Our Experience – (Adventure Eric and Charlie)
Hi everyone, Adventure Eric here! I felt like it was time to finally explain as best
as I can how OutHounds has affected me and Charlie. This all started a few years
ago when my wife Kim and I adopted Charlie from a local rescue. People had tried
to adopt him but he was returned…TWICE. I can kind of guess why now but at the
time I couldn’t grasp why he would be returned.
Charlie wasted no time in coming out of his shell with us. They say normally you
will know the dog you have adopted in about 3 – 6 months depending on what
they’ve had to deal with in their life up to that point. Charlie was very forgetful
abut his past. So full of life and energy right away. The dog that I needed!
We tried not to waste much time and looked for reputable and responsible
trainers. I had done dog training with so many others in the past. My wife and I
raised 3 boxers, 2 of them from puppies and 2 of them were rescues. All 3 of our
boxers were Canine Good Citizens and 2 were Therapy Dog qualified. All this says
is that we had knowledge of trainers and training types. I knew Charlie would
need a different approach. We found Lauren and Tim at Harmonious Hounds. The
positive reinforcement method of training “clicked” with Charlie right away. He was
a handful the first few classes spending most of our time outside so he could
deflate and calm down.
Time went on and we repeated every class that they taught. We even repeated
classes 2 or 3 times. We became good friends with Tim and Lauren. At the end of
one of the classes I approached Tim and asked “What’s next, Tim? What can we do
for Charlie now?” Tim said we had to get together. He had an idea and needed
some help getting out on paper and making sense of it. That idea folks became
OutHounds Adventure Club!!
Over the winter we gathered our thoughts, wrote stuff down, researched other
points, had meetings (a lot of meetings) and developed something to start that
Spring. It was exciting to be apart of the development.
Spring came and off we went. You knew each and every hike how excited Charlie
was because he didn’t hide it. Everyone knew Charlie was ready to go!! The
adventure had really begun. We thought this would be really good for Charlie
because he lacked constant socialization. Charlie has so much energy that when
greeting other dogs, it comes across as being aggressive. We all thought that this
would help with that issue, as long as I kept him moving forward. (All of our
OutHounds out there have heard us say…just keep them moving forward, you’ll
see the difference.) What happened was almost a miracle. Charlie interacted with
other dogs WHILE hiking and moving forward. He was GREAT!! The
transformation was incredible.
The only negative that came was the more we hiked and the longer we hiked, the
more stamina he had. A walk around the block would never do anymore. I had
found Charlie a job, something that he enjoyed doing but something that
wouldn’t change his personality.
Now, the real impact I found was on me! YES ME!!! Getting outside and hiking
these trails with my dog, my backpack, and my friends was exhilarating. At the
same time, I found I was able to decompress after a hard week at work. On the
trails I only had to think about Charlie, the group and where we were going. I
could leave behind every other problem for a couple of hours and just be in the
moment. I found that helping…mentally. The hiking and terrain with the added
backpack that Tim and I carried for supplies but mostly for the challenge was
helping physically.
The reasons for starting OutHounds for others, myself and Charlie were seeing
the benefits. This is an amazing ride and I hope others will continue to join us.
Charlie and I love seeing new faces as well as our old friends, and of course…all of
Charlie’s girlfriends!
Please, if you haven’t had a chance to join us on a hike…make time. I promise we
will not disappoint you. You don’t need a dog to enjoy and reap the benefits of
OutHounds Adventure Club…but it does help! Thank you all for reading!!
