From a Client's Perspective

Jack, the Doberman, entered my door followed by his owner, a woman my age. Jack was a happy, childish dog with a lot of imagination. He created his own world, from his own perspective and not from that of a human. He was a kind dog, and he couldn’t understand why sometimes his humans were yelling at him; he had done nothing wrong!

Jack wanted to become a police dog, this was his goal and his dream. He loved to sneak through the bushes outside their house. The fence was high, it was perfect because no one could see him from the other side. Summer was the best season, all the leaves on the bushes made good cover for him. He stood still, listening for someone that would walk by the fence. