Training Andy

Any dog trainer worth having will inform you that it is not really the dog who gets trained, but rather the owner/master. One brochure I found when Sammie was a puppy and Jason and I were learning how to be dog parents explained that to not train a dog to house rules is akin to abuse!

As I understand it, dogs are fine with whatever position they have in "the pack," but they desperately need to know what that is and the sooner, the better. And they need to know where all the humans in their lives fit into the pack too (i.e. It's vital that even the youngest child be perceived as more alpha than the oldest dog for obvious safety reasons.)

Sammie wasn't so sure she was ready to let Andy be alpha over her and I'm not sure he was all that ready to assume such responsibility either. It takes time. Sammie was, shall we say, strong-willed and quite independent, but also very loyal and obedient to me. Sammie and I had already had three years together in North Carolina prior to the move to Texas. We were bonded really well after two years of MBA school together. Bonding for life happens in survival mode and I lived in that mode for much of my grad school experience.

But then along came Pepper, a lively puppy with shepherding dog traits that showed up periodically, resulting in the need for all animals and people in the apartment to go outside together - rounded up as a herd. It's easier to get puppies in their respective positions in the pack. They know they have to follow. Sammie trained Pepper well. It wore her out to do so at first, but she did it with aplomb. They both trained Andy. It wore him out at first too!

One of my favorite stories during this time was when Andy took both dogs outside to "do their business." He came in quite frustrated and a bit angry and told me in all seriousness that "They would NOT stay on their sides!" By this he meant that Sammie and Puppy Pepper entwined their leashes and ran around him rather than walking calmly as two adult humans might on either side of him.

I did not win any points with my future husband by my response. I laughed really, really hard, probably until I cried or honked. When I realized Andy was totally 100% surprised by this doggie behavior, I laughed some more. Andy was not amused. At all. But later he was. He's good like that. He has a much better sense of humor than I do and has trained me greatly in this regard - thankfully! When he accepted that this was predictable canine behavior, especially from a puppy, then he was adamant on expressing his need to know how to prevent such aggravating behavior from the two of them. I'm not sure he took the two of them out by himself ever again, actually. Problem solved. It's a skill, I realize, to move two leashes around over your head and through your legs and exchange them between hands, etc. But it was the easiest way to deal with our doggie duo in those early months.

One thing Andy was impressively adept at handling was the first really nasty puppy mess. We arrived at my apt one day to a horrendous odor. Sammie had been left out of the crate since she was long-since housebroken and Pepper was left in the crate since she was not. We searched the apt looking for the mess, sure that Sammie had gotten ill and been unable to control herself since we KNEW dogs rarely mess up their crates. Finally, we came to the terrible realization that the stench was emanating from the crate. There we found Pepper covered in her own excrement & looking clearly unhappy about it. Further examination showed said puppy poop to be spread around the entire crate top to bottom with nary a spot untouched.

Andy and I looked at each other and no doubt had a few choice words on the situation and then we went into action. "Dog or crate?" I asked him. He chose the non-moving filth and we split up to conquer the mess. This, as it turned out, would be a great predictor of our ability to work well as a team. Now I knew I had a soulmate and a teammate in doggie parenting. Go Andy!

The Making of a Great Doggie Daddy

Happy Father's Day to all you men out there who are fathers of human children or furry children or are uncles, brothers, friends! My husband Andy has been a fantastic father of three - two dogters and one daughter. However, in all fairness, he had to grow into the Doggie Daddy role. I hope I don't get myself into too much trouble writing this, but it's Father's Day and some fatherly stories are in order.

For starters, Andy did not grow up with a dog and was not necessarily "dog friendly" when we met. After coming to my apartment several times as friends and then as my boyfriend, Andy was still largely avoiding and ignoring Sammie. (Back then Pepper had yet to be born, much less adopted by us.) Finally one day I made the statement that I hoped Andy realized that Sammie and I were "a package deal" and he might want to consider getting to know her a bit better...

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but appropriate motivation should get credit for something! There was quite a bit for him to learn about dogs and Sammie in particular. For example, it's hard to explain to the uninitiated that rawhide sitting in plain view of everyone is "hidden" and should not be looked at, much less touched, by us humans if we don't want a major re-hiding ritual to commence. Then there's learning to take the dog outside regularly and provide food and water and training. There are vet visits and anti-heartworm/fleas/ticks/parasites pills, rabies (& a multitude of other) vaccinations &, in Sammie's case, bandannas to wear & doggie downers for bad storms. It could overwhelm anyone, but less so the truly motivated. Andy learned a lot and he and Sammie developed a relationship. That made me happy.

In all honesty, though, Andy's true conversion to Doggie Daddyhood came when we adopted Puppy Pepper from a rescue organization. I watched Andy's transformation from relatively uninterested to truly engaged as we walked through PetSmart with our new puppy and found everything she would need. "Does she need this? What about this? Would she like this? What kind of food should she eat? Toys? Treats? Bed? Chew toys?" I'm sure I smiled from ear to ear through the entire store. Sold! I had a viable soulmate now. Andy "got" dogs. :-)