A Doggy Fairy Tail

Originally posted to the "agility net" in 2002--

If Only……….

Once upon a time in a small hamlet on the left ocean and north of the large city of angels, there lived a mediocre handler with a wonderful dog. Harry tried to train his dog Carmen to do many things. He taught Carmen to shake, to sit, to lie down and to fetch. One day Harry decided to do obedience. He tried hard to teach Carmen how to sit straight, walk at heel and come when called. Carmen was good. Carmen did her best to try to please Harry. Every so often Harry was unclear with his commands and Carmen would do what she thought Harry wanted. Harry would get mad, and Carmen didn’t understand, but Carmen loved Harry so it was okay.

One day Harry saw agility on TV and thought, “I can do that!” He looked at Carmen and thought, “I can teach her that!” Harry spent the next two years going to agility class, seminars, and even agility camp. They went to trial after trial after trial. Harry had worked as hard as he could, but he knew Carmen wasn’t the best. Harry thought that Carmen just wasn’t like all the other “real good dogs”. But Carmen was good. Harry was just a mediocre handler.

Harry had always thought, “If only I could talk to Carmen as though she were a person, I could teach her everything”. We all know that dogs only hear dog, not human, but Harry was a dreamer. “If only I could talk to Carmen and she could understand me.” Well, one day while at the village market, Harry saw a ceramic dog that was very pretty. He bought it and took it home. As he was coming through his front door Carmen jumped to meet him, and Harry dropped his package. Much to his dismay the ceramic dog had broken into many pieces. Harry was furious! Just as he raised his hand to Carmen he heard a beautiful voice, “Hello Harry. I am the Fairy Dog Mother. Thank you for releasing me! I have lived in that ceramic statue for over a hundred years.” Harry nearly fell over, but Carmen was beaming, “My Fairy Dog Mother?” The Fairy Dog floated around his hut and told Harry, “Because of what you have done by releasing me, I will grant you one wish. But it has to be dog related.” Harry thought, and thought, and finally realized that this was his chance to have a really smart dog. This was his chance to be able to talk to Carmen. So Harry said, “Fairy Dog Mother, I want to be able to talk to Carmen.” And the Fairy Dog Mother responded, “Oh my! That is a very hard request. I can do it, however, you only have eight hours.” So the Fairy Dog Mother and Harry worked out the time and date when Carmen would be able to listen and understand exactly what Harry was saying.

Harry was so excited. He planned for weeks; he had all the agility equipment cleaned and polished, he got course maps to study with Carmen, and he even also planned on working on obedience and flyball. He thought, “Eight hours. I can teach this dog everything in eight hours. Then I can show everyone how good I am at the next trial.” The day came, and when he awoke, Carmen was staring at him as she did every morning, waiting to play. Harry tested her, “Go around in a circle” he said, and sure enough, she did. “Get the newspaper. Now open it, turn to page A4”. Again she did all of it. Carmen could understand every word he said. It was like talking to a person.

So out back they went, and as they walked the agility course, Harry would carefully explain to Carmen what she should do. He explained when she should run really fast, and when she needed to go slow. Harry even reviewed a course with Carmen and it was then he realized she could read the course map. It was wonderful! Harry would be great! He didn’t want to waste any time so they worked non-stop, straight through lunch and dinner. At the end of the day, Harry was happy, and felt that now his whole world would change. Harry had dinner and went to bed, exhausted.

When Harry woke up the next morning he was excited. This would be the first day with a really good dog. The dog that he felt he deserved. But Carmen wasn’t by his bed. Where was Carmen? Harry jumped up, feeling irritated, and looked all through his hut. “Carmen!!!” he’d call, but no answer. After all the work he had done where was she? Harry called out to the Fairy Dog Mother. As luck would have it, she was still in the neighborhood and soon she was floating around in his hut. Harry asked, “Fairy Dog Mother, where is my dog? Where is Carmen? I spent all day yesterday talking to her, training her and telling her all the ways she could be a better dog.” The Fairy Dog Mother said, “Harry, did you tell Carmen that you would always take care of her and give her a warm place to sleep? Did you tell Carmen that if you ever acted mad, it wasn’t because of her? After eight hours of talking did you tell her you loved her and would never let anyone hurt her?”

And so it was . . . Carmen had always tried to be a good dog, but now that she knew Harry didn’t love her, she went off to look for a handler that did. Not far down the road, Carmen came upon a fellow named Richard. She and Richard became friends and they decided they would stay together. After a few months she showed Richard the game of agility. Although Richard turned out to be just another mediocre handler, he loved Carmen more than anything else on earth, and they lived happily ever after.

The moral of the story is this: Love your dog for what they are, not what you want them to be, and they will do the same.