Happy Graduates Kindergarten
Author's note: We're departing from our usual Cuba themes to
tell Happy's story. This is the third
posting on our ongoing effort to incorporate Happy into our family.
After Happy's first five weeks with us, Don Murray, our dog
training expert, kept Happy in his home for two weeks so he could concentrate
on learning certain commands. He arrived
back home a week ago, and the training of the people (Charlene and me) began. Don demonstrated Happy's progress. He knows sit, down, come, heel, stay, off and
place. You may not recognize "off" and "place." Off is the equivalent of "no." It's a command to stop whatever the dog is
doing. "Place" is a command to
return to his place—in Happy's case, a lightweight trampoline bed about 18 by
42 inches in size. There, Happy is the
boss of his world. Place is a good
starting point for whatever practice session we want to work on.
We knew we humans would be going to school too. Homework is several short sessions of
practice for each of us every day. I'm
pretty good at heel, place, and stay.
Charlene has mastered come, sit, and place. Nobody said this was going to be easy—and it
isn't.
Happy is a much quieter dog thanks to his two week visit
with Don. He is still chewing, but he
mostly concentrates on his own toys now, not our shoes. His love at first sight affairs with Peachy
and Princess continue at full tilt and his interest in our six cats is
softening to curiosity, rather than challenges.
The anxiety level in our house is moderating.
Happy expects company when he goes to the fenced back yard for
a pit stop. We're beginning to get all
three dogs on the same bathroom schedule.
This is a major improvement, as house training was (and to some extent
still is) a big worry in his first weeks with us. If we can soon pronounce Happy housebroken,
it will be largely thanks to the examples set by Peachy and Princess, our two
older dogs, who are trained better than anyone has a right to expect.
Don's website at sarasotadogwizard.com tells us about the
advantages of his type of training. We
expect to have Happy be a contented, cooperative family member after
training. We are beginning to see now
that that goal will be achieved. I doubt
he will ever like the amazing dancing Border Collies you see on talent shows,
but we don't need to have that level of performance. We're just looking for a loving happy member
of our little menagerie. He's on his way
there now, and I hope he will be as happy as we are that Charlene found him for
us.
Les Inglis
