Training with Wolfie - Chapter 15

Training With Wolfie

By Karen Singer

Chapter 15

     It was Sunday afternoon when Rosa’s phone rang.  Actually, it rang every day, usually with calls from tenants or her contractors or even people inquiring about her rental properties.  But this time the call was different.  “Hello?” she said into the phone.

      “Madam Rosa?” the female voice on the other end asked.

     Madam Rosa!  That certainly sparked Rosa’s interest.  “I’m afraid that I’m no longer in that business,” Rosa said, thinking that perhaps it was a sub looking for someone to dominate her. 

      “That’s what I was told,” the woman explained.  “But, well, I thought it was appropriate anyway.”

      “I see,” Rosa replied, only partially sure she understood.  “What can I do for you?”

      “I was at the club last night and someone told me you were looking for me.  They said you needed help with your dog.”

     It all suddenly fell into place for Rosa.  “Are you Isabelle?” she asked.

      “Yes.  I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself.  “I’m Isabelle Cruz.  And training dogs is what I do.”

      “Oh Isabelle, I’m so glad you called,” Rosa replied.  “Wolfie was driving me absolutely crazy just this morning when one of my tenants came to the door unexpectedly.  He’s impossible!”

      “Would you like me to come out so you can tell me about it?  I can get a look at your dog and at least let you know what I think it would take to help get him under control.  I won’t do anything unless we come to an agreement I’m afraid.  I do have to make my living with this, but I am quite good at what I do.”

     Rosa had a decision to make.  Did she really want to spend that kind of money on someone to get Wolf straightened out?  And then she remembered one other thing.  Whatever she did with Wolfie, she had decided she was going to do with Bobo too.  That was the part that interested her the most.  “Uh…Isabelle, I’m afraid I have two dogs that need training.  Did anyone at the club tell you about the dog I had there Friday night?”

      “You brought your dog to the club?”

      “Not the big one,” Rosa said, “My other one.  She’s a little…smaller and easier to control.”

     Isabelle was just surprised to hear someone brought their pet to a place like the club.  “No.  Nobody mentioned it.  Just that you needed help training your dog.”

      “Well, if I have you work with one of them, then I’m not going to leave the other one out at all. I want them both to behave the way they should.”

      “I think I can certainly help you with that,” Isabelle replied confidently.  “That’s what I do.  So would you like me to meet your dogs and at least assess the problem?”

     Rosa made a quick decision.  “Why not?  At the worst, I can find out how much it would cost me.”

      “Sure,” Isabelle replied happily.  “When would be a good time for me to come?”

      “Are you busy today?” Rosa asked.

      “I guess I can be there pretty much anytime this afternoon.”

      “How about you come whenever you can today.  I’ll keep the dogs in the backyard.  If I don’t, you’ll have an almost impossible time getting into my house.”

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      “This must be the place,” Isabelle muttered to herself as she pulled into the driveway.  She saw the chain-link fence surrounding the big backyard.  By the time she parked, she could hear a large dog barking furiously from inside that fence.  She got out of her elderly pickup truck and walked around to the side of the driveway where she could see into the backyard.  What she saw didn’t surprise her in the least – about a hundred and twenty-five pounds of ferocious fur and teeth.  And now that the dog could see her, his “enthusiasm” went say up.  He not only barked, he growled menacingly, showing off those big teeth.  Yeah.  Just what she expected.  She figured the dog to be some kind of shepherd mix.  The key thing for her though, was that the dog, as big as he was, didn’t try to jump the fence.  She had no doubt he could do it in a heartbeat if he really wanted to.  She didn’t see the other dog though.  But Madam Rosa had mentioned that it was a smaller one so she probably kept it in the house. 

     By the time she got to the front door, she saw that Madam Rosa was already holding it open for her.  “Madam Rosa?” she asked politely.  “I’m Isabelle Cruz.” 

      “Hi Isabelle,” Rosa greeted her nicely.  “Thank you for coming out to see me so promptly.  And it’s just Rosa now,” she said as she ushered Isabelle inside.  “I’m afraid the Madam part of me is long gone.”

      “But you were at the club?”

      “Just as a guest this time.  Just to show off my pet and to…uh…stretch my muscles a bit down in the dungeon.  As much as I enjoyed that life, I’ve simply grown too old!”

      “I see,” Isabelle replied, not at all sure that Rosa was too old anymore to be dominant.  “I saw your one dog.  He’s beautiful.”

      “Yes, he is,” Rosa agreed.  Beautiful, and big, and impossible to control!”

      “Have you ever worked with him to try and train him?”

      “Just a bit.  Just the basic things.  I’ve actually done more with him to try and train him in the last few months than I have since he was just a puppy.  I can get him to sit and lie down and stay, but I’m afraid he’s just gotten so sloppy and lazy with it all that he’s become somewhat frustrating to me.  But there’s a few things I have no idea at all how to handle that are really the things that bother me the most.”

      “Like him barking when someone comes to the house,” Isabelle suggested.

      “Actually, I don’t mind him doing that so much when he’s outside.  Yes, it is a bit irksome sometimes when he’s out there, but it does let me know whenever anyone arrives.  The biggest problem I have with him is when he’s in the house and someone comes to the door.  He goes crazy attacking the door to get at them.  Most people won’t even come into the house until I drag him outside first.”

     Isabelle nodded.  It was a common problem she had handled many times before.  Unfortunately, it was a problem that took a lot of time and work to solve.  “I’m sure with a bit of work,” she said, “we can get him completely under control.  Shepherds are pretty smart dogs.  Very trainable.  You just have to make sure they understand that you’re the boss and what you want.  And you have to be consistent!  That’s the key.  I’m guessing he’s a shepherd mix of some kind?”

      “Yes, husky.  I got him when he was about four months old, and I immediately thought he looked a bit like a wolf, even back then.  So I named him Wolf.  Since then, I think he looks even more like one.  The truth though, is that he’s really very lovable.  He lays his head in my lap all the time and loves to cuddle.  Despite his…problems, I’m really very fond of him.”

     Isabelle smiled.  “I have no doubt.  He looked like a very good dog.  But you said you had another one too?  A smaller dog?”

      “Kind of,” Rosa replied.  “Nobody told you about me bringing Bobo to the club Friday night?”

     Isabelle shook her head.  “I only popped in for a few minutes to leave a message for someone else.  Henry at the door told me you were looking for me.  He was kind enough to find your phone number for me in the old records.”

     Rosa was only surprised that her phone number was still in those records since she was no longer a member.  “Well Bobo, I’m afraid is not your…normal dog.”

      “He’s not?  Why?”

     Rosa smiled slyly.  “Isabelle, dear, why would I bring a dog into a place like that?”

      “I was wondering the same thing when you told me,” Isabelle replied.

     Rosa nodded.  “Come on out back,” she said.  “I’ll introduce you to Wolf and Bobo.  My two pets.” 

     She led Isabelle through the house and out to the back door.  The moment she started opening the door, she found Wolf on the other side, his big nose already trying to push its way through the crack between the doorframe and the door.  “Back Wolfie!  Back!  Behave yourself!”  Wolf backed off a bit, and she opened the door wider.  Wolf stood there growling at Isabelle.  “Wolf!  No!  Stop it!”  Wolf stopped growling, but he didn’t back off. 

     Isabelle stood there calmly.  Typical alpha dog behavior…from a dog that looked to deserve the title of alpha.  “Hi Wolf,” she said calmly to the big dog, but at that moment, she saw something white out of the corner of her eye.  She couldn’t help turning her head to look.  There was…a man…in some kind of dog suit…lying on the porch floor.  His head was lifted up and he was looking at her with terror in his eyes. 

      “And that’s Bobo over there,” Rosa told her.

     Isabelle stared at Bobo, not believing what she was seeing.  A cold nose suddenly touching her hand brought her back to the situation with Wolf.  The big dog was sniffing her thoroughly, the way she expected him to…the way she wanted him to.  Let him get to know her.  “Hey Wolf,” she said calmly and completely in control, no fear in her at all.  “Good to meet you big boy.”

     Wolf growled a bit, then finally backed off.  She forced herself to pay her full attention to Wolf, he could without a doubt be a very dangerous animal if not handled properly.  Now that she was closer, she could see the shepherd-husky mix.  The animal was certainly in good condition.  Not fat at all.  Pure muscle.  It looked like he got plenty of exercise.  “Do you walk him?” she asked Rosa.

      “Walk him?” Rosa laughed.  “Oh no.  Not Wolfie.  I just let him loose in the backyard and let him play.  Since I got Bobo, he’s been a lot less bothersome in the house.  I think he’s been much happier having a playmate back here.”

     Now Isabelle had to turn her attention to the man…dog?…still lying at the far end of the porch.  “Bobo?”

     Rosa turned to Bobo.  “Bobo, come!” she commanded.

     That was exactly the command Bobo didn’t want to hear.  He laid there and looked at the strange woman.  She hadn’t seemed frightened of Wolf at all.

      “Bobo!  Come!” Rosa commanded more forcefully.

