"Teamwork, Teamwork, everybody everywhere...

...Teamwork, teamwork, everybody do your share!"

Charlie and I were not speaking the same language this morning. Rather, we were like the great, mythical beast - the Pushmi-pullyu - one going one way, the other dragging the other way.

Last night, I had insomnia, so that probably set us up for a rough morning. I decided in my fatigue, that I would run Charlie through his paces and make sure he's still remembering tasks we haven't been pushing as much consistently. Lately he's been in the habit of laying down when asked to sit, or rolling on to his side without an order when he's told to lay down. That kind of "anticipation" is unacceptable as a service dog, and it's poor training when it's a regular pet. It's his way of saying, "Yeah, sure. This make you happy?"

So we went through his command list at random, and he did really well. Then we played really rough, (so my arm is KILLING me today) and I tried to make sure he was worn out.

This morning, I woke up to cat fights, and Charlie, in his surprise and rough/rapid retreat from the hissing and high pitched yowling, nipped my arm. Mayhem was trying to bust through the window, because Zeus was sitting on the other side of it staring at her. For some reason, I fell apart from there. I was running behind, and while I was doing my hair, Charlie decided it would be fun to take off at a run to the livingroom with my towel. Then, I told him to sit while I fed the cats, and he jumped up and knocked the scoop out of my hand. So I raised my voice at him, and broke his spirit for the day. I felt like a monster yelling at him, because he's usually so sweet and gentle and helpful. Today, he was all puppy - 110%. I forget he's only a year old sometimes, because I rely on him and he's so large. He's usually restrained and well behaved, so when he's acting like a puppy, I tend to get irritated. I know I need to take deep breaths and count to 5 before commanding or reprimanding but I fail to do that sometimes.

From that point until we got to my parents' home, he had his tail between his legs and refused to even enjoy the air coming through the car. He just laid his head on his paws and sulked. When I opened the back car door, he looked at me like, "Now what, angry woman?" and I called him over to me. He didn't want to come - I'm sure he thought I would speak roughly again - but he slowly ambled over. I pet his ears and said I was sorry, and I sat next to him on the back seat. He leaned in and put his head against my heart and sighed deeply. I leaned over to kiss his neck, and he pushed in harder, like he needed a longer hug. Sometimes his responses are so much like a toddler that it's a bit jarring to me. He walked in perfect side with me, and when I asked him to do his business (off leash!), he quickly did, and walked over to heel again. I'm hoping he's having a better morning with Mom, because we agreed that today he would be put through the paces again, because he needs to work longer and harder if we're going to make up for lost time of training while he was a true puppy.

I guess this is just all to say that even we have bad days together, where teamwork seems like the chore, instead of all the tasks we have to get through. I just want to make sure that bad days are few and far in between - and to be real with y'all that training together, while delightful and it being a Godsend, isn't perfect or easy all the time.