obedience training

Getting the Woof was the beginning of the end. The end of uninterrupted 12 hour solid blocks of sleep (Because Woofs? They have to pee). The end of after work drinks that you don’t get home until two in the morning from (Because Woofs? They have to poo). The end of Single Me (Because Woofs? They lead to babies).

While the Woof’s cute puppy face had me at “hello,” it was definitely his performance at obedience training that sealed the deal. Last summer at about this time, my favourite way to start the weekend quickly became our routine of waking up early on Saturday morning, getting a Starbucks coffee (or a greasy McDonald’s breakfast meal, if we had imbibed a little too enthusiastically the night before) and driving out to Orleans to attend the Woof’s Puppy Kindergarten class. Adoring and Wonderful Husband would stand in a circle with all the other proud moms and dads to go through the standard curriculum: Week One, Socialization; Week Two, Leash Etiquette; Week Three, How to Make Sure Your Dog Doesn’t Bite Some Kid’s Face Off So That His or Her Parents Don’t Sue Your Uninsured Ass; and so on… Whereas prior to the onset of the Bow Wow University semester we had been trying to train the Woof by smacking his nose with a newspaper or kicking him in the shins every time he did something we didn’t want him to do, we learned at this class that the key to successful obedience training is positive reinforcement. (I’m just kidding about that first part by the way. The Woof didn’t go to Bow Wow University. It was called These Bones Were Made For Digging Technical Institute. Bow Wow U just sounds better.) The result of this was that, instead of abusing our dog, we became quick to dole out a piece of dehydrated, compressed cow and horse tissue not fit for human consumption in the form of a Milk Bone every time the Woof’s bum hit the floor after we’d said “sit!” It worked like a charm. If we wanted the Woof to repeat his actions so that someday they would become second nature, we gave him a biscuit. The Woof wowed ’em at Bow Wow U, and was even offered a scholarship but had to turn it down because of family obligations. What a dog!

Fast forward one year. A Babe crying. A mommy rushing to pick him up to console him. An Adoring and Wonderful Husband sighing, “You’re such a good mom!”

The Woof is not the only one to get biscuits around here.