Imperfectly Perfect, and that's ok!

info2439292
Mar 6, 2024
2 min read

Hey guys, Wenzdi here from Yes Boy! with a little blog - I'm at the coast this week with my own pack, and have had the glorious beach to myself on a few occasions. While walking the sands, I began to notice the rocks.

Stay with me here . . .

Some were jagged, some sharp, some misshapen or cracked. Some were odd colours or fairly ugly looking. Some were incredibly boring to look at. Occasionally, I'd come across a perfect rock. A beautiful colour, perfectly round and smooth and simply glistening in the sunlight. And this had me thinking.

Those perfect rocks, the odd 'rose amongst the thorns' have been moulded by the sea for years. How hard the sea has worked the rock to become so smooth. How similar this is to training our dogs.

The time we take to mould our dogs really does play a huge part in the result. However, it's not as simple as this.

I started to look closer at the rocks. Some of the most worn and grey rocks, to me, were the most beautiful. On the surface, from afar, they looked like nothing. Boring, ugly and grey. But a closer look revealed the most beautiful history, the story this rock told was phenomenal to me, and although this rock was not perfect from afar, to me, this was the most incredible find. I just had to bring it home.

And for a moment, I saw the rocks like I saw my own dogs. Not one of them is just perfect. My youngest is eager to learn, energetic and has a wonderful bond with me, but is an absolute whirlwind and runs me ragged. The second is youngest is a foreign rescue, a wonderful companion, such a difficult dog to motivate and so delicate in his emotions that I have to tread carefully to earn his respect, the second eldest is my heart dog, I couldn't ask for a better friend but he comes with his faults, a very gentle soul and almost too sociable for his own good, and finally there's the eldest. A 13 year old rottweiler I rescued as a pup. She was horrendous and the reason I was driven to better my knowledge in training. She had drive, independence, and trouble. . .

But at 13, she's a dream. Full of beans (beside some joint issues), a now very balanced dog I can 100% trust in any situation, food motived and intelligent and trouble free. It only took 13 years of moulding!

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Some rocks are easier to mould than others. Some rocks are almost perfect and require little work. Some rocks are not so. But for those rocks, time, patience and a closer look to reveal the beauty and potential is paramount.

I think I prefer my rocks perfectly imperfect.