The Price of Ignorance (Part I)

      It’s a costly mistake for not knowing anything about dogs once you have one. The price for that is regret. And guilt.

      When Spotty came into my life, my education and study about dogs and how to care for one began the day he arrived. Many pet lovers start that way. Follow that love with study and keen observation and you’ll develop into a responsible pet owner.

       It’s a costly mistake for not knowing anything about dogs once you have one. The dog depends on its owner for its health and well-being. He suffers if his owner does not know how to give it to him. The price for that is regret. And guilt.

The Doggy Playground

       I used to ransack my mind reasoning and re-reasoning, analyzing the lessons learned – and the lessons (or the wisdom?) I would’ve missed if I didn't go through those mistakes – when it came to Spotty’s first training school. Because of sheer ignorance, I didn’t make an educated choice about his trainer.

      I was a newbie pet parent for the first time. I had a lot to learn.

      Consequently, when the dog tried to communicate to me his distresses about the dog school I chose for him, I missed all the non-verbal signs. I didn’t yet know how to read the dog's signals.

      I was working in a small magazine company then in Antipolo City. One night, we were having a reunion party and I was on my way there that evening. But I had to make a stop across a certain corner to wait for a co-employee because she was hitching. I parked along a low wall across that corner and waited.

      The property behind that wall was dark and unlit. But in front, the headlights of passing cars illuminated a standing sign ahead of me. I decided to read it out of curiosity and my blood leaped. It was a dog school.

      A dog school? How does a dog school look like? I couldn’t see anything beyond the grilled locked gate. I swore to myself I will look at what’s inside that unlit property when I pass by in the daytime.

      I did pass by a few days later and I glimpsed the most beautiful sight to a dog owner’s eyes: a doggy playground. I saw hurdles, a huge truck tire, and ramps. I told myself this is what I was looking for. Spotty was a Dalmatian and when he grows older I feared I may not be able to give him the kind of exercise he needed. But in a doggy playground – he will get his workout!

      One day, when Spot grew big enough to be walked, I took him to a dog show at the Riverbanks mall in Marikina City to expose him. I remember my first entrance to the covered court. Dog trainers met me as we walked in, forking over their calling cards, asking me if my dog was trained and if it wasn’t – they can do it. I asked the price – and my hair stood on ends. That expensive?

       My mind flashed back to that doggy playground I saw a few weeks earlier. I preferred those ramps and hurdles for my dog. I turned and decided right then and there I was going to go to that dog school a few miles down the road to compare prices.

A young Spot at the dog school

      Meet the Trainer

       It was thus a fateful afternoon when I arrived at that dog school, Spotty riding in the front seat beside me. I turned my car towards that grilled gate where, just in time, a young man arrived from outside to open it and motioned for me to drive in. I drove through a dry grassy field towards a simple hut which I presumed was the office, past the doggy playground. The jumps and ramps I saw up close were made of wood with peeling paint. I presumed the huge truck tire dominating the field was a jump too. A short distance away was a kennel where dogs barked upon my arrival. They were working dogs: Shepherds, a Doberman Pinscher, and a black Labrador.

      Then I met the trainer that would change all of our lives: a tall slim guy named Jonathan. He came out of the hut flashing his most appealing smile. Do I want to train my dog, I was asked.
      Yes, I said.

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