Thursday, February 09, 2006
KRAMER
I inherited a dog when I moved to Easton - Kramer. Judging by the name it's hard to assess that she's a she. Kramer was a very friendly dog but after a couple of years she began to smell, and anything she'd touch would smell; and if you touched her, you smelled too. . Not an ingredient for developing fondness, if you know what I mean. She used to sleep on the couch which annoyed the crap outta me because she'd leave the "Kramer Stank" behind. So I began to discipline her. No one I believe, had before, except for potty training with which she was becoming more and then much more lax. That my friends, is no fun at all in the middle of the night while going to grab a casual midnight snack.
Kramer's fondness factor was in a freefall.
Complicating matters was the fact that the children's olfactory development was nonexistent and when I wasnt around would allow her to get on the couch to stink them, and the couch up, simultaneously nullifying all my hard disciplinary work with Kramer. Then I began to see an interesting bahavior crop up - damned willfulness!
I'd kick that bitch (not literally kick, but literally bitch) off the couch and go into the kitchen and and when I came back, she was back too - stinkin to high heaven. So I devised devious designs to make it impractical for her to want to be on the couch. Everytime she'd sneak back, I'd get my steel measuring tape for which she managed to have acquired an aversion, and whip it out extending it across the room to tantalize her - well ok, torment her.To no avail. Simply a quick fix. Nothing permanent. She did get better when we arranged some specific bedding designed just for her and became more endurable when we had a heiny procedure done by the vet 6 or 7 times (you dont wanna know the details).
I then began to realize that the puppy was a puppy no more, and that the now feeble, hobbling, smelly little creature was probably not going to be around a lot longer.
I began to treat her kindly. I'd greet her tenderly in the morning softly petting her smooth little head and I'd tell her what a pretty old pup she was. At first she wouldnt even let me touch her head - she'd back off as if I were going to pull her ears off or something. But after time she not only responded, but after about six months, she would also begin to sort of coo in a soft growly kind of voice. She was communicating. And what I finally determined she was saying was, "I'm not gonna lie on the couch any more" And lo and behold, she has not.
The important lesson to me in this was that, unlike some characters in DH Lawrence's novels, I have seen that love does have a profound affect on behavior. Not sycophantic love but genuine concern and respect. For her, it's more important to stay off the couch and maintain the love she receives than risk losing my affection for her.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention the untamed tongue:
ME OLD PUP
