it might as well begin while you are still here. Did you bring his food and training collar?”
“Training collar? Ha! What you see is what you get.”
A red nylon collar, red nylon leash and fifty pounds of dog food. Was it a rule that black dogs had to wear red? There had to be one. I couldn’t remember ever seeing a black dog wearing any other color besides red.
“How much does he eat?”
“Depends on how much he can steal. I’ll leave that up to you. If you work with him the same way you work with Shadow maybe he’ll be healthier when we pick him up.”
“How much does he weigh?”
“A hundred twenty pounds, last time he was at the vet.”
“He’s bigger than me!”
“Yeah.”
“I need to work on that look that dogs don’t like.”
“That look?”
“Yeah, it works on men and kids too.”
“Oh, that look.”
“It can stop a dog in his tracks if you do it right.”
“I wish you the best of luck.”
Amos sat at an empty spot at the dining room table. His nose was just table height and he watched the bowls with a hopeful expression. Kelly watched Amos carefully. Shadow lay in a corner observing the proceedings with interest, knowing his turn would come. I was glad Amos was across the table from me. He looked big staring at me over the tabletop. When Kelly reached for a second helping of potatoes, Amos jumped, placing two big black paws on the table. I reacted on instinct. It was just a training reaction. I leapt to my feet, glared at Amos with that look and said sharply, “Ak, no! Down! Sit!”
Amos looked at me puzzled and sat.
“Good sit, stay,” I said firmly.
There was a moment of silence.
“Wow, I’m impressed,” Kelly said.
“Sorry, I am just used to jumping on Shadow.”
“Don’t apologize to me! I’m taking notes!”
“What do you say when he does that?”
“It isn’t very repeatable.”
“Only use words he knows. He obviously knew no, down or sit. Use a firm tone and limit your words to what he knows and he will tune in better.”
“I can’t wait to see what kind of a dog we end up with,” Rhonda said.
“Don’t get your hopes up. I still have to force myself not to run away from him.”
Kelly and Rhonda obviously were used to clearing the table with Amos around. They took all the food and put it on the counter. One person guarded the food while the other cleared the dirty dishes. They had the system perfected. I’d have to work out my own system. I thought it would involve a confrontation and some firm commands. At least the evening was getting my mind on training and not on irrational fear. Amos wasn’t a bad dog, I told myself, he was just used to getting his way. I had to persuade him that my way was better than his.
I found a small bite of meat and called Shadow. The sheltie rushed over and sat in front of me. I placed the piece of food on the floor and he eyed it expectantly. I waited several seconds and said brightly, “Okay!” Shadow pounced on the morsel.
“I dare you to try and teach Amos that,” Kelly said.
“I don’t think I can yet. It’s going to require a few more words and some physical contact with a dog that big.
“Give it a try.”
I had Amos’ attention so I placed a piece of food on the floor. He went for it and I scolded him sharply. “Ak, No! Leave it!” I grabbed his collar and hauled him back. “Sit! Amos, sit!” He looked puzzled. I glared at him. “Sit.” He obviously knew what sit meant but he ignored my command. I picked up the piece of meat and held it up where he could see it. “You want it? Sit.” I waited patiently. I added a glare to my next command. “Sit!”
Amos sat.
“Stay.”
I took a step back and put the food on the floor. I didn’t make him wait long. “Okay!” I said, allowing him to break his stay. He didn’t know what okay meant so I picked up the meat and handed it to him. “Gentle, gentle.” I thought I was going to faint when he lunged for it but I toughened up and pulled the bite back. “Gentle,” he took the bite and half my hand. I yanked my hand back, rinsed it off in the sink and flopped down on the couch. I was nearly shaking. Being in training mode helped but the dog was frighteningly big. “We need to work on being gentle.”
“I think you two are going to get along great,” Kelly said.
Bedtime came and the dogs needed to go out. I clipped the leash to Amos’ collar.
“You want me to do that?” Rusty offered.
“No, this is my project. I’ll do it.”
“You don’t have to do everything.”
“I took this on. I’ll stick with it. I hadn’t counted on having to get so close to him this soon but now that I’ve got him I need to take care of him. I wouldn’t want to lose him outside.”
By the time I returned it was obvious we needed to make a trip to town because Amos needed a training collar if the leash was going to be of any use at all. My plans had been to let Amos laze about the house and be near me but it wasn’t going to work that way. Amos’ lazing needed constant attention, which meant training. I had to start at the beginning. First a training collar and a very short leash. I needed to be able to correct him without fiddling with a long leash so the leash I bought was only a handle and clip. With the six-foot leash we practiced heeling. Inside he learned sit and stay. When he’d mastered those commands we learned leave it. That phrase would prevent a lot of stolen food.
Dogs hate to have their nose thumped so I held out a piece of food. When he tried to grab it I thumped his nose and said, “Leave it!” Pretty soon he was shying away from the food when he heard “Leave it.” Next he had to learn to leave plates alone. When he approached the plate it was a correction and “Leave it!” All this training involved getting in Amos’ face and standing up to him.
Saturday night Rusty was on the phone to Kelly. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.” A pause while Kelly talked. “No he won’t hurt her. He’s stubborn, but Cassidy is just as stubborn. I see the fear but she just wrestles that big old dog anyway. It’s like watching her walk into the line of fire.” It felt a lot like that too. Every time I got in Amos’ face I expected to lose a limb. “No, I don’t think so. She’s making progress on both of them. It’s just hard to watch.”
