Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could all be this well trained in the things that bring joy to others and to ourselves? This is 10-month-old Barclay wanting to please the Alpha Dog and the Beta Dog. The commands were sit, down, roll over, off (which means “leave it”), come, and heel.
There is only now.
The Master, the Top Dog,
(the alpha male) is gone.
The new guy feeds us:
our eyes begin to go first to him.
…
We wait, we lounge, we mope
when he puts us out in the pen.
There is room to play,
but he may never return,
never let us back with the pack,
with the kind one, with the shorties…
…
He’s here now! We’re back inside!
There may be more food!
Search, bark, gambol, sniff,
tumble, lick, pretend to fight–
why is he taking us back outside
to the pen?
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Sept. 3, 2012
Views from the Edge 