Teranga and Emma

Since I opened my e-commerce site, I started attending many training camps, which led me to meet so many wonderful people. Emma is one of them! He sent us his story and we are happy to share it with you.

The story of Emma and Teranga

"When they asked me to tell about Teranga, it was immediately clear to me that it also meant telling the story of my personal growth and evolution. Meeting Teranga was a revolution: welcoming a dog into your life is no different from welcoming any other two-legged human being. You must be willing to make room and adapt your life rhythms to the new arrival!

With Teranga, my first and only dog, it was difficult to understand each other at first. Even more so because I already had a beautiful cat, Gioi, who was 12 years old at the time and who left us a few years ago. However, we were not left alone because he introduced us to a beautiful cat, our Patanella. I was saying, Gioi was there, and with the cat it was different for me. You don't perceive his need for attention and points of reference like a dog. At least, from my personal experience, I would say that a cat chooses you regardless because it is more inclined to be autonomous and perhaps take care of you, while the dog lets itself be chosen and needs you to take care of it. Your presence becomes vital, so much so that your absence, if not managed well, can become a source of anxiety and stress.

So I found myself having to learn everything, especially because it was a priority that Teranga could be serene and balanced. For this to be possible, I had to be one first! Our bond was not born like in the somewhat fictionalized stories, in which we understand each other with a look and become inseparable. Far from it: in the early days I was absolutely unable to be his point of reference because I wasn't prepared for his needs and, above all, I wasn't prepared as a person!

However, we did not lose heart, and our path crossed that of the Happy Dog Park dog center and two fantastic educators, Lucia Daniele and Aldo Apuleio, and later also Rita Amarando. Teranga was not yet a year old when we met them, and it was love at first sight that led to a lasting bond based on great professionalism and friendship, in particular with our "aunt Lucia", the volcanic owner of the dog center! Thanks to his guidance and our commitment we learned to know each other better, I was able to learn to understand Teranga's requests and needs. Since then, every day and every experience has been a new discovery and emotion, until the encounter with Sports Mantrailing. This wonderful discipline, in which for sporting purposes the finding of missing people is simulated, has become a game for Teranga thanks to which he wins a tasty prize, and for me, who leads it, it was amazing to learn how phenomenal the soft truffle of my companion who always finds the missing! I must admit that here too Teranga and I were not immediately aces: we were still in the process of getting to know each other and I had not yet learned to give her all the trust she deserved. We were helped by the passion and support first and foremost of our "aunt Lucia" and the top instructors, Beppe Brini, and not least of all the "aunts" and "uncles" who were our training and competition companions, our four-legged family! We worked hard and trained a lot, and so, track after track, we also managed to achieve excellent results and, above all, we definitively consolidated our relationship, becoming a true duo: she guides me with her nose and I lead her, entrust one another in our steps.

It must be said that, beyond the initial communication difficulties due, as I was saying, to my unpreparedness, Teranga has always been an extremely cuddly and sociable dog, perfectly reflecting her name. The "Teranga" in the Senegalese language indicates the characteristic of hospitality and welcome of this wonderful people, in homage to whom I decided to name the lively black dog that I chose to adopt seven years ago now!

Teranga has perfectly lived up to the name he bears and does not deny welcome, especially to other humans, to whom he bestows countless tail wags and licks, never satisfied with cuddles and caresses. A few evenings ago, during our usual walk, she was surrounded by some children who wanted to pet her and she remained there calmly to welcome and reciprocate their attentions, and then shook herself immediately afterwards! Oh yes, what a wonderful ability to shake himself he has: he meets emotions, all of them, many beautiful and some less so, he goes through them, lives them and shakes himself! For her, only the present exists, that moment, and then we continue looking forward, nose and tail upwards towards other experiences. It's a "happy heart".

In addition to the wonderful world of dog breeding, Teranga led and encouraged me to discover other worlds and places. We also met many new friends with trips and excursions, strictly on four legs. With her I learned to love the mountains. I, who have always been a woman of the sea and a lover of life at low altitude, found myself climbing mountains, even on snow-capped peaks. We got into the car and traveled over 900 km because Teranga had to go on the snow, and not behind the house on the Matese, no: he had to play in the snow of Trentino and, since we liked it so much, we went back also in the summer because Teranga ran along the paths and green meadows of the high-altitude mountain pastures. Experiences full of the most beautiful emotions that bring you into contact with equally beautiful places and people. I will never be able to reciprocate what my wonderful four-legged companion has given me: she has given me the chance to fill mine and her days with new life!

Maybe I taught her some rules of education, always trying to give her the opportunity to live her dog life to the fullest, so as to make her, I hope, a happy dog. But Teranga is teaching me a lot about how to live and love life, enjoying the moments, the moments and the simplicity. Because just nibbling a stick or chasing a ball with a hole is enough to be happy! Thank you, Teranga."