Somebody else’s problem (dog)
Madoff
I was talking to a friend about pets. He told me he’d moved to Spain fully expecting to get a couple of dogs and actually bought a huge car with this in mind. Then he looked after a friend’s dogs for a week and was cured forever: no way was he going to let disobedient, smelly monsters like that into his nice pristine cortijo!
I totally see his point. Looking after someone else’s dogs is probably a lot like looking after somebody else’s kids for a couple of days: it’s just not the same as having your own. When you get your own dog you set the rules and there is the added pressure that if you don’t train this beast properly, you’ll be stuck with it. To me, that’s a great incentive. If I let stuff slide now, I’ll have to listen to Madoff whine or watch him pee on the rug for the rest of my life!
We looked after someone else’s dogs for a few weeks and they’re sweet, but it wasn’t as much fun as I had expected. Disobedient, you couldn’t really take them anywhere and they only seemed interested in food, food, and more food. Still, one of them fell head over heels in love with my husband. It’s actually rather sweet, this dog has tracked us down up to three villages away from where we live. It’s also a bit inconvenient, because then we either have to take him home again or take him with us, and this is not a puppy, this is a fully grown, big dog!
Still, as he’s apparently here to stay, I’ve started to train him up a little: no jumping up against me, no storming indoors, he has to sit down when I open the door and then he can come in. Little things, but he’s picked them up in mere days.
My point to this story? a) You can’t really practise having your own dog, borrowing someone else’s dog is always going to be completely different from having your own and b) you CAN teach an old dog new tricks! I’m not saying it’ll be a walk in the park, but it’s not that different from raising a pup: just be consistent!
February 7th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Yeah, consistency is key, now try that with four people having different opinions
February 8th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
That picture is adorable!!!!!!