Tales of the Triangular Dog (Third Tale) Story Three : How Sonia Went to School.

 

Sonia, besides being a triangular dog, is also an ambitious dog. Well, maybe it's not entirely clear whether Sonia is so ambitious, or perhaps her Master and Master are so ambitious that they decided to foster ambition in Sonia. It's probably more the latter, and that's why Sonia's ambitious Master and Master, who desperately wanted to have—as they say—a well-behaved dog, enrolled Sonia in school.

"Starting tomorrow, Sonia, we'll be going to school. You'll learn how to be a 'companion dog,' or PT for short. When you pass the exam after this basic course, we'll be able to say you're a 'well-behaved companion dog.'" "

Learning to be a companion dog, or PT for short?" Sonia asked, surprised. "And what do I do all the time? I'm always there for you. When you go for a walk, I accompany you. Sometimes, when you go shopping, I accompany you too." When you read, talk, or watch TV, I'm also your companion, although sometimes I put you to sleep because it's incredibly boring. When you start arguing, that's when I have to accompany you and bark so you stop immediately. Even when you go to sleep and turn out the light, I'm also your companion in bed so you don't get cold. And you want to teach me companionship! Sonia was outraged.

"But Sonia," Pancia said, looking a little flustered, "it's about..." she thought for a long time, "companionship in accordance with accepted companionship norms," ​​she finally blurted out, not entirely sure what she was saying. "It's about learning commands like sit, down, stay, fetch, and obedience. Besides, spring has truly arrived, and spring is a good time to start something new, so you'll start the training.

" "Okay, let's see what this school is all about." "If you're so keen," agreed Sonia, who didn't like change at all and had no ambitions to "accompany in accordance with accepted standards of companionship" and obtain the title of "assistance dog," or PT for short.

***

A week had passed since that conversation when Sonia, Pancia, and Pancio went to the school. The school wasn't your typical school, and not just because it didn't train children, teenagers, or even adults. This school primarily trained dogs. Besides, it was an open-air school, meaning it didn't have its own school building, just a school playing field. Besides, the word "playing field" is a bit of an exaggeration. The school was simply developing a piece of meadow located in what was supposed to be an extremely attractive investment area. The area was so attractive that potential investors and authorities couldn't decide what investment to make there, and thanks to this, the dogs had a place to train. Which, after all, was also an investment, because all learning is, as the saying goes, an investment in the future (and not in the past).

So, Sonia's entire family, with Sonia at the head, set off on a sunny Saturday morning to these attractive grounds. It turned out there were quite a few eager and ambitious people. Dogs and their parents, or parents and their dogs (depending on who was more ambitious and who was pulling the strings), came from everywhere. The instructors quickly divided the group into groups, and the lessons began. First, they taught walking.

"I've got school too," Sonia sneered. "What a high standard! Ho, ho! Puppies can already walk, and here they're making such a fuss about it."

However, at school, they didn't teach ordinary walking. They taught walking "at heel" with their parents. Walking on and off a leash (that's a more advanced level of riding).

"The point is for the dog, or more precisely, its shoulders," the instructor said, "to walk in line with its owner. That means not just the dog's shoulders, but the whole dog, but the dog's shoulders should walk in line with the owner's legs," the instructor didn't simplify matters. "Oh, it's simply about making sure the dog neither pulls ahead nor lags behind. When this happens, the owner is to tug on the leash and loudly shout, 'Heighten.'"

The dogs took to their training with great enthusiasm. Most wanted to quickly complete the first step (walking) and move on to the second (running). The parents had to forcefully restrain the more ambitious students, who were bursting with energy and a thirst for knowledge. To prevent the group from spreading out too much and scattering in all directions, the instructor ordered everyone to walk in circles: one dog, followed by its owner. After half an hour of this, everyone felt dizzy, and even those previously overly eager to run stopped overtaking their parents and parents. Seeing that the enthusiasm in the students and their guardians was waning, the instructor ordered them to change direction. And again, at the beginning, the more ambitious students rushed forward, changing from a walk to a jog, then a jog to a run, then a run to a gallop. And again, their owners could barely keep their feet. And again, after half an hour, everyone felt dizzy. And again, everyone had had enough. And then the instructor shouted, "Break, run."

At first, everyone stopped, slightly disoriented.

"What do you mean?" the dogs asked their owners.

