Dog Terrors

One morning I was watching the news and a special about disciplining dogs came on. The program had taken four disobedient dogs to Washington DC dog training in hopes of turning them into refined pets. They worked with each dog individually until it had mastered a skill. Dog clicker training was a main focus of the program A command would be followed by a click, and if the dog obeyed it received a treat. Eventually, if the dog heard a click it would do the command. I was astonished at the progress the dogs made in such a short time. They went from bad to good in a matter of days.
Had they held auditions for this show, my dog would have been a shoe-in. Jesse, my dog, and I have a very rocky relationship. As it seems, he is the king of the castle. I didn’t think dogs could wear pants, but Jesse has showed me differently. Jesse has always been spoiled. I have spent countless nights sleeping on the couch because Jesse wouldn’t share the bed. Any pillow I have must be tested and approved by him first, and if he likes it, he might choose to take it for himself. He also has taken on the role of my personal taste-tester, even if I didn’t ask for his service.
I feel like I’ve done all I can to try and reform Jesse. I tried using tips from a book from my brother-in-law; called Good Masters make Good Dogs. I followed this book to the t, child-locking my kitchen, putting shock systems on things, but it did absolutely nothing. Jesse just out-smarted it all. I was at a loss. I then turned to my veterinarian. The vet taught me tricks to correct misbehavior in animals that was “fool-proof”. I’m not sure if Jesse is a genius or a dunce because it didn’t work. Jesse seemed to repel any type of constructive reformation.
This special seemed like my last hope. If it could fix the terrible dogs I saw on TV, Jesse would be an easy task. After all, Jesse was harmless at heart, he would never hurt anyone. He just needed some expert discipline. After watching the news special, I ran to the internet to see if I could get Jesse into the program. The news station website had a contest entry form for a sweepstakes that could land Jesse a trip to D.C. for dog training. I am normally not the type to enter contests, but I was hopeful.
Three weeks later, I got a message on my cell phone from the dog expo in DC. I was quite surprised because I had almost forgotten about the entire things. I was to bring Jesse to the training center in two weeks on a Thursday ready to work. I took him to be groomed and get a checkup just in case. Now that he was presentable, Jesse and I got in my car, him in the front seat of course, and set off. By the end of the workshop, Jesse was a new dog. He sat in the backseat on the way home, slept on his dog bed for the first time, and started a new diet void of human food.

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