Day 18: Treats Good

It’s so obvious now that I see it.  Brownie will do anything she can to get treats.  She’ll be quiet.  She’ll stay in the crate.  She’ll leave something I want her to leave and pay attention to me when I want her to.  But it all works much, much better with treats.  

Lots of treats. Nibbley marrow bones she likes to suck. Wet food in weird little rubber balls and mats that make it challenging to get out, frozen food that she has to work to get melted, all that kind of thing. There is a world of puppy treats and devices for “treating” I never knew about.

Now the puritanical part of me says, “Well if we treat her and give her challenging tasties all the time how will she learn to do this stuff without that stuff?”  “Gradually,” I think, is the answer.  Not day 18.  And perhaps, another answer, “She may not learn and then so what?”

What if puppy is not a rockstar, Harvard-type puppy but just an average, treat-motivated, sometimes rambunctious, sometimes having accidents, sometimes nippy, sometimes just being cute eating a dirty sock puppy?

And what if I am also kind of just doing my best and it’s not so perfect? Sometimes responding to barks and whimpers, sometimes leaving dirty dishes on the counter, sometimes eating what I know I’ll regret, sometimes watching mindless TV instead of something more productive? And sometimes just wanting treats.

What would it feel like if it were all okay? If Brownie was okay? If my family was okay? If I was okay, imperfect as I am? What if knowing that was like a big tasty never-ending treat that I could taste and savor all day long? Get comforted and fed and reassured by all the time, feeling cozy and safe and treated in this world-sized pen? I’m gonna keep going.

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