After just five seconds, however, it turned out that all the students were geniuses; they all understood the command immediately. The dogs began barking, jumping around, and demanding to be unfastened from their leashes. That was what the break was all about: running, barking, biting, running away from their owners, chasing sticks and anything that moved. Sonia, without thinking for long, found a quite large branch in the grass and clearly announced to her parents that she would now be happy to join them in a game of throwing the stick.

After half an hour of madness, the instructor shouted, "Breaktime over, let's go." Now the students' ingenuity and understanding were somewhat lacking, and the next half hour was spent pairing up: dog and owner—in other words, persuading the dogs to join their correct leg (or even two) and let themselves be led on a leash.

Then, for another half hour, they walked in circles to the right, then to the left, then another break, then finding each other and forming pairs. Then it all started again. After three such cycles, everyone—dogs and owners—had had enough, so they were dragging their feet, and what's more, each dog walked in an extremely orderly manner: their shoulder blades were exactly next to their Master's or Master's leg. Then the instructor declared that he was very pleased with their progress, that enough was enough for today, and that they needed to practice at home. Sonia sighed, "crazy," her parents sighed, "oh dear" (whatever that meant), and the three of them, exhausted, overrun, and run off, headed home. Thus ended the first lesson.

***

Although Sonia wasn't particularly thrilled, her ambitious owners bravely continued the training.

"We have to be consistent," they told themselves. "We can't get discouraged so easily, even if Sonia isn't one of the top dogs. Eventually, we achieve some small successes."

And indeed, they did. For example, Sonia, like other dogs, mastered the command "break, run." But that wasn't all. Sonia was also a master at following the command "fetch." While the other dogs looked around in confusion, wondering why their Master was throwing a piece of whittled wooden stake, as if they couldn't throw a normal branch (Mr. Instructor had clearly stated that this "special device for training fetching" was much more suitable than regular sticks), Sonia didn't think about it at all, didn't think about it at all. Sonia simply ran after whatever Master was throwing, whatever it was.

"If they throw it, you have to run," Sonia thought. "There must be some deep meaning to the Master throwing something so strange. I may not understand it, but they certainly do."

And she was right. The ladies understood perfectly: a friend of the Instructor's manufactured these special devices for teaching fetching, and the Instructor was increasing the profits of the friend's company. But no, the ladies bought a piece of wooden dowel with square blocks on both ends and fiercely threw this completely unwieldy object. They threw, and Sonia retrieved. Oh, how beautifully she retrieved! As soon as Pancio or Pancia prepared the dowel for throwing, once they were in the right position, Sonia tensed her muscles, focused inward, stared at the special device for teaching fetching, focusing all her attention on it, and nothing else mattered to her. Sonia's entire being transformed into anticipation of the throw. And then she ran, running with all her might, just to make sure no one overtook her and took away whatever her owner had just thrown. She couldn't let that happen. Only she could lift that strange dowel. She would deftly catch the "jig." Sometimes she even managed to do it mid-flight, then she'd show off a beautiful, high jump. Yes, it was a fetching display, fetching of the highest order. Everyone: the "Pancie" (Pancier), the other dogs and their owners, the Instructor, and sometimes even the "jig" manufacturer watched mesmerized. Sonia caught the peg in a leap, and then... and then she didn't want to part with it at all! The first, masterfully executed fetch turned into one huge fetch failure. Sonia held the peg and ran towards the "Pancier," but only at a so-called safe distance, meaning enough to avoid being caught.

"I know this strange thing you're throwing is important to you," Sonia muses. "I'm important to you too, and that's why I can hold it for a while. One important thing (the peg) and the other important thing (me) together. Wonderful, isn't it?" Surely I'm not upsetting you at all that I won't give you back the stake right away, and that we'll have a little banter first?

***

During the next lesson, Sonia turned to her owners in a decisive tone:

"What the hell is this school? I'm supposed to be learning how to be a service dog, or PT for short, and you keep telling me to stay and stay. What kind of service is this? I'm supposed to sit here like an idiot and watch you go around. And that's called service! This is 'anti-service,' it's just abandoning me! This is probably a school for 'dogs separating from their owners,' not for 'service dogs.'"

