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. Each dog was treated individually and taken through a series of exercises. One thing they did was use dog clicker training A command would be followed by a click, and if the dog obeyed it received a treat. After long enough, the dog would do the command without a command or reward. These dogs were making such progress I was amazed. Each went in a miscreant and came out a jewel.
If there were tryouts for the program, 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 is a diva by all standards. I have lost count of the times I’ve slept on the couch because he took the entire 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 have tried to reform Jesse to the best of my ability. I started with a book given to me by 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 asked my veterinarian. He outlined a plan that always worked for his other patients. Well, obviously, my dog is either a genius or a dunce because it didn’t work. Jesse seemed to repel any type of constructive reformation.
This special seemed like my only option. If it could turn dogs that bit people, barked viciously and ate furniture around I was confident it could help Jesse. 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 find out how I could enroll Jesse in such a 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 a Washington D.C. dog facility I had almost forgotten that I even entered the contest, so it was a huge shock. I was to bring Jesse to the training center in two weeks on a Thursday ready to work. In anticipation, I had Jesse groomed and checked by the Vet, for posterities sake. Now that he was presentable, Jesse and I got in my car, him in the front seat of course, and set off. Jesse made a complete transformation by the end of the program. 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.