90 www. AspireMAG. net | October / November 2025
He smiled and took the leash from me. He looked at Putty and told her to sit, and she sat down next to his feet.
“ What were you two doing before I got here?” he asked me.
“ Think about it,” he said.“ Before you came out the door, can you remember where you were standing? Did you put the leash on her in the house? What were you saying to her? Can you show me exactly the way you did it?”
I made a face because I was a little embarrassed. He nodded as if to encourage me to say it anyway.
In my best“ mommy talking to a baby” voice, I recreated that moment. Here’ s how it went:
“ Where’ s my big girl? Where is she? Putty... Putty, come on girl! Let’ s go!”( I said this in my excited, high-pitched voice.)
“ Guess who’ s coming over? Guess? Can you guess? The doggie trainer is coming! Yes, he is. Yes, he is. And he’ s gonna teach you how to sit and how to walk on the leash like a good girl! You wanna be a good girl, right? Do you wanna meet him? Do you wanna? Do you wanna? Okay, let’ s go!”
The trainer was smiling. I was super embarrassed, of course.
“ Don’ t sweat it. I already knew it,” he said.
90 www. AspireMAG. net | October / November 2025