tonight i was watching this tv show on CBS called "dogs in the city" about this dog trainer that i guess is supposed to be the east coast version of cesar milian ... i was thinking that being a dog trainer might be a pretty cool gig ... and wondering about the likelihood of that being a future career path for me ...
of course that thought brought about the thought that if i cannot train my own dog to come when he is called and therefore can never be off a leash in the outdoors, i'm not sure i can be qualified to be an effective dog trainer ...
and why don't i train my dog to come when he is called??? well see, here's the thing ... when we "train" with a leash and treats and special collar and all that jazz ... he comes every stinkin' time i call him ... and when we "train" in the house with treats and me going to other rooms in the house, again, he comes every stinkin' time ... but when we are outdoors and he has someone gotten free and i call him ... it's almost like he no longer has the ability to hear my voice ...
i know when i first thought about getting Riley, my first dog, i had envisions of him being this very well mannered, obedient, submissive dog that would just always be at my feet and i would say 'jump' and he would 'jump' etc
then real life sunk in ... i live alone, it's only me doing the training, i am gone at least 9 hours a day so he must fend for himself during that time, my free time is not really existent ... etc etc etc
the excuses piled up and before you know, i have a very happy dog who for the most part is a good dog ... albeit with his moments of being temperamental, begging food from the table, never coming when he is called and more than a little high maintenance when it comes to being in crates or going to the dog groomers, etc BUT one that brings me great joy and much needed companionship :)
when i reflect i wonder how i wandered so far away from my intended path????
and then i imagine what all you parents out there must go through ...
and i'm reminded yet again why it's probably a really great thing i'm very happy and content to be the world's greatest aunt and leave the parenting to others ....
because it's pretty obvious to me that the flaws in my dog are in direct correlation to the flaws in myself ...
and i can only begin to surmise that those flaws are amplified about 100x when it comes to raising actual human beings
so my 3 positive thoughts for tonight are these:
1) the pretty brutal thunderstorms that came through our area yesterday and today were definitely not that much fun, what with loss of power and hail the size of golf balls - but the results are a very happy break in the heat & humidity!!
2) we have been rolling out a new process at work and it's of course not without it's growing pains ... however today i was paid a pretty nice compliment when i rec'd a call from one of our project managers. she was calling me because 2 of our other sites were in a what she called a "whirlwind" about this new process and she figure that just maybe, our site wasn't in quite the same "whirlwind" so she called me to find out what we were doing and how well it was working ... i think i like being known as the calm port in the storm so to speak
3) i have have 3 nights in a row where i've been able to be home!! can't remember when that has happened in recent times ... so i'm certainly relishing them .... crazy life starts again tomorrow ...
night night all ...
r
No comments:
Post a Comment