Early last summer, I mused about zingers I could use when people say weird things to me about Lilly or my training methods. Well, maybe it’s the warmish weather, but it’s happening again.
Recently, while Lilly and I poked around a park in Boulder before our class with Gigi, we saw a man just hanging out alone by the creek, smoking a cigarette.
He watched me try to regain Lilly’s attention after she noticed a squirrel on the ground 2 trees away. It wasn’t much use. Lilly obsesses over squirrels. I’m just a lump of meat on the other end of the leash.
So, I tried two things. I moved her back, away from the squirrel, using the distance-brings-clarity rule. Then, when she mellowed her intensity some, I switched to some Premack work. Once she remembered our unbreakable bond, once she looked at me like the mommy she knows and loves, we both ran to the tree, where I let her jump to her heart’s content. Obviously, I gave the squirrel enough notice to get safely out of reach.
Once she had tired, she didn’t heel perfectly past the other squirrels, but she at least didn’t drag my sorry behind. To mask less-than-perfect control, I played the fast-slow game. Run, creep, run, creep, run creep.
We stopped to laugh and kiss about being our silly selves on a warm spring day. The man approached.
“Do you want another dog?” he said with a tinge of desperation.
My standard answer is “No. Two is my limit.”
So, he went on to tell me about a lab-border collie mix dog he got from a friend who moved to the Carribean. The dog, he said, was going nuts, tearing things up.
I suggested doggy daycare. He scoffed. Something about it being as expensive as having kids. I suggested more exercise. He shrugged.
So, I said, “Do you want the name of my trainer?”
I didn’t really let him answer. I told him her name and URL. Then, I excused ourselves so that we could meet up with our class.
Rather than go through this back-and-forth, I think my new answer when people offer dogs out of the blue (am I the only one this happens to?) is simply going to be:
Do you want the name of my trainer?
I’m not the only one, then. It’s a weird thing to ask … I think.
hmm… i received this question quite often too…
but mostly, their intention is to want me to adopt another rescue pup….
cause i compete with my rescue mixed…. but my limit is ‘1’.