Training with Wolfie
By Karen Singer
Chapter 23
Oh no! Oh no, no, no, no, no! Not this!
A little while earlier, Bobo had
seen Rosa putting the choker collar leash on Wolf. He certainly couldn’t miss the choker collar
and leash that she put on him right afterwards.
And then, as Rosa had been doing for a long time now, she grabbed Wolf’s
leash and led him around the yard, sometimes walking fast, sometimes walking
slow, and sometimes trotting a bit. Bobo
had watched in amazement as Rosa had actually managed to run all the way around
the yard with Wolf this time. Usually,
she gave out halfway through…at best.
And after going around the yard, Rosa
had led Wolf up and over the ramp a few times, then had him jump over the
plastic bar a couple of times too. All
that was followed by trying to get Wolf into the tunnel, where he still didn’t
want to go. Although Bobo was pretty
sure that Rosa didn’t know that Wolf had already been through the tunnel –
once. Once when they were playing
yesterday, and Wolf had been getting more than a bit too interested in mating
with him again. Bobo had tried to get
away from Wolf for a few minutes by going into the tunnel. He was total shocked when Wolf actually
followed him right inside. Wolf couldn’t jump on him in there, but just the
fact that Wolf had followed him in and was still playing with him in there had
kept him going all the way through the tunnel and out the other side.
Bobo’s thoughts again turned to
what had happened later. What had
happened while they were over near the bushes behind the porch. He had been wondering for a while now how it
would feel again to let Wolf get into him like he had done that one time. So…he had taken the chance. And right there, right by the bushes, he had
stopped and let Wolf mount him again – for real. It hadn’t been nearly as easy as it had been
the last time when Rosa had put all that gunk up inside of him. That had been some messy and slippery
stuff. But still, even without it, Wolf
had still managed to “force” his way in.
And it had felt…um…somewhat interesting.
But that’s about as far as Bobo would go with it.
As Bobo watched Rosa trying to get
Wolf into the tunnel, he was suddenly surprised to see Wolf go in halfway. He stood up to watch better as Rosa
encouraged Wolf further, and then Wolf completely disappeared. Through the material of the tunnel, Bobo
could see Wolf moving like a shot for the other side, where he suddenly
appeared and ran back toward Rosa who now praised and pet him
enthusiastically. No surprise, Wolf was
lapping up the praise.
And then, as she always did, Rosa
had dropped Wolf’s leash and picked up his leash instead. She walked him around the yard a few times,
sometimes fast, sometimes slow, but never as fast as she could take Wolf. And then of course they had done the ramp a
few times, and also the tunnel a few times.
Bobo got praised, but nothing at all like she had done with Wolf.
But now…. Now!
Oh no! No, no, no! This was a bad sign. A very, very bad sign!
Rosa had grabbed Wolf’s leash
again…and dragged him over to the hose!
And she was now washing him.
Giving him a bath! Wolfie hated
baths! Fortunately, he rarely ever got
one. And now that Wolf was getting
another one was a sign that something bad could be happening again. Probably not bad for Wolf, but bad for
Bobo. Because Bobo just knew, that after
Rosa finished with Wolfie, she as going to give him a bath too.
As soon as Rosa had finished with
Wolf, she took his choker collar off and turned him loose, where Wolf ran off a
little bit then went back to trying to shake off the water – even after Rosa
had dried him off as much as she could with an old towel.
And then, with fear in his eyes,
Bobo had watched as Rosa had come for him.
He could see that she was almost as wet as Wolf was. In fact, maybe wetter. But like it or not, he got dragged over to
the hose where she sprayed him with the cold water, and then began lathering
him up from top to bottom with the dog shampoo.
She seemed to pay extra attention to all the leather bindings, trying to
get them clean. Why bother? In a little while, he and Wolfie would be
doing their very best to get all dirty and comfortable again. Unless….
And that was the part that worried Bobo the most. The…unless part.
When his “bath” was finally over
with, Rosa dried him off as best she could, then she shepherded him and Wolfie
into the house. Bobo had a feeling that
the only reason they were inside was to keep them a little cleaner.
