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”Daisy, sit. No, Daisy, stop jumping, sit. Daisy, no! Stop jumping around and sit your arse down on the grass!”
Nick felt the frustration rise in his body, pinched his eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. Daisy was still bouncing around their yard, ignoring Nick’s attempts to get her to obey his command, sniffling happily, investigating all the interesting flowers and bushes she could find.
Nick took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and whispered quietly to himself “I can do this”.
“Daisy, come here” he said firmly and to his relief she lifted her head from the rose bush she was currently checking out and started wagging her tail. “Yes, Daisy, good girl. Come here.”
Daisy eagerly bounded towards him and when she reached him she started jumping and barking. “No, Daisy, no jumping. You know we don’t do that. No! Stop it! Daisy, down!”
He sighed deeply once again and wondered what he was doing wrong. Why didn’t she just listen to him? He had spent countless hours trying to teach her the simple commands they had been taught in the puppy training but she was just as clueless as she had been before they’d started the training. Nellie had been nothing like this. She had been eager to please and follow his tiniest command. Most of the time he didn’t even have to say anything. A quiet clearing of his throat and a look could stop her from overly friendly greeting guests and she'd calm down. One whistling sound at the park would call her back to heel at his side. He had never doubted that he was the one in charge and Nellie would follow his lead.
With Daisy, it was nothing like that. She was an adorable puppy, golden fur and fluffy ears. The happiest little face and a constantly wagging tail. Nick and Charlie were so entirely in love with her but, her behaviour was a bit lacking if he was honest with himself. And maybe, just maybe, her intelligence was not comparable to Nellie’s.
Nick reached down and scratched lightly behind her right ear, earning a happy yap.
“Ok, pretty girl. We’ve got this. Let’s work together and master the tricks we have to learn for the next puppy class. Please just work with me, ok?”
As Nick bent down, Daisy got a whiff of the treats Nick had in his pocket and started jumping at him yet again, scratching her front paws at his shorts.
“Yes, I have treats for you in my pocket and I know you know. But Daisy, you can’t have them until you learn how to sit when I tell you to. You need to learn, the instructor will be so disappointed if you still can’t sit when we go there next week.”
Daisy kept yapping and scratching his shorts, begging for a treat and Nick felt his determination falter. He heard steps behind him and turned around to see Charlie approaching them from the house.
“Hi, love” he greeted his fiancé with a defeated sigh.
“What’s up darling? Oh, hello to you too little lady” Charlie said as he bent down to give Daisy a scratch.
“She’s hopeless. She won’t listen to me at all! I’ve been trying to get her to sit on command and she just jumps at me and beg for treats or wanders off to do something else.”
Charlie stifled a laugh and looked at Nick sympathetically. “That’s because she knows you will give her treats if she just begs for them long enough.”
“Erhm, no. I definitely don’t do that” Nick said indignantly. “I don’t give her treats unless she does the trick I asked her to do.”
“Really?” Charlie deadpanned. “You never give her treats even if she doesn’t listen to you?”
“Fine! I give her treats even when she hasn’t earned them! But she’s so cute! I can’t resist those fluffy ears and those brown eyes.”
“And that’s how you got yourself in this situation.”
“I know” Nick grumbled and rocked back on his heels.
“Give me a treat and I’ll show you how to do it.”
Nick retrieved a doggy treat from his pocket, handed it over to Charlie and watched him intently.
Charlie locked his eyes on Daisy and said in a determined voice “Daisy, come here”.
Daisy trotted over to him and gave him her full attention. “Good girl. Sit.”
Daisy obliged and sat down in front of Charlie, patiently waiting for her treat. Charlie opened his hand and let her have the little doggy treat waiting there for her.
Nick just stared at them in disbelief. “You little traitor” he muttered “I can’t believe you listen to Charlie and not me. He didn’t even grow up with a dog. I’m supposed to be the expert.”
“Don’t beat yourself up dear, we both know I’m the one in charge in this house” Charlie said and winked at Nick.
Nick barked out a laugh in surprise and shook his head. “I’ll show you who’s in charge” he replied and stretched his arms to pinch Charlie’s side. Charlie, still the fastest out of them, saw it coming and laughingly took a step back to avoid Nick’s hands. As Nick followed him and tried to catch him, Charlie dashed through the garden, giggling and looking back over his shoulder to see if Nick was still following. His heart swelled when he saw Nick and Daisy bounding behind him and trying to catch up, while Daisy happily tried to catch Nick’s calves, nipping at them playfully.
“No, Daisy! We’re chasing Charlie! Stop biting me! Charlie’s the one we want!”
Charlie stopped still and let them catch up, holding out his arms wide and letting Nick tackle him to the ground.
“Ouch you oaf” he said lovingly and started laughing when his face was suddenly covered in wet, sloppy Daisy kisses.
Nick looked down at the love of his life and their poorly trained puppy and couldn’t be happier.