PetSmart Interupted

My brother had a dog named Riley. It was his first dog and a rescue dog. Riley came with some baggage. He was very possessive of his things-- stray ice cubes, food, toys, tennis balls.

One Friday in the Spring, Mark came home from work and played a game of fetch with Riley. Often when you have a dog that doesn’t understand the concept of fetch or who just refuses to give up the ball, you are given the advice to play two or three ball fetch with him. This means that if the dog refuses to give up the ball, that’s fine, just throw him another one. The dog will often catch on and will drop the ball he has in his mouth to run after the one you have just thrown. From there you can build on the concept and eventually play fetch the old-fashioned way.

Instead of dropping the ball to chase after a new one or running off with the old ball and dropping it when he got to the freshly thrown ball, Riley tried to fit all of the tennis balls in his mouth. By the time Mark realized what was happening the balls had become lodged in Riley’s throat and he was suffocating.

Riley died in my brother’s arms on the way to the animal hospital.

My brother and his wife had hired a dog trainer to work with Riley in their home. When Riley died they had extra sessions that they were not able to use. They eventually bought another dog but had by that time moved to Louisville. When they heard about Finn, Mark’s wife offered to transfer their extra sessions to us.

This is how we came to know Cody. Cody began to work with Finn when he was eleven weeks old. Several factors combined to make Cody a lifesaver to us. First, Finn was a terrible biter when he was small and Cody really salvaged our relationship with Finn. Second, Finn had such a nagging and relapsing case of kennel cough that we couldn’t take him to normal puppy classes. Cody has worked with us on all of the basic commands plus leash training and a couple of brain games.

At a little over four months Finn performs well at home. Now that he is fully vaccinated we have taken him out amongst the germs and people and overall he is doing well. Finn’s main problem is that he is such a friendly dog that the air generated from his flapping nub of a tail practically levitates him every time he sees a person (especially kids) or dog. It starts with the tail waging and ends in pulling on his leash to the point that he sounds like an asthmatic in a very dusty, confined room.

Obviously, our dog needs some additional exposure to people and their pets. We thought that he might benefit from some time in a group training class. So, after talking with some people at the park and an advanced call to PetSmart, we went over there today at the appointed time. We signed up, handed over our money and then five minutes later were told that the class was canceled and could we come back on Sunday. I was disappointed to not be starting that day and displeased that there was not more disclosure up front. I’ll wait until Sunday to make any further judgments.