Guest Blogger: Crow for Breakfast by Lori Ryan

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.

*****

Lori Ryan is an indie author who lives with her husband, two children, three dogs, and a cat in Austin, TX. She is the author of the Sutton Capital Romance Series and is an avid reader of contemporary romance novels. To find Lori’s books, visit her author page on Amazon.