Read Online Finally Home-Lessons on Life from a Free-Spirited Dog by Elizabeth Parker - Free Book Online Page B

yard.
    As I proceeded to go into the house and grab my car keys, out of nowhere a flash of fur came running toward me. My sadness and worry quickly transformed into anger once again , and I started screaming at him. Since I ha d never previously raised my voice at this dog, he immediately knew he was in deep trouble.
    He ran straight past me, through the open door, past the living room, into the kitchen , and way back into the corner of his crate. I did not have to say a word. He knew he had made a bad decision , but his instinct and desire to chase had outgr own his fear of how much trouble he would get in.
    Brandi was calm as could be while she watched the entire scene unfold. At first she had attempted to follow him, but promptly came to us when we called her. She ha d always been the ultimate perfect angel. If every dog w ere destined to behave like Brandi, I could guarantee that we would own about five or six if not more.
    This was just one of many nights that were stressful as we tr ied to contain Buddy. Admittedly, I did not have tons of patience with certain people, but I ha d the utmost patience and tolerance when it c ame to dogs. Put me in a room with ten people and I w ould be annoyed in five minutes. Put me in a room with ten friendly dogs and I w ould be in my glory.
    Buddy, however, continually tested us to the fullest of his ability. Even I was at my breaking point. I could not think of enough ways to outmaneuver him. Any time we thought we had his tactics all figured out, he would learn our tricks and then outsmart us again. Growing up, we had many dogs, but none even came close to having Buddy’s idiosyncrasies , and none of them behaved as badly . I did not know how we were going to handle both.

Chapter 6-Training
    While observing some people with their dogs, it is often a question of who is training who m . It is not uncommon to see an owner with their arms extended, holding on for dear life, while their dog runs wild. Unfortunately, I was becoming one of those owners.

    Moving forward, training Brandi was something of a chore. This was not because Brandi was bad, but because Buddy, although mischievo us, was an extremely smart dog. During our sessions, I tried to teach Brandi to sit and had my training treats handy. Buddy would join in and sit on command.
    When I tried to ignore him and focus solely on Brandi, he growled , moved a little closer , and sat again. I could see the wheels spinning in his mind, saying , “I am sitting . G ive me a treat!”
    He was doing exactly what I had asked only I was not asking him . Brandi would then expect a treat as well and simply could not or would not con centrate until I gave her one . This went on for days. I tried to lock Buddy in a separate room, but then Brandi just focused and obsess ed upon looking fo r her best pal, Buddy. 
    Buddy was no help as he would yelp and bark from the other room, causing Brandi to continuously search for him until I let him out.
    It got to the point where I actually opened up a beer at twelve o’clock in the afternoon. I ha d never had much of a drinking problem, but you might have thought differently when Michael called me from work to see how things were going. I answered the phone with a slight slur in my voice telling him that all was going well. My technique, however, did work.
    From that day forward, I developed a bit more patience and was actu ally able to find training enjoyable. Of course, beer was no longer necessary. Brandi actually learned to sit, lie dow n, roll over, and give her paw. She easily mastered the commands for “come” and “stay.”
    The one trademark move Buddy could not handle her doing was his high five. Whenever I tried to teach her that, he would move closer to me, growl, and offer me his high five, first his left paw, then his right. He would also make an attempt to block me from teaching Brandi.
    I let him keep that as his own personal trick since that was the first one I had ever taught him.