Member-only story
Pets
Pro Tips For Dog Owners In The Good Ol’ Summertime
Every dog teaches you something new.
My last dog, Peanut, was the perfect dog. She was a Boxer mix — smart, obedient, easy in every way. She was instantly housebroken and understood every word I said. She picked up German commands on her own from my then-husband’s Schutzhund-trained police dogs.
I didn’t need to learn a lot from Peanut. She never, say, dragged me face first across the driveway by her flexilead, or barked at statues.
Hershey, on the other hand… Well, Hersh could have her own television show called Hershey Has Issues.
Hershey came to me as an unknown element. A beagle mix from a rough home, three-ish years old, “fine with cats” (uh-huh). That’s all I knew.
The foster mom handed me the leash and peeled out of the driveway, never to be heard from again.
Poor Hersh. Very not fine with cats, doesn’t like men, or hats, or sunglasses, or statutes, or pretty much anything else. Barks. A lot.
Especially dislikes other dogs if she’s on leash or watching them from her room at the office, which used to be the conference room, but is now the “bark room”.
How dare they use her sidewalk without permission! Sonofa —