Cesar ( the dog whisperer) would be more than disappointed in us as dog owners, he would be downright disgusted. This 24-pound mutt of ours can be a little monster and we have been shamed by her behavior on a number of occasions. She’s long on tricks for sure, but short on obedience. She jumps on us, sleeps on our bed between us, under the covers with her head on the pillow! She doesn’t come when we call her. In order to get her to come in the house, we have to yell, “I’m getting the hose”. And the joy of taking her to the park and watching her run like the wind is over. She has bullied too many dogs and we just can’t take the non-verbal, evil stares by other dog owners any longer. More than once, we’ve slinked out with our own tails between our legs.
Not that we haven’t tried to get her to obey. When we adopted her as a 3-month-old puppy, we read books, watched shows, and went to doggie training school. We tried the exercise, discipline and then the love approach as recommended by the experts. But, she has consistently out smarted us. Her dominance is evident in the way she perches on top of the back to the couch like a cat! On the back! What dog does that?
We may have the only dog in Petaluma that was kicked out of the “doggie country club” 5 minutes after dropping her off. Apparently she had “separation anxiety” and was trying to jump the 10-foot fence, leaving us only hours to find someone to watch her before we left for vacation.
But, we love her despite all the frustrations. She cuddles, will only look in her dish to eat when we give her permission. She plays “baseball” by tagging the bases, rolls over and runs around the house like a crazy dog which cracks us up every time. The cute little tail of hers wags no other whenever she is near us. What unabashed enthusiasm.
So, when we weigh the troubles and the joys, it’s obvious that she’s worth it.
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