I woke up in the middle of the night and Tilla one of my pups was asleep right next to me again. I never thought another dog would come along who I would love as deeply as Daisy, now gone over three years.
Daisy was the first dog I raised from a pup. She was one stubborn dog. I finally decided to train her when I broke the front door window for the third time. She would go berserk whenever I was about to leave the house. She scared me and I slammed the door again breaking the glass.
It took infinite patience to train her to stop barking uncontrollably every time I was about to leave the house. I would clamp my hands over her snout when she barked. If she stopped, I praised her. Otherwise I said nothing.
I repeated this technique umpteen times. I knew I had succeeded when all I had to do when she barked was “shush” her and she would stop immediately.
It also took a long time to train her to sleep in the corner of the bed. She would want to sleep too closely to me. I must have pushed her away from me dozens of times in bed before she started sleeping at my feet.
My wife was always amazed that now she would automatically sleep at my feet at the furthest reaches of the bed.
When I was in the house her eyes never left me. She was my dog. She finally died and I missed her terribly. And I thought that there would never be a another dog like her.
Well, Tilla came along. We were down to one dog and someone gave us a young female golden retriever. And you know the rest of the story: she got pregnant before we could fix her. And Tilla was one of her puppies.
Tilla as opposed to Daisy wanted to please. We had our own set of problems with him. Tilla was the only dog athletic enough to jump the fence we had erected and finally at great expense we had it built higher. He also had a bad habit of pooping in the dining room every night.
He is the only dog of ours who prompted a visit from the local dog warden when a neighbor complained about one of his escapades.
He was a scoundrel and was the most aggressive of our four dogs yet paradoxically was timid when it came to other humans except us. He will be three next July.
Tilla did certain things to endear him to me. He loved getting belly rubs and would turn over on a dime for that privilege. Whenever he was waiting for me to let him out he would twirl rapidly in almost perfect circles. He was the only dog to do that of our four.
I started giving him special walks because for a while he was the only dog we could not let loose in the yard. He can’t replace Daisy but he has come close. And he came when I least expected it. He has captured my heart.
Tags: athletic dog, belly rubs, Daisy, death, dog barking, dog poop, dog training, dog twirl in circles, dog walking, dog warden, dogs, golden retriever, jump the fence, my dog, my wife, never another dog like her, patience, pets, praise the dog, puppies, stubborn, Tilla, train my dog, walk the dog
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