Lana, more confident every day
May 2007

Just a few weeks after my husband and I got our first dog (a sweet though scared rescued dog-a little over a year old and a shepherd mix,) we found out that we would be moving to Europe. Lana was new to us, we were new to her and we all were new to the experience of moving a dog across the Atlantic.

We wanted the move to go as smoothly as possible for her, and there were many challenges-not only was she new t o us, but we didn't have much time-we were scheduled to move in two months. Moving is stressful enough. But we were making an international move (which neither of us had ever done before) in just two months with a dog we'd rescued mere weeks before. We knew we'd need a lot of help.

We were very lucky. We chose Animal Sense because they held classes just a few blocks from our home, and we knew that would be very helpful in our situation. It turns out Animal Sense was just what we needed. First of all, the staff was extremely helpful in coming up with a plan for us. Given our schedule, we would only be able to
attend half the sessions of any classes in the upcoming session. AS accommodated us by having us attend half the sessions for two different classes. Most important, though, were the private sessions we had with Terri Klimek. Terri was Lana's (and our) personal trainer, and she was wonderful to work with. She helped us with our most urgent need-getting Lana acclimated to the crate she would be traveling in on the plane for 8-10 hours-and, most importantly, gave us the assurance and the confidence we needed that we could do this, and that Lana would be fine. Given all of the stress that we were under, the support that she offered was so important to us in so many ways. She was available and responsive whenever we had a question-and e called her plenty. She was even available to us after we'd moved. It's safe to guess that Lana didn't have a lot of stability in her life before we got her. And there have been many changes since we have -in these seven months she's lived in three different places in various states of packing and unpacking and crossed an ocean. I really don't know what it would have been like without the support of Animal Sense. We use what we've learned from there every day, and now that Lana has been in one home for over three months, we see her confidence growing every day.

Lana seems to be enjoying her new life here in Brussels. We live in the city on a beautiful little park with a pond. Lana loves having a park just outside her front door and has made some doggy friends there (including a chocolate lab named Luna-yes-Lana and Luna!)

She has ridden the metro a few times and has enjoyed a few outdoor cafes (though dogs are allowed inside many restaurants here, we're sticking with the outdoor ones with her for now.) She even came on a road trip to Amsterdam a few weeks ago. I think Lana loves her perch though best of all. We live on the seventh floor of our building with big sliding glass windows overlooking the park. Lana likes to perch there on her cushion and watch the birds and the ducks-there are even horses (mounted police) that come by a few times a week (they kind of freaked her out at first but she's gotten used to them.)

So, Terri and Jamie, thank you so much for everything. I apologize again for the lateness of this letter-I hope you'll find some snippets you can use. Please let me know if there's anything else I can provide.

I'm including two pictures of Lana in a separate e-mail, both on her perch. Since she has dark eyes in a dark face, she doesn't really photograph very well, but…I still think you get the idea of her in her new element.

Much thanks and big woof from Lana,

Sandy, Sean and Lana