Nikki's Tonya
As I was growing up our family had several dogs as pets. Most seemed to choose my dad as their master but occasionally one would choose another member of the family. After we got John, who choose Dad as his master, Nikki got another poodle named Tonya. She was determined that Tonya would be hers and Tonya seemed happy with the arrangement.
One thing that all the dogs had in common was the trick of shaking hands. Now Tonya wasn't the smartest of dogs and had a particular problem with this trick. I took it upon myself to teach her the trick and spent a lot of time working with her but had a lot of difficulty getting her to understand what I wanted. Did I say that she wasn't very smart? Each training session I had ended in failure and I would get frustrated and mad. I never really did anything to her but she could always tell I was angry.
I thought that if I could get Tonya to look at me she might pay enough attention to learn how to shake. Tonya was a very nervous dog and wouldn't make eye contact with me and when I made her she would begin to shiver. I thought that this was neat. I had discovered a way to make Tonya shake. I spent even more time with Tonya and eventually she would shake on command. All I had to do was call her name, admittedly sounding mad, and Tonya would begin shaking.
After the technique was perfected, I presented to the family, Tonya's trick. Dad allowed as how the trick was a good one and Mom and Kathy weren't overly impressed, however, Nikki got really upset with me. I couldn't understand Nikki's anger. I had taken a dog that did absolutely no tricks and had taught her how to shake. Not only that but how to shake in a manner most uncommon to the normal way of shaking. I really thought that Nikki would be pleased. I was wrong.
Whenever I would visit my parent's house I'd make sure that Tonya remembered her trick. I was never disappointed. Tonya would always shake on command and Nikki would always get mad and yell at me. It took me a little wile to realize it but I had succeeded in training both of them, Tonya to shake and Nikki to yell at me.
I always knew that I was a good trainer but I never realized I was that good.
Randall J. Beers
© May 20th 2001