     With little choice, Bobo got himself to his feet and headed closer to Rosa and the strange woman.  He looked up at her suspiciously.  Who was she?  What did she want?  Was she another of Rosa’s friends who tortured spies? 

     Isabelle continued to stare down in disbelief at Bobo.  The leather coverings for his hands looked remarkably like paws.  The leather coverings binding his legs up didn’t look like a dog’s hind legs at all, but she did notice the rounded rubber padding underneath.  And he had a tail.  A tail that didn’t appear to be stuck up his ass hole.  But the thing that registered the most in Isabelle’s mind, was the way that Bobo now seemed to react to her, now that he was up and had moved closer.  The way he was reacting to her seemed more like a cautious dog than a human being.  “What’s going on?” she asked.

      “Come back into the house,” Rosa said.  “I’ll pour us some coffee and tell you all about it.”

     Isabelle nodded, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of Bobo.  She looked closer at his tail.  “The tail isn’t coming out of his rear end like I would expect.  His feet appear to be drawn inward toward where the tail starts.”

      “Bobo,” Rosa said.  “Wag your tail.”

     Another command Bobo didn’t want to hear.  But he dutifully wiggled his toes a bit and let his stupid tail swing back and forth.

     Isabell’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head.  “He’s not moving anything to make it move.”

      “He is.  You just can’t see it,” Rosa replied.

     Bobo stopped wagging his tail.  The strange woman continued to just stare at him.  Rosa didn’t say it, but he sat.  Why continue to stand if she was just going to stay there and ogle him.  Wolf came over to him and rubbed his furry neck against his face.  Bobo rubbed Wolf’s furry body back with his head as Wolf went past.  Wolf continued all the way around him, the laid down on his side right next to him.

     Isabelle watched the entire interaction between the two of them.  Two dogs.  It was all she could think.

      “Coffee?” Rosa suggested again.

     Isabelle nodded, still staring at the two “pets” on Rosa’s porch.  At a touch from Rosa’s hand on her arm, she followed Rosa back inside.

      “Now you know why I brought Bobo to the club Friday night,” Rosa said.  “I was showing him off.  I had him there sometime before when I was kind of just starting out with him, but Bobo recently went from being a part-time dog to a full-time dog the moment I got all of those leather parts on him.  Of course, Bobo had no say in the matter by then.  And he no longer has a say about having to live like a dog anymore either.  That chance for him to stop it and get out of it is gone for him now.”

     Isabelle was astonished.  “Wait a minute?” she said.  “I don’t think I’m understanding right.  He didn’t ask to be treated like a dog?  He had to have wanted it in the first place.  Why else would he come to you?”

      “Nope.  And he never came to me for it at all.  I’m pretty sure he had no idea in the world what I used to do for a living.  He’s my…or rather, he was my tenant.  He lived in the little house next door.  I have quite a number of properties that I rent out now, and he was simply one of my tenants.  Why don’t you sit down dear,” she suggested as she poured a cup of coffee.

     Isabelle sat at the table, but her eyes never left Rosa.  She was still having trouble processing all this.  “So he didn’t want to be a dog?”

      “Nope.  Not at all.”  She poured a cup of coffee for herself, then carried the cups to the table.  She sat, noticing that Isabelle was too astonished by Bobo to probably realize there was coffee sitting on the table right in front of her.  She took a sip of her own coffee.  It was time to do a bit more explaining about Bobo.

      “My tenant next door, Brian, often enjoyed playing outside with Wolf.  For some reason, he was never the least bit afraid of Wolife, and I don’t ever remember Wolfie acting aggressively toward Brian at all.  Never, as far as I can remember.  Wolf is a big dog.  Sometimes his energy can drive me crazy when he’s in the house with me.  Brian playing with him out there worked some of that energy out of Wolf.  Everyone was happy.”

      “So how did that arrangement lead to…this?” Isabelle asked.

     Rosa smiled and took another sip of her coffee.  “Brian…is a wimp!  No two ways around it…a wimp.  He couldn’t stick up for himself at all…anytime…anywhere.  The only job it seemed he was able to get was as a substitute teacher, and all he did was complain about the way the kids behaved.”  She leaned across the table a bit.  “Isabelle, they behaved the way they did, because they had no respect for Brian at all.  None!  They literally walked all over him, from the youngest grades up to high school.  The result was that the school system rarely called him in, which meant that he was late every single month with his rent.  He was barely surviving.”

