Dog Misadventure

 

At the car repair shop, I mentioned that I would like to have a dog.  The owner said, "Oh, I know someone that has a dog that might be a good one for you."  So a man showed up with a medium sized female dog, that looked a lot like this one.  "Is it an indoor dog?" I asked.  "It's indoor/outdoor."  I wasn't convinced it was house trained really, but thought it might be OK.  "What I need is a dog that would be a deterrent to mischief like prowlers and feral cats and other nuisances.  Mostly just barking and scaring things like that away."  He told me this would be a good dog for that.  He said it would run off a feral cat.  He said she was a year old.  Someone had thrown her out in his yard as a puppy.  "If you find that the dog isn't working out, I'll take her back."  So it seemed to me that this would be OK.  

While I waited for the car work to be done, the dog had been left to roam the waiting room.  Suddenly she leapt onto the counter, that was about four feet high.  I think most indoor dogs have had it explained to them not to jump on counters, and I began to have some doubts.  

It was a nice dog, and not inclined to suddenly bite or growl.  The shop owner gave me a leash.  It sure didn't want to go with me on a leash.  It would lie down and refuse to move on a leash.  More doubts arose.  But I took it home.  

The dog came in the house, but wanted to go outside.  So I let it out.  It wouldn't touch cat food, and I gave it a hot dog, thinking this would be a treat.  It took it in its mouth and dropped it in the driveway.  Then it wanted to go in the house again.  Really, I knew this dog was an outdoor dog and it was way too dirty to be inside without grooming and bathing, so I told it to go outside.  It pretended not to understand.  Who knows?  I put the leash on it, after a struggle, and tried to lead it outside, but it laid down and refused to move.  No sir! It was trying to show me who was boss.  So I stood outside the door and put enough pressure on the dog with the leash that it eventually came outside.  Then it kept trying to beat me inside the door when I didn't want to let it back inside.  

I was a little worried about what to do with the dog overnight, but decided to just leave it outside.  The UPS driver made a delivery, but the dog didn't woof or alert me in any way.  The next morning the feral cat was prancing around the yard as usual.  The dog wasn't concerned.  

I took the trash out, and called the dog to walk with me.  The dog had a name, and I called its name.  The dog turned and went the other way.  This just didn't seem doggy to me.  Dogs usually like to walk around with people.  She wasn't unfriendly, and liked to be petted, but she was getting failing grades in just about every category.  The only possible future I could envision for this dog at my house was to lie on the porch and eat dog food sometimes.   "Well, maybe if I had two dogs," I found myself thinking.  But that would still make this dog useless.  It wouldn't be a pet or companion, it resisted any submission,  nor would it thwart evil.  Just rush me at the door and eat.  

I realize I didn't give the dog much of a chance, but I was completely convinced this had been a mistake.  So I let her former owner know I needed to bring her back.  Possibly with enough grooming, flea powder and training she could have at least been a nice pet.  But I was pretty sure that training wasn't going to be successful without using a stun collar.  And still, she just didn't have the personality type to be any help with bad guys or even bad cats.   I would like a personal protection dog.   Probably I need to start with a puppy so I could train it before it becomes a stubborn dog with bad habits that is trying to dominate me.  

I put the leash on the doggie to maneuver her to into the car.  Goodness she didn't want to get in the car.  I was hesitant to pick her up since I didn't know for sure she wouldn't bite me.  Surprisingly she followed me on the leash.  I sat in the back seat of the car and pleaded with her to get in.  No no no!  She put her paws on my legs though, apparently thinking that she was OK as long as her back legs were on the ground.  Wrong.  I fastened the leash to the headrest on the other side to prevent escape, then got out on the other side, came around and bumped her hind legs with the door, until she found it necessary to hop into the car.  

Soon she was thrilled to discover herself back in familiar territory, having won her doggie battle about not being my dog.  What a relief to see her go.  

The worst part for me was that I dreaded talking to strangers about how this wasn't working and I needed to return her.   

End of  story.