“All Play to the Dog” by Ralph Ronquillo
The people had a large dog and lots of kids. In a small house. The dog was fine in the yard, as long as the kids were home to play with him. Play for the dog meant chasing a ball, or a frisbee, or being trained not to do bad things. All play to the dog.
Play-training sometimes meant the dog being disciplined for things like shitting on the grass instead of in the shitting area or running away. The dog ran away only when the kids were gone at school or out to play with their friends.
He got better about shitting in the shitting area, but sometimes when the kids forgot their promise to clean up, the area became overcrowded. He would have to find someplace in the yard to go, or escape to go on a neighbor’s lawn. The dog would jump over the fence and run around the streets looking for the kids. He hoped the kids would find him on their way home. Most often, a neighbor would bring him back, having seen him somewhere in the neighborhood where he didn’t belong. The people would not even realize he’d left.
The dog knew there would be play-training after running away, then being found and returned. These occurrences became so regular that the people decided to put the dog in a pen while the kids were in school. A finger, pointed in his face, told him not to try to get out of the pen. The dog understood that there would be more play-training if he escaped and ran away again.
The pen was placed in the back yard. When it became obvious he could not be trusted to “Stay, stay, you stay!” the pen was moved inside the house into a small room behind a locked door. The dog found it more difficult to get away now. The dog tried a few times, without success, to escape the pen and leave the room.
Then he would be play-trained for howling and because of the scratches on the door. The finger came in, “You stop it! No more howling! Stop scratching the door! The kids will be back soon, and you can go outside.” The open door made him think about biting the finger and running through the opening, but he knew the play-training would be rougher if he did.
So, the dog went to sleep next to me. Together, we waited for the kids to come home.