Dog therapy
April 19, 2007 By: almostgotit Category: dogs, humor, jobless, writing
“Looks like he’s got more’n a little pit bull in ‘im!”
The tattooed guy leaning out of his pick-up to admire my dog surely meant well. Not that I actually saw his tattoo, but I know he had one. The problem was, he was talking about my dog, and see: I would never own a pit bull!
My friends told me to get a dog. It had been a hard year, and I’d never felt more alone in my life. It seems I wasn’t alone in this feeling, though, as several of my friends had also been similarly abandoned in various ways (by husbands for instance, or employers, or a little of both.) “Get a dog,” they advised. “It will love you unconditionally, and help plug the holes.”
I was a little skeptical.
I grew up with dogs. (And cats. And birds. Also nice little rodents, chickens, ducks, and a very large goose. A one-winged seagull, for a while. We were one of the weirder families in our subdivision….)
In my house now, we have two cats already, and the nice thing about them is they come already basically trained. But I knew that dogs had to be housebroken, and trained to sit, and that you can’t just leave them alone for a couple of days with a dish of food and a litter box. Also, you never quite know what you’re getting with a dog. I knew that, too. Once upon a time, many years ago, we had Steve. Steve was a pound puppy and there was something wrong with him (besides his name, I mean). I swear we didn’t beat him or anything, but he started biting people. I’m sure it didn’t help that we had one neighbor who teased him with a stick, and another who once tried to shoot him when he got out of our fence (YES. WE’VE MOVED.) We had small kids though, so Steve couldn’t stay. That broke my heart, and shook my confidence as well. So no more dogs.
But last fall we got Jerry (so named by family committee, which should say a lot about committees in general). I thought about getting a real dog this time, from a breeder, but was unable to resist my own inbred preference for lost-cause animals. I told the humane society folks that I wanted a medium-sized, mellow dog. We discussed getting an adult dog, but I was worried about dealing with an unknown history. Besides, our kids wanted a puppy, and there was this wriggling little pile of “boxer-mix” pups that were too hard to resist. Thence came Jerry.
He’s already past the “medium-sized” category, and still growing. He jumps on people. He jumps on everything. He eats everything, too, including the kitchen floor. He’s hard to walk on a leash, even with a prong collar. We’ve consulted with dog trainers. We’ve tried the “gentle leader” collar that people swear by. We’ve tried saying “no” (doesn’t work) kneeing him in the chest (doesn’t work) and ignoring him (doesn’t work either). The dog trainer smiles weakly and tells us she’s sure he’ll get better when he’s older. The vet just laughs.
He’s a boxer mix, though. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
April 20th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Jerry sounds wonderful! I’m a dog trainer and what we think is wonderful sometimes isn’t what dog *owners* think is wonderful! Have you taught Jerry to love his crate? That’ll help prevent him eating everything (including the kitchen floor). Watch out for raisins and grapes – if Jerry gets hold of those, he’s a goner (they’re toxic to dogs).
Also, you might want to check to see if you live near a Karen Pryor Certified Training Partner. http://karenpryoracademy.com/find-a-trainer Also, check to see if a Certified Pet Dog Trainer (CPDT) lives in your area – http://ccpdt.org.
Happy training! Smooches to Jerry (love that name!)
April 20th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Thanks so much for the comment and the resources, Laurie! Yes, Jerry sleeps in a crate at night, and sometimes stays there when we have company. We have also discovered the magic of using a squirt gun, which for Jerry is pretty much 100% effective in getting him to behave. He’s getting a bit better as he ages, too!
July 20th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
I thought it was a good name, myself. And besides, if you thought it was such a bad name, you could have changed it. After all, YOU were on the family commitee too.
July 20th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
You’re absolutely right that I shared committee responsibility. And I don’t think it’s a bad name. Sure beats Dad’s suggestion of “Gomez.” In fact, that’s one of the ways committees work, and it’s called “making concessions.” Which isn’t too far away from another thing called “selling out,” but that’s another conversation we need to have. After the one called “why we are NOT going to buy Almostgotit’sdaughter another cat. OR a snowblower.”
Thanks for commenting. Love you xxoo
July 28th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Don’t believe that about raisins being poisonous to dogs; I have a lurcher, she polished off 900gms of sultanas, raisins and candied fruit, left to soak in brandy overnight. It had absolutely no effect on her whatsoever, in fact it all came out exactly as it had gone in, I could have rinsed it off and reused it. I didn’t, but I could have. Mind you I do think lurchers have cast iron stomachs. You can see a drawing of her on my website.
July 31st, 2008 at 11:22 pm
OMG, Steve is the best name ever for a dog. Too bad he didn’t quite work out. My friend Marilyn is a dog person (I am proud to say I pointed her in this direction about 18 years ago) and she takes training her new puppy — of a breed named Coton Tuillleures or something like that, they were originally bred in Madagascar, hence the French name on account of Madagascar being a French colony, I think — very seriously. She’s kind of like a conscientious parent except that she has to accomplish in 1 year what human parents have 15, 18 or whatever years to do it in. And it seems to be working, though having a great breeder gives anyone a HUGE boost. Getting a dog from the pound definitely makes you an unsung hero.
August 1st, 2008 at 1:15 am
@Rachel — thank you SO MUCH for not rinsing.
Sorry I almost missed including your “rejection” post in my rejection hall of fame It’s there now! 
@David: Sorry you never got to meet Steve. He was quite the hoont. Your friend sounds intimidating. Some days, I think parenting AND dog-training are both basically impossible. Fortunately, I think I’m better at parenting than dog training. But then, I have all those extra years to make up for my mistakes, too…
September 8th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
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