Simon took Jaws on the second round, stretching the space between them on the “Stay.”
Then, at Fiona’s instructions, a third time until dog and man were a good twenty-five feet apart.
“Don’t frown at the dog when he’s doing what he’s told.”
“I’m not frowning.”
“Let’s call it your default expression. You’re confusing him. Call him in.”
Jaws responded and took the last couple of feet on his belly before rolling over to expose it.
“You did good, you did fine. Show-off,” Simon muttered as he bent down to rub.
“He switched to submissive mode because he wasn’t sure what you were after. You asked him for
something, he gave it, and you stand there scowling at him. He gets an A.” Fiona knelt down to stroke Jaws into delirium. “You get a C minus.”
“Hey.”
“My class is coming back. Hold him. Give him the stay command and keep him still for a few seconds. Then you can give him the release, let him go greet.”
“How?”
“Sit and stay—holding him as he’s going to want to run and see who’s coming.” As she spoke she
checked her watch for the log. “Then give him the go—use simple phrasing, something natural to you. Say hi, go ahead, greet. Whatever. Then let him loose.”
She rose, walked away to meet the first of her returning students.
“You wanted me to look bad, didn’t you? You think I’m not on to you?” Simon held the puppy in
place while rubbing his ears. “Not as dumb as you look, are you? Just wanted to impress the pretty girl.”
The Search
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By MurielW - Own work, CC0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20498880
Have you ever noticed that there are several things we say to our dogs, repeatedly?
Well animal behavioral researchers Alexandra Horowitz and Julie Hecht have, and they’ve published their research showing that what we say and how we say it elicits particular responses in them, and why they are key to the dog/human relationship.
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“You know the secrets,” he said to Bert. “Too bad you can’t talk.”
The Witness