And then the next part came that
made Bobo nervous. Rosa pulled out
Wolf’s brush and began brushing him. A
lot! Pulling tons of fur off of
him. Wolf absolutely loved the
process. Finally, Rosa finished with
Wolf and Bobo saw Rosa looking at him instead.
Uh-oh.
Yep! No surprise when she came after him. But instead of using Wolf’s brush on him,
Rosa led him into the bathroom where she sat down on the toilet and grabbed her
own brush and comb. And then she went
after the hair on his head. Brushing and
combing it, and pulling way too often at all the tangles. Ouch!
Finally, Bobo felt her parting his hair in the middle and pulling it
half of it off to one side again, where she started wrapping elastic hairbands
around it to hold it in that position over his ears. A few minutes later, both halves of his hair
were fixed the same way.
Bobo’s nervousness went way
up. Because there was only one reason
why Rosa would have done that. They were
going out somewhere! Oh no, no, no, no,
no!
“There you go Bobo,” Rosa said as
she finished with him. “All pretty
again.”
Pretty? Why?
Unfortunately, he suspected he knew why.
He just didn’t know the where.
It was bad enough having a
tail. Wolf sometimes liked to grab it in
his teeth and pull. But now it was like
he had two more tails coming out from the sides of his head. As Rosa sat and ate her lunch, he and Wolf
played in the house, and Wolf kept biting and pulling at his hair the way Rosa
had arranged it. Ouch!
Shortly after lunch, Rosa let her
two dogs out back with the orders to…do their business. After being in the house for a while, both
Wolf and Bobo had to pee. But the minute
Rosa saw that they were both finished, she called them back into the house
again. Yeah, things weren’t looking too
good to Bobo.
There was a small knock at the
door. Wolfie jumped up and barked,
running to the door. But he didn’t bark
nearly as much as he used to.
“Back Wolf!” Rosa commanded and
watched as Wolf went back to the other side of the room to where he was
supposed to wait. Rosa looked over at
Bobo. “Bobo! You too!”
Bobo moved over to sit next to Wolf.
Only then did Rosa open the door.
“Connie!” she greeted her friend as she opened the door.
Connie came in and saw the two
dogs, sitting where they were supposed to.
“This really is so much better than it used to be,” she commented.
“Isn’t it?” Rosa agreed. “Just give me a minute. I need to fix Bobo’s hair again. Wolf’s been playing with it.”
Connie chuckled and watched as Rosa
led Bobo into her bathroom, where she pulled the elastics out of Bobo’s hair
and redid it properly. “Much better,”
Connie said with a laugh once she had finished.
“Are we ready now?”
“Let’s just get their leashes.”
Yes, Wolf got excited the minute he
saw his leash. Rosa had to fight with
him a moment to get the thing on him.
Bobo knew there was no fighting against it. As much as he didn’t want the leash…as much
as he didn’t want to go anywhere, he knew he wasn’t going to have a choice in
the matter. In moments the leash was
around his neck and Connie was dragging him reluctantly out the door. Out into the front yard. Out into…public. Once again, Bobo couldn’t get to the car fast
enough where he would be out of sight.
Once in the back of the car, he looked out the back window for a moment,
then laid down to hide. Where the heck
were they going?
It was a relatively long trip. It took no time for Bobo to figure out that
they weren’t going to Connie’s house again.
And he dared not poke his head up for a better look to see where they
were.
“Huh!” Rosa grunted as she pulled
into the parking lot. “Plenty of parking
for once.”
“It’s Saturday afternoon,” Connie
replied. “The club doesn’t do much
business until nighttime. That’s why
they can have this kind of thing now. Oh
look! That puppy is adorable!”
Puppy? Bobo chanced picking his head up enough to
see out the side window. Where were
they? But a moment later, he saw someone
walking their puppy on a leash. The
puppy wasn’t exactly interested in having the leash to control it. Seeing that, Bobo’s nerves got even worse.
The loud bark that Wolf let out
made Bobo turn his head. He saw Wolf
looking at another dog. Wolf barked
again.
“Quiet Wolf!” Rosa ordered as she
opened her car door.
As always, it took no time to get
Wolf out of the car. In fact, Rosa had
to desperately grab for his leash before he could get away. He had seen the other dogs in the parking lot
and was far more interested in getting to them than staying with Rosa. It took several strong pulls on his leash to
get him under control.
