Here's an email I received from one of my puppy owners:

Hey Mary Ann,

Thank God for the wonderful re-call you imprinted in the puppies!!!!!

Dugan and I went for our first walk around the block tonight. We’ve been going up and down our street – but tonight was our first foray beyond those limits. Everything was going fine until Dugan stopped dead in his tracks and wouldn’t move. I stood there trying to figure out what he was so scared of because there weren’t any cars or people or dogs or anything around except the sidewalk we were on and a house........and a fire hydrant! He was staring straight at the hydrant with complete fear and although I’d never seen that before, I recognized the fear. I quickly started going back over in my mind everything I’d read about what to do when you see that fear response, but while I was trying to remember what to do (because I knew this was critical) Dugan bolted and managed to pull the lead out of my hands and he started running down the sidewalk away from me. My heart stopped and then I took off after him, but he’s really fast and there was no way I was going to catch him. So I kept calling his name and started running the other way, but I could see that wasn’t going to work. Thank God I had the presence of mind to drop to my hands and knees and start playfully calling, “Puppy, Puppy, Puppy” – he stopped, I called puppy puppy puppy again, and he came running to me. I nearly started crying I was so relieved, and I’m soooooo happy that the response is so deeply imprinted in him that he turned around and came back to me even in his state of panic (and mine). We’ve been practicing it, because we took your warning seriously – and it worked exactly at the time we needed it – so thank you.

We did manage to get past the hydrant. I just waited until he had scoped it out and moved forward gently. By the time we passed it he was fine, no fear for him, although my heart was still beating so fast I could feel it. The rest of the walk was fine. We will be going by that hydrant again tomorrow, but this time I will make sure I have the lead wrapped several times around my hand and now I’m ready for other fear responses.

I hope all is well with you, and thanks again,