El Diablo

Now it is easy to laugh about the excessive, naughty approach Finn used to engage with absolutely everyone when was a pup. And, when he grew to be my old, merry man; I was much more forgiving of the few times I was awoken to late night anxious barking in much the same way I would shrug my shoulders if my grandmother made an off-colored comment but I would gasp if my friends made the same remark.

I recall not long into my training career; Finn and I had were on a walk and the two of us were completely butting heads. My Lug had his mind set on eating every piece of half-eaten sandwich and other disgusting trash off the city sidewalks no matter how many times I told him to "leave it" and rewarded him for good behavior. The last few blocks of our walk; I was mentally drained and Finn seemed equally uninterested in engaging with me as I looked ahead; emotionless, counting every step towards our apartment. I unleashed Finn inside and found something to redirect my flustered energy towards while my Lug chewed on his bone. A couple minutes later, I walked over and curled up behind Finn on his bed, gave him a squeeze and expressed how sorry I was for getting so frustrated with him. My Lug stood up, huffed, walked away then came back to get his bone and took it as far away as he could from me in our tiny apartment. Finn gnawed his dehydrated cowhide with so much intensity, glancing up every couple of seconds; if I did not know better, I would have thought Finn was imagining his bone was my head.

Gavin has hung in there with our leash walks because I stop for fetch breaks; allow him to throw himself at his neighborhood dog friends or he gets to show off his cannonball skills as he shoots himself straight into the air at trees when I tell him "get it" but adolescence has turned my dreamy Lil' Big Head into El Diablo. Gavin and I were on our morning stroll and we started later than usual which meant I was unable to sneak us into the school yard for me to toss his squeaky tennis balls for him. Lil' Big Head races so fast towards all my clumsy tosses that I can see every muscle and ripple in his taut little body when his paws hit the ground thud after thud. I tried to let Gavin blow off some steam at the tennis courts but he had it in his giant head he was going to catch the balls then throw himself onto the net and roll around. Even though I kind of feel like a jerk for not adhering to the "No Dogs Allowed" sign; it is absolutely not cool for him to destroy the nets, so we left. As we continued our walk; EVERY single dog we passed was growling and lunging. So, of course, Gavin was not allowed to engage in his normal sidewalk canine romp fest. And, I recently had to refrain from letting him jump at trees because he was getting so fired up that he cut his mouth open while trying to grab on to the trunk; it is my job to keep him safe AND let him have fun.

So, without any outlets for Gavin's puppy energy, our walk was miserable and I told him with every step while he looked around at anything and everything but me. Lil' Big Head would pull, I would stop or take a couple steps back. Then, he would squeal like I was killing him and plant his paws into the ground, trying really hard to scale the tree or twist his head like he was engaged in an exorcism when we passed each aggressive dog. Gavin was whining and amped up and bit me in the butt during this whole scene. He had not done any puppy nipping since the first two weeks he was in my house so I screamed "ouch" and looked down at him with shock and horror. This dastardly walk came on the tail end of a couple days where I would tell him "sit" and he would stare at me and lay down or mumble in protest and race around the house like he was possessed. Our last night at Trick Class; I knew he was not going to be the star performer as I had endured four days of complete butt-head behavior and I guessed right, he spent half the class turning away from me.

While I have made conscious effort not to expect Gavin saunter next to me on walks through our giant

neighborhood parks the same way Finn did; I have had a couple exhausting weeks. In hindsight, the same time Gavin hit adolescence; I inadvertently began walking slower than we had been. I naturally did so for the past few years to accommodate aging Finn; of course it is my default but I sure miss those reflective, relaxing walks. There will be some major tightening of the house rules and I will do better by my El Diablo puppy by giving him his daily dose of crazy play so we can get back to leash walks not being a constant struggle. And, while Finn's version of chasing a squirrel up the tree was stomping his grey paws at the roots with his "gnarr, gnarr, gnarr" bark to let the little vermin know he was a bad ass; I have to use toys and games to give Gavin the outlet he needs so he does not turn into satan dog again trying to protect Chicago streets from squirrel invasion.

Lil' Big Head and I arose ridiculously early yesterday morning to get in our strict training routine which I rewarded with an insanely intense game of fetch. Then, we went for the fastest long walk we have taken in weeks and it was delightful. He was happy, I let go of some my pent-up stress and El Diablo fell fast and peacefully asleep when we came home.