A couple weeks after BiJae and I found each other we moved up to southern Oregon. We moved in with a couple of friends in a house. It worked out well for us, we had our own room and a big back yard that allowed for BiJae to be out while I went to work. I found a tire repairman job at a truck stop about fifteen miles down the highway. It was swing shift work which worked well for me. I'm not a morning person by any means.

I didn't realize it at the time, but this allowed for some great training and bonding time for BiJae and me. Each night that I worked I would not get home until after midnight. My two roommates were already in bed. I would let BiJae in from the back yard. He would proceed to tell me how much he missed me by giving me a big "Aarrooo". I was nervous about his waking the roomies so I would take him out for a walk where he could talk a little louder.

This became a nightly ritual. I would walk in the house, let BiJae in from the back yard and then grab the leash and take him for a walk. We'd go out for quite a while. There really was nothing for me to do at the house, maybe watch tv, but at that hour there was nothing on. So we started walking thirty to forty minutes at a time. I used this opportunity to begin to teach BiJae some basic commands. The first one was heel. I'd never had a dog heel before so I knew it was going to be a test for both of us. In truth, I'd never had to train a dog to heel. He picked it up pretty quickly.

We were out walking one night when we had a real test. BiJae had learned a few commands, Stop, Heel, the basic survival skills. He wasn't quite to the off lead ability, but I kept a pretty loose grip and let him sniff around. Not much was stirring at that hour, except maybe a coon or possum in the bushes. BiJae heard it first and lunged forward toward some shrubs. The leash slipped right out of my hand and I yelled, 'Stop'. BiJae stopped, eyes fixed on the noise in the bushes, but pointed his ears back at me. He stayed there for a moment pointing at his prey. Finally he slowly looked back to me as if to ask, "Can I?" Since he did what he was told I rewarded him with a nod and set him loose.

Through these walks I realized we were building a strong bond and building our own communication. It was late at night and I couldn't holler at BiJae to get him to do what I wanted. What came from those walks was something I never expected. BiJae and I learned to communicate without words. Because of the time of night I wasn't able to use my voice. I inadvertently built up a set of hand-signals to communicate with BiJae. Instead of hollering his name to get his attention, I snapped my fingers. It got to a point where I could command BiJae to do specific tasks with subtle hand movements. Our silent communication became very strong through these early nights spent walking together.