Progress Not Perfect

Drew and Kyle decided to meet at the dog park again the following afternoon. As soon as Drew walked up, Kyle could tell he wasn’t happy.

“I’m an idiot!” Drew exclaimed.

“Why?” Kyle asked. “What happened?”

Drew shook his head. “I forgot to take out the trash last night,” he said.

Kyle sighed. He could guess what had happened. “So the kitchen was a mess again?” he asked.

Drew nodded. “Yep. I cleaned it up, but my parents were really upset.” He hugged Lucky tightly. “I don’t want to lose him. I’ll have to do better tonight.”

“Maybe you could write it on your hand,” Kyle suggested. “Or set an alarm to remind yourself.”

“That’s a good idea,” Drew said. “I’ll try that. So what are we doing today?”

“I’ll show you some more commands,” Kyle said. “But then I have to work with Rex. We’ll practice getting Lucky to come later.”

When Drew stood up, Lucky jumped and twisted with excitement. Drew grabbed his collar. “Down, Lucky,” he said firmly. “Sit down!”

“Move him to your left side,” Kyle said. “That’s heel. And make him sit when you’re standing still.”

“Heel!” Drew said. It took a few tries, but he finally managed to pull the stubborn dog around to his side. “Sit!”

Lucky barked and wagged his tail, but he didn’t sit.

“Push on his back end,” Kyle told him. “And when he sits, give him a treat and pet him so he knows he did what you wanted.”

Drew pushed on Lucky’s back end, but the dog tried to move away. He turned in several circles before finally sitting.

“Good sit!” Drew said. He quickly fed Lucky a treat.

“Now try walk and heel,” Kyle said.

Lucky pranced and jumped as Drew walked him across the field. The dog didn’t listen all the time, but he quickly figured out that sitting earned him a treat.

While Drew worked on getting Lucky to heel, Kyle worked with Rex. The dog paid attention and did everything Kyle asked. Kyle rewarded him with pats and praise. He had trained Rex with treats when he was a puppy, but now Rex wanted to make Kyle happy.

At least when there aren’t any squirrels or poodles to distract him, Kyle thought.

Just then, Rex yanked away, pulling the leash out of Kyle’s hand. He barked and charged toward a squirrel that was busy looking for food on the ground. The squirrel immediately took off for the nearest clump of trees.

“Rex, no!” Kyle shouted. He took off running after Rex.

Across the park, Lucky caught sight of the commotion and raced back toward Rex. “Lucky, stop!” Drew yelled.

The squirrel managed to escape up a tall tree, but that didn’t stop the dogs. They ran around the tree, chasing each other instead.

Kyle and Drew couldn’t catch them. After ten minutes, the boys collapsed on the ground.

“All that for a squirrel!” Drew exclaimed.

“Squirrels are hard to resist,” Kyle said.

Before they could even catch their breath, Rex and Lucky were jumping all over them.

“It’s hard to stay mad at him,” Drew said. “He loves me!”

Kyle laughed as Rex licked his face. He couldn’t stay mad either. Happy dogs were impossible to resist.