A promise

I have always considered myself a 'positive' dog trainer. I tried to be kind to my dog, to find training solutions that didn't include any kind of physical punishment. I avoided all kinds of 'training' collars, harsh methods and allowing emotion to get involved in my interactions with my dog (ok we all have bad days where screaming NO at the top of our lungs seem to be the only solution at the moment). I do this for many reasons but mainly because I don't feel it is necessary in order to have a happy healthy relationship with my dog. I am not the best dog trainer in the world, in fact I would not even rate myself in the top 30% of dog trainers. But I try to keep to my beliefs in how I work with my dog.
Now you may ask why the drawn out diatribe on my training philosophy. Well the other day - I let myself and more importantly, Jet, down. I let someone else decide what was the best way to handle a training situation, and I stood by and let it happen to my dog.
No need to go into the details, suffice it to say that it involved physical punishment in the form of a foot and contact with my dog. The reason you ask...well Jet just couldn't resist visiting another dog and we had to teach her that that wasn't allowed. Now I am not Mother Teresa, if there was a real danger of physical harm to either dog, I would be the first one to use whatever means necessary to make sure it didn't happen. This wasn't the case at all. I completely appreciate that Jet needs to learn how to ignore other dogs when she is working with me and how to approach other dogs in a less 'rude' manner. I need to figure out a way to get through to her in a calm, proactive way how to control those bully impulses. I haven't quite gotten there yet, have some ideas that I plan on testing out and together Jet and I will figure this out. And if we don't...well you know what...big deal. It may mean we never play team sports like flyball...do you really think Jet cares? Not highly likely. We may only be able to play at things like agility or tracking or rally, where we are the only team working at one time. That's ok too.
But this much I know. I will NEVER let anyone physically kick my dog EVER again. If that is what we have to do (or worse) to get her beyond her 'issue' with visiting other dogs then it is just not worth it to me.
So this is for Jet  -
This is my promise.
You can trust me to keep you safe. You can count on me to work as hard as I can to understand your motivation and to see things from your perspective. You can believe that I will help us to find a solution that doesn't involve physical force, compulsion or pain. Because after all, you didn't ask to play flyball, or do agility, or obedience. You just are who you are, happy to be with me whatever we are doing (ok maybe not bath time).