Obedience training had been delayed due to a multiple of factors. My sprained ankle was the number one reason. With a healed ankle, and many of the obstacles deferred for a time, the time was finally here to tackle the beast.
On this particular Wednesday night, I found myself inhaling my tacos and leaving YaYa and his Uncle Joe at out favorite taqueria. It was the first class, so I did not want to miss it. Besides the fact that it was the first lesson, the topic being "behavior" was near and dear to me. As it was a lecture format, our dogs were to be left at home.
While I was out, Uncle Joe and YaYa returned home. They finished up the homework and went out to the front yard to throw the football around. Uncle Joe, who visits us when he is on business in California, is good for this sort of thing. Even if it is a ploy to gain the "favorite uncle" title, he definitely puts some skin in the game.
Meanwhile, I was sitting in my chair in the middle of a parking lot freezing. I was doing my very best to absorb ever bit of information that I could. I didn’t even mind that the lecture went over by at least 30 minutes. I was confident in two things. I knew that YaYa was being cared for, and I knew that I would soon be taming the beast.
And it all seemed good.
Well, it did seem good, but things aren’t always as the seem. While I was out learning about obedience, and while Joe and YaYa were in the front yard playing football, the beast was searching for his own form of entertainment.
He found it in the dirty clothes basket. My favorite, red sweater – the one that everyone has been telling me looks so good on my – was taking a lickin.’ I came home to find the sweater on the counter top with a hole in the right shoulder. The instructor’s words of wisdom, "In order to be effective, you have to catch them in the act" were ringing in my mind. "Rubbing their nose in it (so to speak) does not work to teach them because they have already had their fun." Still, it might make me feel better.
As the saying goes, "while the people are away, the dogs will play" is true, oh SO true. I guess YaYa now knows why I don’t just let beasts run wild in the house when I’m not home. *sigh*
oh no! we once took care of my aunts’ dog – she ate everything, and by everything – i mean everything. i’ll never forget the day my dad came home to find his brand new golf shoes gone – with only the spikes left as evidence! good luck to you in taming your furry beast! – sorry about your favorite sweater.
yea, my male dog likes to mark “his” territory when we leave him out unsupervised… Beating the crap out of him has not helped :-) OK. I didn’t really beat him. I’d like to though, but we can’t catch him in the act!!