Unfortunately, this was Sonia's reaction to the next element of her training: learning to stay put and wait for her owners. Interestingly, Sonia was excellent at this every morning waiting in front of the store for her husband to buy bread, or occasionally waiting for her husband to buy something she'd forgotten to buy at a large store. She even excelled at this when she had to wait and wait in front of the post office. Of course, it can't be said that Sonia enjoyed it. Quite the contrary. It's no fun being stuck like a sledgehammer when, on top of that, someone constantly nags you with "what a good dog, waiting so nicely," thus disrupting your waiting time. However, Sonia understood the situation and accepted the sad fact that dogs aren't allowed everywhere. She consoled herself that she was allowed in restaurants—at least the ones her husband and wife frequent, as they don't go to others. And after all, it's always nicer to sit in a pub than at the post office.

So, in everyday life, Sonia was quite good at obeying the "stay" command. Unfortunately, in school, she struggled. While everyone, even the most reluctant of the reluctant, finally mastered staying (both sitting and lying down), and some even came to enjoy it, Sonia stubbornly and resolutely followed her retreating owner. All the dogs waited, and after five steps of Pancia or Pancio's retreating, Sonia, in a "mini dog" position (Sonia pretended she wasn't there, walking on bent legs, tucking her tail, flattening her ears, and trying to walk as quietly as possible so no one would overhear her), would follow her owner. Pancia or Pancio didn't even have to look back; all it took was a glance at the other students' expressions to know that Sonia hadn't stayed this time either. And besides, there was no need to look back or look at anyone. That Sonia wouldn't stay was clear as day.

"This is a completely stupid exercise, and I have absolutely no desire to do it. If you really have something to do, I can't wait, but I'm not going to fool around here and watch you walk around aimlessly, just to be away from me," Sonia said.

The explanations that companionship can sometimes involve staying and not being companionable didn't quite sink in. Sonia persistently asked one short but pointed question: why? (The question, in its expanded form, was: why should I sit in the middle of the lawn while you walk around in circles?).

The ladies were having a hard time finding a convincing answer, and they were starting to doubt this whole school more and more. And when the instructor suggested attaching Sonia's leash to a tent peg and securing the peg to the ground so Sonia couldn't move and would have to stay, they were completely lost. They, too, couldn't avoid the simple question: why?

***

About a third of the way through the course, the training "changed priorities," as the instructor put it.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we train service dogs here, and the defining characteristic of a service dog is that a service dog is one that has passed the service dog exam. Therefore, starting today's lesson, our main and most important task is to prepare you and your dogs to pass the service dog exam, or PT for short.

From the moment of the "change in priorities," the dogs no longer learned to simply walk or run alongside their owners; they trained to walk and run in a way that would gain the examiner's approval. So, they practiced walking and running around the perimeter of a square without rest (one side was run, the next had to be walked, then run again, and finally walk again). The instructor informed them that the exam would begin with this exercise, and if anyone failed, they wouldn't even dream of owning (this is for owners) or being (this is for dogs) a service dog. Sonia wondered if, after completing this course, she would forever have to move around the perimeter of a square (alternating between running and walking), and she had some doubts about how she would manage to cover the distance from her house to the park or the store.

"Maybe we can find a park, shops, a post office, and a pub with a path around the perimeter of the square," Sonia sarcastically commented. "We might even have to move. But since that's how assistance dogs move, and I'm supposed to be that kind of dog, then oh well, some costs are unavoidable."

The couple now believed even less in the value of the training, and they weren't planning on moving just yet.

In addition to navigating the perimeter of a square, the exam also required fetching (which, as we know, Sonia was excellent at, but unfortunately, only half-baked), staying (which Sonia wasn't at all good at), and a few other skills (which Sonia mastered to a satisfactory level).

After a few lessons devoted to intensive "exam training," the instructor invited the dog owners to a meeting.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said. "We work very hard here to prepare our dogs for the exam. If we keep working like this, I'm sure everyone will succeed. But besides well-trained dogs, the exam also needs..." He paused, making everyone pay even more attention, and then asked. "So, ladies and gentlemen, what else is needed? What?" The instructor paused, then answered his own question. "A good atmosphere is essential. And to create a good atmosphere, some refreshments for the examiner would be nice. That's why I propose a 25 złoty donation."

And then the couple made their final decision: Sonia would stop attending school. Her education ended with an incomplete primary school, meaning an incomplete service dog training course. Fortunately, this didn't prevent Sonia from accompanying her couple.