Debating Obedience and Disempowerment with Dogs
“Miss Tibbit,” I addressed her hindquarters as she strained away from me with all the power in her small frame. “Miss Tibbit,” I repeated and shortened her leash during a brief lull in the pulling. Her head snapped when she hit the end of her lead sooner than expected. She gave me a dark look that clearly said, What do think you’re doing? I reeled her in and asked her to sit by my foot. She refused. Flatly. “Miss Tibbit, do you know what obedience means?” She glanced at me from the corner of her dark eye. No. She was not being truthful. She watched a squirrel in the tree above us. She heaved at the leash in dog rampant, front paws flailing toward a submissive Golden Retriever across the street. Over her shoulder between choking gasps and yips she said, But I do know what disempowerment means! I gasped. The audacity. Disempowerment indeed! I asked Hamish to join us. He was illicitly rolling in a moldering worm and finished up before coming over. He, …
wideeyedfunk 