Obviously, though I loved my dog, I didn’t know enough about him and his kind.
Some days, after dropping Spot at the dog school in the morning and before I’d proceed to my office, I would watch my dog go through his training exercises. I’d always see the same thing: a leashed Spot walking around the dry grassy field controlled by Jonathan close beside him, occasionally sitting, then walking again.
Other days, when I’d come in the afternoon after work to pick him up, Jonathan would show me the “Long stay.” Spot would sit and stay a distance away in the field and watch us while we talked. Sometimes Jonathan would deliberately make Spot wait there while we picnicked on a rickety table having a late afternoon snack. As the darkness sets in I’d see his white face in the distance staring at us, like the face of a mime peering through the night. Once I observed the length of time. Jonathan would make Spot sit (well, he'd get into the sphinx position after awhile) and stay for an hour.
But I was getting impatient. Two months had passed and I was still waiting for the dog to tackle those wooden jumps he had on the field. One day I complained loudly and Jonathan took on an amused air, like a teacher talking down to a lesser informed student.
“How long did it take you to finish Grade 1?” he asked.
“Ten months,” I replied.
“Spot has been here only two months and you want him to graduate already?”
I didn’t think I can ever train a dog, I thought to myself. Takes too damned long. What I didn't know then was that I was interpreting the dog as a human being. If a human being took that long to learn, I reasoned to myself, he must be awfully stupid.
Obviously, though I loved my dog, I didn’t know enough about him and his kind.
Home Training
One day, Jonathan announced that he was going to make a “home visit” to see how Spot behaves at home. He arrived one late morning and met my dogs – our 2 Boxers and ten-month-old Spotty.
Jonathan claims being appalled at what he saw. He observed that Spot behaved like a spoiled brat at home. At the school, the dog behaved like a soldier in full alert, instantly obedient. But at home, he was another dog altogether – bull-headed, overstepped his boundaries, affectionate but manipulative. The cause? We were spoiling him. We were letting him have his way and rewarding him for it.
“Uh-uh-uh!” he exclaimed, as he saw me give a food tidbit to Spot during lunch. “Don’t feed him at table!”
“How could I not feed him,” I protested, looking down at the soulful eyes staring at me as Spot laid his chin on my lap. “He’s asking!”
“So you will reward his begging at table?” Jonathan demanded.
That was the first time I was made to understand that even the dog owner needs to be trained too. Your dog may come home trained to be obedient but if his household doesn’t extend that training at home and teach him his manners, he will teach the household what he wants instead.
Jonathan came often to the house to “train” us. All of us in the house were admonished to be firm to the dogs and not give in to their manipulative ways. We were advised to give a united front. If a dog throws a tantrum because he wants something badly – don’t give it. Give it when he’s behaved, not when he’s misbehaving.
As Spot began to notice Jonathan’s training extending its long arm to the home, I started to see the signs of an oppressed dog. The dog trembles in the face of a raised voice, even if it is not addressed to him. When Spot hears a voice raised in admonition against another dog I see him cringe and skulk away, tail between his legs, looking for someplace to hide.
The ultimate proof was whenever Jonathan arrives to the house. Wherever I am, as soon as Spot hears his trainer’s voice at the front door entering the living room, while the other dogs run to greet the visitor, Spot runs to me, sits facing the door and pushes backwards against my legs while listening intently to the travel of Jonathan’s voice in the house.
Jonathan will look for him, of course, and the more he calls the harder I feel the dog’s body push against me.
When I tell Jonathan where Spot is, only when he coaxes in a happy voice for Spot to come does the dog approach him.
( next post below)
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