Ugh. This morning I ate crow for breakfast. My husband and I
were walking our daughter to school with our eight month old son and three dogs
in tow. Although I’m now a stay-at-home mom and an indie romance writer, my
most recent past career (I’ve had a lot of them) was as a professional dog
trainer. My husband is the anti-dog trainer. He lets the dogs get away with all
kinds of things and specializes in letting bad habits build and spiral out of
control.
I, on the other hand, see potential problems before they get
out of control and take the time to train the dogs when I’m out walking with
them. It’s no secret that the dogs respond a little better to me than they do
to him. And, of course, at times, I lord this fact over him.
Like this morning. As we got to the corner where he would
turn home with our older dog, who can’t make the walk all the way to my
daughter’s school, my husband looked down skeptically at our youngest dog. Four
year old, Rev, is exuberant, energetic, and at times, a royal pain in the…well,
you know what. We always walk him on a harness for added control and because
he’s been known to slip out of his collar. In fact, I’m the one who instituted
this harness walking rule. About a year ago, I told my husband that Rev is
never, ever, ever to be walked without his harness after he had slipped out of
the collar a few times.
So, there we are on the corner. I’m ready to take our
daughter and Rev and out other young dog, Zeke, to the school a block down the
road. My husband is ready to take the older dog, Buddy, home. Hubby looks at
Rev and looks at the busy road I have to walk down and tells me it probably
isn’t a good idea to walk Rev on that busy road, especially since he didn’t
have his harness on.
Being the brat that I can sometimes be, I proceed to tell
that it’s no problem for me to walk
Rev on the busy road without his harness. After all, I argue, I’m a
professional dog trainer and Rev listens to me. I also go on to blab to my
husband that even though I always make him walk Rev on a harness, I’ve secretly
walked Rev on a regular collar for months, because I have more control over Rev
than he does.
My husband is a saint. Have I mentioned that? A real life,
genuine saint, who puts up with my crap with a holy amount of patience. He said
nothing and walked home with Buddy. Two minutes later, I’m out on the busy road
where I proceed to drop Rev’s leash. Yes, I dropped the damn leash! He starts
whipping around in circles, ecstatic to be off leash and free. My daughter is
screaming because she’s terrified of the dogs being off leash, running wild.
Don’t worry, he came right back to me when I called him, but
it was a scary few seconds with him loose so close to such a busy road. And, I
did have to go home and eat crow. It’s a good thing I married a Saint.
*****
