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In my first two weeks with Chester, he is training me well! \u00a0Raising a puppy is a great and exhausting experience, but it has it’s rewards and Chester is teaching me valuable life lessons!<\/p>\n
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Number One: \u00a0 Love is born out of trust.<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0Chester loves me, and he trusts me and I don’t think those two things can be separated! \u00a0It’s not just that he knows I will feed him and put out his water, walk him when he needs to go outside, but that he knows I will be there and he cannot be afraid that I will leave him. \u00a0When we brought him home we knew being seperated from his litter mates and mother he would be insecure and afraid. \u00a0I slept next to \u00a0him for several nights, stroking him and assuring him I was still there! \u00a0When we moved into the crate at bedtime I still laid at \u00a0his door and talked to him before he went to sleep. \u00a0We all need that in our lives, we need to know that we are not alone and that somone is there for us. My Lord and my wife have been those for me, I will be that for Chester.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Number Two: \u00a0The assurance of love is a constant, never ending need.<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0I make it a point ot spend quiet time with Chester everytime I catch him in a “non-frantic” mood. \u00a0I pet him and talk to him and assure him that he is my buddy. \u00a0Jack told me to talk to him just like I would talk to any other person, and I do, and it really works, he may not understand the words but he understand my voice and the tone and I can see that he believes me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Number Three: \u00a0We all need our space.<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0Sometimes after some cuddling and petting, Chester will wander off to another corner of the couch and bury himself under a pile of pillows or a cool spot on the leather and fall asleep. \u00a0He wants to be with us, but he also wants to rest on his own, after all, he is wearing a fur coat all the time!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Number Four: \u00a0We all are more pleasant after a good workout.<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0Sadly with my back I have a hard time doing \u00a0that anymore but I can remember what a high it was to exhaust myself in physical activity. \u00a0Chester really needs that as a puppy, and the more he runs and frolics and tires himself, the happier he is, even at rest!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Number Five: \u00a0A best buddy is wonderful thing!<\/strong> <\/span>\u00a0Jack Graham and Jim Haverstock have both been best buddies and Carl Turner too and, of course my bride, Sherelene. \u00a0There have been others too, but in our lives very few, really. \u00a0A best buddy is someone you are completely happy to just be with, hang out with, even be silent, knowing they understand you, that you understand them and a deep love and respect is there at all times between you. \u00a0If you have that in life you are truly a blessed person! \u00a0Chester is going to be a great buddy!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As Christmas nears, I wish you love, peace, happiness and some time with a best buddy!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bessings,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n the pilgrim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In my first two weeks with Chester, he is training me well! \u00a0Raising a puppy is a great and exhausting experience, but it has it’s rewards and Chester is teaching me valuable life lessons! Number One: \u00a0 Love is born out of trust. \u00a0Chester loves me, and he trusts me and I don’t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20184"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20193,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20184\/revisions\/20193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}