"What do you mean? She
"Bullticky. " I took a deep breath, then backed up
as Rose sprinted between us. "She doesn
private reserve. She
herself with her activities. Where do you belong in
this picture?"
One glance at her worried face and I weakened.
"Let me put it to you this way, Alice: Rose is like
those kids in the grocery store who are so out of
control people like me want to take them by the
scruff of the neck and shake them silly."
Alice pulled her head back, obviously on a different
wavelength.
"You know," I continued. "The little lovelies who
take candy from the racks and eat it while their
mother makes meager attempts to stop them. The
ones who race through the aisles screaming and
rudely plow through any people in their way. The
same kids who cry and scream and call their
mother names if Mom even hints at the word
centered, without a shred of consideration for oth-
ers. You know who I
ground, telling his Mom that it
Alice
finally whispered. "My Rose is a brat."
"Well put."
Alice looked like a balloon losing air. It was such a
relieved look. "That makes it so clear. Oh, Cath-
erine, I so understand it now. I can see it!" Alice
was having an epiphany, that was very evident in
eyes. "So where do I start to fix it?"
We talked. We had a very long talk.....
"This won
Granted, some of my suggestions many have
sounded Draconian to her--or maybe she was just
trying to get out of picking up all those dog toys lit-
tering her house. "On the contrary," I assured her.
"If you don
She screwed up her face in disbelief. "But her obe-
dience training is progressing so beautifully."
I smiled ruefully. "Yes. As long as you have a
cookie for her. But wait," I warned. Still, Alice
looked so forlorn. I couldn
their handler. The dog feels it
on running, totally out of control. It
Alice was taking notes like a first-rate stenogra-
pher.
"So many people fail to understand that discipline
and obedience are two different subjects--though
there is overlap, of course." I didn
"When I have to discipline my puppy for undesired
behaviors, it
ing her place and showing acceptance and re-
spect, the obedience training cannot develop to its
full potential. It just can
Alice went home and applied much of what I had
to say. Two weeks passed before she called
again. "It
Even he