Hard to imagine, but… Mark, who describes himself as a ‘loud, obnoxious Marine,’ will admit that he was a nervous wreck when he and Falcon came to their first training classes here at K9P4P. He shares some thoughts on what brought him here and, how persistence paid off.
“The best way I can describe it is, when everybody went into lockdown during COVID, everybody had to stay home, and everybody was feeling isolated and alone… the whole world was feeling how I felt since I’ve been back from the Gulf War (’92).”
Feeling Isolated and Alone
I get startled easily, and it’s been that way forever. Now, having Falcon and going through the school has relaxed me a little bit; it also lets me concentrate more when I’m in the stores, not just watching people, watching aisles, making sure I’m okay if something happens, or seeing how fast I can exit.
What the course did for me was to help me with this dog… and I went through twice. Falcon just turned two, and he loves people and other animals, and it’s only been me with him.
It's Good to Go Out in Public with Him
He goes everywhere I go, and he’s very well-mannered; he likes to look around a lot, paying attention to everything. It’s good, it’s therapeutic. People like him and respect him. Nobody’s ever asked me what he does; they just say, ‘Wow, that’s a beautiful dog!’ They ask his name, and I explain why I’ve been taught not to give his name… so they can’t call or get your dog off his focus. People will do that.
Being in public, it’s nice to have him and to watch out for him. The funny thing is at the store I’ll ask him ‘What was it I’m supposed to get?’ and people look at me like I’m crazy! But everything I’m doing, I’m doing for him. And he’s involved. he’ll sit there and watch me… ‘I’m not sure, dad! I’m not sure that’s the right sponge, I think you wanted a stretchier one.’
It’s good to go out with him in public, I never had a dog that did that before as far as attentiveness and all that.
On the hot days he wears the boots and gets applauded all the time, people saying ‘it’s good that the dog wears boots,’ and I tell them Mary wouldn’t graduate me if I didn’t put them on him! The day that she did it with her K9, Justice, he wouldn’t do it. He was walking funny. She was trying to use him as an example; he’s like 4 years old and he wouldn’t do it… and you expect me to do it with my 100-pound dog?! But he does well and we get him ready to go out of the house.
Persistence Over Perfection
He loves his commands; just standing in front of me and listening to everything. We go for a walk every morning at a nice park out here in Zephyr Hills. And I’ll tell him “Sit… stay…” and I’ll walk a couple feet away from him and people will walk by and he stares at me. He doesn’t react at all to them, he’s very well-trained.
At the park with young kids he wants to watch when the kids are running or kicking a ball, but he’s getting desensitized to it because I’m going out a lot. In class all our dogs know each other and when he goes to the park if there’s a dog that he usually sees there, he’s already seen him two or three times; he’s got their smell. But if it’s a new dog coming around, he’s 100% curious.
After failing the first time I was completely broken-hearted. I failed. I felt like Falcon failed. I’m not coming back. And the people in the class said my dog was the hardest one to train. Everybody kept saying, ‘You’re doing so good, he’s doing so good…’
And then I had a month and a half off. I never failed anything in my life. I was pretty devastated. But I felt that what they had given and what they had put in, it was unfair of me with their generosity to walk out on them. So I had so many emotions in me… and I came back.
Second time around, he got it. He got into learning. And he was just getting better and better! When he’s awake and I’m moving around with him, it’s a constant training. It’s good for him and its good for me. They said ‘It’s not you and it’s not Falcon… you just needed more time.’
So I’m forever grateful for the training and what they did.. It’s pretty heart-felt for me. Again, I’m not ‘fixed.’ But all the changes… it’s good to utilize him in the way they said. Not as a crutch.
For me, the second time around it was like we were seniors in a class. We had already done it. It felt good, it felt comfortable. I could show him off a little bit more. He was doing so much better. It was just great. I stuck with it. They were right; I needed more time. I’m talking to you now but I don’t let out much like this… yeah, I’m grateful!
