8 Truths About Dogs

Today I found these dog observations I jotted down last November, when James was 8 months old and I was amidst discovery of an entirely new, dog-centric lifestyle. I have zero edits in the 11 months since!

Yesterday James and I had a huge (one-sided...) fight. I had the worst time getting him back on leash at the dog park when it was time to leave, complete with me unsuccessfully lunging a few times to try to grab his harness. It took half an hour of me stalking him before finally trapping him. I actually used the word "humiliating" to describe the experience to Jon because no joke, everyone else's dog seemed to recall to leave no problem and I was convinced everyone was judging me. (Reality, probably nobody, or very few people, even cared. And even if they did, so what?)

Anyway, I was totally pissed at him and following truth #8 he was highly agitated the rest of the night and into the morning, which is very unusual. This morning I came to terms with the fact that it was not reasonable of me to be pissed at him for something I have not practiced much with him (recall). He will easily respond to "come here" commands in the house, but I have never tried at the dog park.

So we repaired. ❤ This morning while I talked to Asha Dornfest I sat on the floor next to him and he nestled his entire body along the length of my leg. I rubbed his side the whole time. I told myself again that, like parenting, I can't get upset about the things I haven't worked on.

I'm still not super optimistic about recall at the dog park since James is the ultimate playful dog, but at least I'm going to try. Thanks for continuing to teach me, buddy.