Bobo didn’t want to get out of the
car at all. What new indignity had they
cooked up for him this time. But when
Connie reached into the back of the car and grabbed his leash and pulled, he
had little choice but to slowly climb down out of the back end of the car, and
all the way outside. Outside – in
public. Outside, where there were now
other people staring at him. Outside
where other dogs were staring at him too.
In fact, as far as he could tell, the only one not staring at him now,
was Wolfie. Wolfie was far more
interested in the other dogs.
“Come!” Rosa said as she pulled
Wolf’s leash tight and held it that way so his head stayed close to her
body. Wolf went willingly. More than willingly, his eyes focused on the
other dogs all the way. He barked loudly
at one of them. “Quite Wolf!” Rosa
chastised him.
Connie had to pull on Bobo’s leash
to get him moving. Rosa was trying to go
slowly to make sure Wolf stayed under control.
Connie was trying move faster to keep up with Rosa and Wolf. Bobo, didn’t want to go, but it was either
that, or be choked to death by that darn choker collar.
There was no doorman checking for
club membership this time. The entrance
was open and they went inside, following a man with a German Shepard puppy that
Wolf was overly interested in. Inside
the big room, Bobo now saw a number of other dogs, all with their owners
holding their leashes. Some of the dogs
were playing with each other as far as their owners and leashes would
permit. Bobo also noticed Jose and
Isabelle going from person to person in the room, talking with each of the
different dog owners.
Isabelle spotted Rosa and Connie
and headed straight for them. She
greeted them pleasantly and reached down to pet Wolf’s head. She only glanced down at Bobo. “We’d like you to mingle with the other
people and dogs,” she told Rosa and Connie.
“Let the dogs get to know each other.
Right now, it looks like Wolf is doing really well, but please watch
him. He’s the biggest dog here. At the first sign of any aggression pull him
away hard and fast. Jose and I will
particularly be watching him and we’ll help.
The fact that he’s so interested in the other dogs right now is a very
good sign. Hopefully, we’ll have no
trouble at all.”
“And Bobo?” Connie asked. “What should I do about him?”
“Just like the others,” Isabelle
replied. “Let him mingle with the other
dogs. Let them play a little.”
Connie looked skeptically at Rosa,
but the two of them brought their dogs further into the room. Rosa cautiously let Wolf “meet” one of the
other dogs. Since Wolf was so much
bigger than the other dog, there was no sign of aggression from either of
them. Rosa was glad. Bobo just sat down next to Connie and watched. Eventually, while Wolf was “meeting” several
of the other dogs, a few of them came over to Bobo and sniffed at him. Bobo stood up each time and watched them
warily, but he made no other move to play with them as Wolf did.
Isabelle went over to Connie. “Take the leash off of Bobo. Let him go.”
Connie looked at her skeptically,
but she did as Isabelle suggested. She
watched as Isabelle went to several other dog owners and told them to remove
their leashes too, freeing their dogs to run around and play. One by one, the other dogs all were freed and
were soon running around the room playing with each other. Finally, Jose went up to Rosa and told her to
let Wolf go too. Rosa unclipped Wolf’s
leash, and Wolf took off to play with the other dogs. Bobo continued to sit where he was. Several times, some of the other dogs came up
to check him out. But since Bobo wasn’t
interested in playing, he just let them sniff at him or jump at him a little,
but he did nothing to play back.
While the dogs were playing, Connie
had a number of people come up to talk to her about Bobo. Many of them she recalled seeing at the club
before. She told them all that Bobo was
really Rosa’s dog, but that she was just helping out. Still, there was a lot of interest on their
part about him. While the other dogs
were playing, Connie and Rosa let the people take a good close look at
Bobo. They all loved the way he could
wag his tail. They seemed to be very
interested in his bindings, especially in the way that they covered his entire
hands. Connie had expected to hear a lot
of complaining about Bobo being there and probably some criticism about what
Rosa was doing with him, but she heard nothing but interest from all the people
she talked with. Of course, the class
was being held in the club…a club full of like minded people.
Finally, Jose and Isabelle decided
that “play” time was over and had the owners get their dogs and get the leashes
on them again. That took a while since
none of the dogs wanted to stop playing…or get their leashes back on. Especially Wolfie! Wolfie had been having a great time with the
other dogs.
