Four-legged Freights
One morning I was watching the news and a special about disciplining dogs came on. The program had taken four disobedient dogs to Washington DC dog training in hopes of turning them into refined pets. Each dog was treated individually and taken through a series of exercises. Dog clicker training was a main focus of the program A command would be followed by a click, and if the dog obeyed it received a treat. After long enough, the dog would do the command without a command or reward. I was astonished at the progress the dogs made in such a short time. Each went in a miscreant and came out a jewel.
Had they held auditions for the program, my dog would have been a shoe-in. Jesse, my dog, and I have a very rocky relationship. As it seems, he is the king of the castle. I didn’t think dogs could wear pants, but Jesse has showed me differently. Jesse is a diva by all standards. I have lost count of the times I’ve slept on the couch because he took the entire bed. Any pillow I have must be tested and approved by him first, and if he likes it, he might choose to take it for himself. He also has taken on the role of my personal taste-tester, even if I didn’t ask for his service.
I feel like I’ve done all I can to try and reform Jesse. I tried using tips from a book from my brother-in-law; called Good Masters make Good Dogs. I did everything the book suggested, child-locking my kitchen, putting shock systems on things, but nothing seemed to work Jesse just out-smarted it all. I was at a loss. I then turned to my veterinarian. He outlined a plan that always worked for his other patients. Well, obviously, my dog is either a genius or a dunce because it didn’t work. Jesse seemed to repel any type of constructive reformation.
The expo seemed like my last hope. If it could fix the terrible dogs I saw on TV, Jesse would be an easy task. After all, Jesse was harmless at heart, he would never hurt anyone. All he needed was a little tough love, or a lot. After watching the news special, I ran to the internet to see if I could get Jesse into the program. The news station website was actually running a contest where ten people can win the chance to take there dogs to D.C. for training. I am normally not the type to enter contests, but I was hopeful.
Three weeks later, I got a message on my cell phone from the dog expo in DC. I was quite surprised because I had almost forgotten about the entire things. I had to have Jesse in DC in two weeks. I took him to be groomed and get a checkup just in case. Now that he was presentable, Jesse and I got in my car, him in the front seat of course, and set off. By the end of the workshop, Jesse was a new dog. He sat in the backseat on the way home, slept on his dog bed for the first time, and started a new diet void of human food.
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