Holiday Confessions

“F eather, do you want to go out?”

Lynne slipped on a light jacket, then picked up the soft leather leash that she’d found hanging on her door. His dog trotted to her, tail happily wagging. Her whole back end was wagging, Lynne realized, and she smiled as she clipped the leash to the D-ring on Feather’s collar. “You’re a sweet girl, did you know that?”

If a dog could grin, she’d swear this one was.

When she stepped into the hallway, Brendan was already there with Cedar. “Right on time,” he said. “She uses regular obedience commands—‘heel’ to move forward, ‘sit,’ ‘down’ and ‘stay.’ Why don’t you follow me out?”

Feather walked calmly at her side until they got outside to a grassy spot near the door.

“Okay, ah, do your thing.” She felt pretty silly, walking around in the grass, trying to get the dog to “go.”

“Park,” he said.

“I beg your pardon?”

“That’s the word you use to get her to go. I don’t think she’ll respond to ‘do your thing.’” There was a note of amusement in his voice.

“I can’t believe your dogs are trained to go to the bathroom on command. Are you serious?” She was used to pets who were let out into the backyard to sniff around until they found the perfect spot.

“Sure. You don’t think I’m going to stand out here when the weather’s nasty and wait until my dogs decide they’ve gotta go, do you?” He walked into the grass with Cedar. “Stand in one place like I am.”

She did as he was doing. “I don’t have to walk her?”

“Walking is good for her, but right now, no. Just tell her to park.”

“Park,” she repeated dubiously. “What—” But the reason for the word became instantly clear as Feather finally did her thing. Cedar did, too. Apparently the word was a magic charm. “That’s it?” she asked, somewhat incredulous. “Just come out here, stand and tell her to park?”

“Yeah.” He laughed. “The only other thing I’d recommend is that you bring a bag so you can pick up if you need to.”

“I didn’t think of that.” She eyed him. “What else do I need to know?”

“Sometimes she fools around,” he said. “Sniffing and goofing off. Then I just tell her we’re going in, which usually makes her remember she’d better get with the program or she’s going to be crossing her legs all night.”