DO IT NOW

CANINE CACHER

Patrick is very smart and understands when I tell him to do simple things.—come, up, down, wait, leave it, back off, truck, crate, etc. And he’s a pretty obedient little fellow about 85% of the time.

But that other 15% of the time, when it’s inconvenient for him to do what I tell him, he ignores me. Now, he KNOWS I will NOT let it go, never have, and each and every command must be obeyed. I have NEVER, either with him, or my son, not followed thru on demanding compliance.

So what makes them balk? HOPE. The eternal hope that against all odds, just one time, just maybe once, they’ll get away with it. It’s insane. Nope. Won’t happen.

So what do you do, when kids don’t obey the first or second time? You YELL at them, then they get the idea that you’re serious and that the game is over.

I read a dog obedience article once in which the author claimed that you did not need to raise your voice to a dog, since they had such good hearing. He didn’t get it. He probably never owned a dog or had a kid.

I could softly cajole Patrick all day long to do something his little doggy mind decided was contrary to his comfort, with no effect. Scream once, and you get immediate compliance.

Reminds me the story about the mule skinner who whacked the mule on the head with a two by four: “you have to get their attention first!”

So what’s the big deal with discipline? A father of a friend of mine once told me a story when I was a teenager, that has stayed with me ever since.

In World War One, in the trenches, suddenly the captain told his men to pull out their handkerchiefs, piss on them, and cover their faces with the wet cloth. The ones who did survived. The ones who didn’t, thinking it was a stupid command, either died or were sick the rest of their lives.

Turns out the acid in the urine filtered out the fatal mustard gas….

And I have a vision seared into my brain, of this woman and her little boy, that we were crossing the road with, many years ago. She told him to wait, but he ran out into the street anyway. Nothing happened to him, and she did not correct him. I’ve seen too many mothers in public issue directions to their children, only to be ignored, and do nothing about it. I hope that little kid survived and grew up. I hope HIS kids survive… I often wonder about that.

-TR-