Starting Doglando
On this very special episode of Canine Connections, I bring on my good friend Amber Walker, who was there during the very beginning days of Doglando. We discuss what it was like during those early days and the importance of advocating for your beliefs.
When I was first getting started in my work in canine enrichment, I remember sending out so many emails and so many handwritten letters to all of these different people all over the United States just wishing for an opportunity to pick up dog poop. All I wanted was to scoop poop and, as a result, gain experience in dealing with dogs in a lifestyle that I never had witnessed, never had experienced, and, quite frankly, didn’t want to promote. But because I come from a very different way of living with dogs, I wanted to become familiar without having to own my own dogs. I wanted to learn what exactly is ownership and what the captivity of dogs actually means. How much of this is really the dog as the problem and not the environment? So, wherever it took me I was ready to go and give my sweat, my tears, my labor, and my soul just to get this experience. And I was so young, I started writing my first letters around 18, and I received rejection after rejection after rejection. To this point, I remember one day saying that I would never reject someone else who is following their passion. If somebody comes to me and is hugely, immensely, vehemently passionate about their work with dogs, then I will never step in the way of that. Even if it’s not the best time in my world, for that person, I will say yes. And I remember that so vividly because that’s exactly what happened with Amber.
Teena Patel is the founder of the canine enrichment campus, Doglando, for restricted canine companions. The University of Doglando is a place where dogs can be dogs and live a fruitful and purposeful lifestyle. To learn more about Teena Patel and the University of Doglando, please contact us online or call us at (407) 574-3160.