The Jordan Shelley story takes an unexpected turn

Over the last few weeks I have spoken increasingly regularly to Jordan Shelley (he of the One Show training debacle).
I know, it's a very odd twist in the story.
I was after all his most vocal critic.
But I have to say you've got to admire this young guy's spirit even if we didn't like what he did on TV.
I've found out all about his dogs and his past and I find increasingly I have wanted to help him.
He obviously loves dogs. 
Jordan has three dogs, a Yorkie with brain damage he rescued from Spain, an ex bait dog called Jaffa Cake and a Staffie who previously lived with two agoraphobics.
He fosters lots of dogs, too.
He didn't finish school, has been largely instinctual in how he's trained so far and yes, he has watched Cesar Millan's TV shows. But that makes him a reflection of millions of other people who have watched without question.
Jordan wants to be around dogs all his life, he's not just a media creation.
We have all been young and blissfully unaware of what we didn't know at the time.
Most of us get to learn our life lessons in private.
But Jordan's had his moment in front of millions.
I'm amazed he didn't just want to curl up and hide.
But he's a tough cookie.
Against all advice he phoned me up.
He confronted one of his critics and asked for their help.
Brave.
I'd stopped writing about his journey as initially it seemed the best way, for him to quietly learn without the media following his every step. He'd tee'd up a week shadowing a really great positive trainer who had renounced dominance methods after learning betters ones, had signed up for what has been called the Harvard of dog training courses.
Then I emailed my own personal training guru's Ian and Kelly Dunbar in California to ask would they mentor Jordan as I'm no dog training expert.
What would they do if they were 21 again and just starting out?
And that's where it went a bit crazy, good crazy.
They had followed the One Show story with interest as had many American dog behaviour folk.
That's the fantastic thing about people who really believe in positive training - they don't just teach it, they live it.
They encouraged Jordan to go to the APBT conference in San Diego and went further and welcomed young Jordan into their own home.
He bought his own ticket, paid his way before you all say that it's just so unfair.
Anyone can go to these conferences. I went to one in the 1990s in Florida and I have to say it was mind-blowingly brilliant.
Ian and Kelly are quite simply the most fantastic influences any young trainer could hope for - not just technique and science-wise, but the altruism side of life, too.
I am sure Jordan will come back realising how much he still has to learn, I am sure.
But it's a great step in the right direction and quite an unexpected result.
The Fix the Dog segment was dreadful and it is fantastic how everyone pulled together to sort it out. But we should also celebrate a further victory of potentially having a high profile defector to the positive side!
Let's click and treat him for getting on that plane with a moment's notice and mixing with people who had only weeks before called him a 'clown' and much worse.
A Dalmatian can't change its spots, but I for one hope that a young impressionable dog trainer can change their gurus!
Good luck to Jordan and well done to anyone who now gives him the benefit of the doubt.