My owner let out a sigh, he had a long work day which left me about ten hours alone in the house. He had to finish work at home, so on the days he had work, we had very little learning or playing time. He looked away from his work, directly at me. I looked into his eyes, and he looked deep into mine. This only happened for a long period of time when he was finished his work for the day. Today it was a little bit earlier than usual, but it was right before the weekend when he was off, so I assumed he would just finish his work when he wasn’t spending time with me.
He walked over to a bin where he magically pulled out whatever he needed for me. He never gave me treats, and I loved him for that. So many owners think that treats are the way to dogs, but honestly, I only know two dogs who actually have the “currency” of food. Even then, their “currency” isn’t the store bought treats that have all of the processed human feces embedded with liquid acid and pure disease all in the same package. My friends who were “food driven”, or had the “currency” of food, liked things like cheese and chunks of meat—they didn’t need anything specially made for the occasion, they just needed something that tasted good. If you give me food as a reward, sure I’ll get the point, but it won’t have the same effect, it’s like telling me, “Hey, you’re on the wrong track but I still want to positively enforce you. Yay!” No. That won’t work.
He pulled out a bright yellow ball. I had seen him do other things with such a ball, but I never understood it. He would use some instrument to hit the ball to another person and they would hit it back. It’s a little bit strange in my opinion, but it’s alright. I don’t understand half of the things he does. He threw it a good six feet above my head. Now, as a human it may seem a little bit hard to do with your mouth. However, border collies such as me have very, very strong hind legs that allow us to leap… pretty high. With the shape of my mouth, it’s also pretty easy to fit my mouth around most objects, this ball would fit perfectly into my mouth. I caught it in my mouth
He walked to the door and opened it, I trotted over, knowing what was coming. I dropped the ball when I was next to him, knowing he would get it. I sprinted out into the yard, and looked back slightly, I saw the ball coming, it was another several feet above me. I leaped up, caught it in my mouth, and landed lightly, doing another medium-paced trot back to him. At this point, I knew something would happen, either he would teach me something new or just play. Most of the time it was playing, but I found both to be relatively enjoyable experiences (I like playing more of course). He had taught me to do all of the basics—Sit, stay, jump, follow, but the one he emphasized the most was NEVER speak.
If I were to speak in his presence, he would strike me, more roughly than just playing. I noticed this pattern after the sixth time. After that time, I vowed to myself—Never again.
Link to Intro: http://www.tengaged.com/blog/RatWithAHat/3754126/never-again-intro-story