Jose and Isabelle lined everyone up
well apart from each other. It was time
for the obedience lessons. Jose and
Isabelle talked about rewarding good behavior and quickly correcting or
preventing bad behavior. And they both
stressed quite often having to be consistent.
Then they started on the basic commands, commands that Wolf and Bobo had
practiced a million times.
Sitting and standing was first. Bobo, as always, was perfect. Wolf on the other hand, was still more
interested in the other dogs. Rosa had
to constantly try to keep his attention on what she wanted him to do. Sitting and standing were followed by walking
on the leash. Again, Bobo gave Connie no
trouble at all. He really just wanted to
get out of there! Wolf on the other
hand, was still more interested in the other dogs. Many of the other dogs were young puppies who
weren’t the least bit interested in doing things properly either, but under
Jose and Isabelle’s guiding instructions, they all managed to make it around
the room several times.
To Bobo, the dumb class seemed to
last a long time. A long time to be out
in public where so many other people could see him. A long time to be stuck in the middle of a
bunch of other dogs. Dogs that were real
dogs. Dogs that weren’t like him at
all. Yes, he could have played with
them, but he really didn’t want to. His
life was embarrassing enough. But to
have to do something like that in public?
In front of so many other people?
Forget it! He was used to playing
and being with Wolfie, not any other dogs.
He just wanted to go home. Home
to his nice big backyard. Home to where
it was just him and Wolfie again. Home
to where everything was – normal. If you
could call his crazy dumb life as a dog normal.
Home…where nobody could see his embarrassing new life.
Eventually, Jose and Isabelle had
everyone release their dogs to play one more time. Again, Bobo hung back and stayed alone…or he
tried to. This time, several of the
young puppies jumped on him and tried to play with him – all at the same
time. He really had no choice but to
play a little with them. It was either
that, or have them pester him too much.
All of a sudden, in the middle of
trying to play with three of the young dogs, Wolf was there, jumping on him,
just like he did so often in the back yard.
Jumping on him to play with him, instead of playing with the other
dogs. Bobo of course, played back with
Wolf.
Rosa and Connie stood back. They
had been interested to see Bobo finally playing with the other dogs. But the surprise had been Wolf suddenly
showing up to play with Bobo instead.
Was Wolf jealous of Bobo playing with the other dogs? They had no way of knowing, but all of a
sudden, Wolf and Bobo were the center of attention as they jumped playfully at
each other and rolled around on the floor together, as they so often did
together. It was easy to see that the
other people were quite mesmerized by this display of canine play…that included
Bobo so perfectly.
One by one, the owners clipped
their leashes to their dogs and left.
Rosa and Connie finally collected Bobo and Wolf too. Once again, Bobo found himself being dragged
outside. Out into full public view. He tried to pull at his leash to get Connie
to move faster for the car, but this time, Connie wasn’t having any of it. She held him back forcefully until he walked
quietly right next to her. Bobo heard
several car horns honking, but he didn’t dare look.
Finally, they were back to the car,
and finally, he was inside it, where he laid down in the back area to stay out
of sight. The car got back on the road
heading home, and Bobo and Wolf both fell asleep.
“That was fun,” Connie said to
Rosa.
“Yes, it was,” Rosa said. “I’m so glad that Wolfie behaved himself so
well. I know Jose and Isabelle were
worried about his aggressive tendencies.”
“He was a perfect gentleman,”
Connie chuckled.
“Well, maybe not perfect, but he
did pretty well. He was just more
interested in the other dogs than in doing what he was supposed to.
And then Connie dropped the
bomb. “I heard from my builders this
morning.”
“Oh?”
“They said they should finish up by
Wednesday at the latest. I can move back
in right after that.”
Rosa’s happy mood vanished, even
though she tried her best to look excited for her best friend. “I know you can’t wait,” she replied.
“You’re so right!”
Connie couldn’t wait to move back
into her house. And Rosa was already
sick that she would be leaving. She was
going to miss having her friend so close.
Connie leaving would be like losing a little piece of herself.
But Connie leaving was going to
trigger something else that she would be losing too. Bobo.
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