The other day in downtown Boise, a man walking by saw me working with Hazel and said, “She must love you more than anything by the way she looks at you.”

“No, she’s waiting for her next command,” I replied.

The man was completely shocked and couldn’t believe it.

I explained to him that she’s a working dog, and she’s just doing what she’s told. It’s not a “love” like people love. She’s watching and listening like she’s trained to do. No more. No less.

I recently posted a photo of Hazel and me where I’d called her over and told her, in German, to sit and stay while the photo timer went off. In the photo, she appears to be gazing lovingly into my eyes, but the reality is that she was just waiting for me to release her so she could go do something else.

The bond between a working dog and their handler is very, very strong. It’s a love and respect like no other.

I do believe Hazel loves me to some point and prefers to be with me. I’m definitely her favorite person.

But she would rather be working. She would rather be finding drugs, biting bad guys, running fast and doing whatever she can to get her toy.

She’ll protect me and alert me to danger and perhaps some of that is “love” and our bond. But mostly, it’s because that’s what she’s trained to do.

It’s hard for some people to see working dogs this way, but understanding a breed will help you fulfill their needs and give you both a better life together.

The Belgian Malinois breed doesn’t need pajamas. They need to work…

A little like you don’t need to program-hop if you’ve done Code Red before.

You already know Code Red works better than anything else out there.

What you need is to work the program, so the program can work for you.

If you’re already doing that, keep it up and great job. 💪

If you’re kinda following it, it’s better than totally abandoning it. Just understand it’s gonna take you longer, and either be okay with that or step it up.

If you’re not following it all, then odds are you’re too ashamed to try again OR you need a shot in the arm.

It’s hard looking back at how successful you were, because it reminds you of how far you’ve fallen.

I get that. I fell pretty far at the end of 2023, and it took me months to claw my way back.

I used support to do it, because going it alone wasn’t working.

Support can be the shot in the arm you need.

YOU have to be brave enough to seek it out.

It’s humbling for sure.

But as someone who’s been on both sides of this, I can tell you with absolute certainty that staying trapped in that “failure prison” is a million times worse.

You may have “failed” – temporarily – but YOU are not a failure.

So stop acting like one and step back into the light.