     Rosa paused a moment to consider something before moving on.  “Isabelle, I understand that you’re actually a switch now, and that you’re currently exploring your own dominant side.  As a dominant, and especially as a submissive yourself, you have to be aware that there are levels of submissiveness in most people, and that some people have that submissive gene more than others.  Brian I’m afraid is one of those people who was born with a bit too much of that submissive gene.  He’s one of those people who is naturally submissive…only to a much greater degree than most.  It’s amazing he’s gotten this far in life by himself.”

      “So you turned him into a dog?”

      “Not…exactly.  It all started with a discussion Brian and I had out on the porch one day when he was resting a bit after playing with Wolfie.  He was complaining again about how the kids treated him when he got called in to be a substitute teacher.  He always blamed the problem on the kids, when it was perfectly obvious that the problem was him.  I tried to point that out to him, and I’m afraid I made rather a point of it that he didn’t have it in him to stick up for himself at all.”

      “So how did that lead…” Isabelle started to ask.

     Rosa shook her head.  “I’m just getting to that.  Brian and I had been discussing one day about his inability to stand up for himself, something he vehemently denied.  I went into the house for some reason…I think I got us some drinks…and when I came out, Wolf was barking playfully at him, and Brian was simply saying the word ‘woof’ back at him.  I’m afraid I pointed out that he didn’t even have the balls to bark properly or forcefully.”  She sighed.  “One thing led to another and….  Well, you know I’ve got a very dominant personality and….  Well, before I knew it, I had pushed him into trying to bark more like a real dog.  And then the next time he came over, I continued it.  And, I’m afraid, things just went on from there.  I hadn’t intended on it at all.  It just happened.  I’m afraid I got very interested in my little project, and the result is that Brian became…Bobo.  He didn’t have the guts to stick up for himself at all as I made more and more demands of him, and consequently, forced him to live more and more of his life as…well…a dog.  And here’s the sad part.  Through it all, I kept telling him there was a way out for him.  A simple way that I would stop and he could get out of all of it.  But of course, I didn’t tell him what that was, all he had to do was to figure it out.”

      “And what was that?” Isabelle asked.

      “Why, to simply stand up for himself of course.  Not once!  Not once did he ever stand up for himself and try to fight back.  Never once!  And Isabelle, the only tools I ever needed with him were my voice and a little piece of rolled up newspaper like I was told they use to train puppies.  Newspaper, that couldn’t hurt him at all!  But it was more than enough to send him cowering each and every time.

      “Eventually, I contacted Edward Tolliver…do you know him?”

      “No.  Who is he?”

      “A genius with leather, dear.  You really must look him up.  He’s…expensive, but worth every penny.  I should show you one of his corsets later.  You’d love it!”

      “So he made the bindings that you’ve got fastened on him now?” Isabelle asked.

      “Yes.  That’s all his creation, including that marvelous funny tail that thrills me to death!”

     Isabelle shook her head.  “So…you’re intending on keeping him like that?  For the rest of his life?”

      “Oh no!” Rosa said with a shake of her head.  “Just a few months.  I did spend a lot of money on that work of Tolliver’s, and shortly after all this started I had also told Bobo that there was a time limit on when he could get out of it.  I’m afraid, he never did figure it out.  So now, he’s…Bobo…for a while.”

      “So why did you insist on me working with…Bobo…as well as Wolf?  Wolf I understand.  With a dog like him, you need to curb some of his more aggressive tendencies.  But you said Bobo was completely submissive.”

     Rosa smiled slyly.  “Isabelle, I’m sure you understand that I’ve rather enjoyed doing what I did to Bobo.  And the truth is, I enjoyed it very much.  I guess once a dominant, always a dominant.  Or in my case, once a dominatrix, always a dominatrix.  Isabelle, I enjoyed pushing him and forcing him to act and behave like a dog.  And now…I don’t want that to stop.  I told Bobo that I was going to find ways to turn him into more and more of a dog.  And as such, I try to think of him as nothing more than a dog – always!  What I do with Wolfie, I do the exact same thing with Bobo too.  Isabelle, whatever you train Wolfie to do, I want Bobo trained the same way.  Or…in his case, if there are any ways you see where we can train him to behave even more like a real dog, then those things simply must be included too.  I want Wolfie trained to behave…and I want Bobo trained to behave – like a dog!”

     Isabelle stared at Rosa for a moment, then shook her head.  She stood up from her seat.  “I’m sorry,” she said.  “I can’t do this.”

     Rosa was deeply disappointed.  More so than she imagined she should be. 

     Isabelle headed straight for the front door. 

      “I’m sorry you feel that way,” Rosa said to her.  Isabelle didn’t reply.  She simply walked through the living room to the front door and opened it.  “Thank you for seeing me Madam Rosa,” Isabelle said.  She turned and walked out.