the triggers that caused her to get upset and redirect.
We tried and learned and the whole time, Miss Mae was just Miss Mae.
Today, 6 1/2 yrs after taking her into my life, I am so much wiser, more grateful, and a better dog person for her existence. 
They say the right dog comes into your life at the right time; that is Miss Mae for me. To deal with her fearful, aggressive behavior and personality, I had to step up in a big way. I had to get creative and be more empathetic. I had to be my dog’s defender, advocate and leader and to do that, I had to get over myself.
I had to stop caring, and I mean really caring, what others thought;
I had presumptions of what people must think of my growling, lunging and barking Doberman Pinscher.
I had to put my ego aside and instead of focusing on strangers and their opinions I had to focus on my dog and her well being. I had to focus on keeping her from going into a fearful state and responding aggressively and fearfully. That would require a big paradigm shift but the more I chose those strangers over my dog, the more often she lashed out.
Over the course of several months, I made many mistakes and experienced umpteen embarrassing episodes. But, I was slowly making the change and when I stopped caring about what I could not control, the better I was.
The whole process was a big learning curve and incredibly humbling.
However, the change didn’t stop with Sadie Mae. The change in attitude started to affect other areas of my life. The biggest change was my increased confidence. Confidence knowing I knew what was best for my girl. Confident enough to follow through regardless of the judgements from strangers, family and friends.
And with increased confidence comes freedom. Freedom from concern about the opinions of others. Freedom to trust in my gut, my knowledge, my decisions and choices. And when I gained that confidence and the freedom that came with it, I knew I’d never go back because I began to see all the possibilities that were always there; I had just never seen them.
Funny thing about our dogs; if we are open to it, if we are courageous enough to look, they tell us much about ourselves and they can take us to places we may not of gone on our own.
When we are willing to face what we don’t like, we can grow and be better for it.
Miss Mae has been helping me do better and be better since December 2006. On her 7th Birthday, I say Thank You to my reactive dog; my teacher.