Understanding: The Refresher Course

I had

completely

forgotten that when Texas was a puppy, he stayed with us for a couple of weeks. That was a couple of years ago and we came to an understanding just between us two boys.

His family went out of town for a week, and he nipped at #3 a couple of times when #3 was messing with him. Time for some dominance training. The dog could deal with being stared down by #3, but having the boy touch his head was too much. Growling = Problem. I went to grab at the dog and he showed his teeth. BIG mistake.

Fortunately nobody had to bleed out on the carpet. He's harder to choke now and significantly trickier to get hold of but the lesson has been re-tought in a way I hope will stick for at least a day. His family will be back tomorrow. Next time (if there is a next time) this dog comes around, I'm going to make it priority #1 to make him know exactly where he stands: on the BOTTOM of the pecking order.


********
THEN I had to explain to #1 why all of a sudden her peace-loving daddy with gentle hands was visiting dramatic violence on something. She's led such a sheltered life in her formative years we're going to have to break the ugliness of the outside world to her in stages. Or we could just let the televisor do it, whatever.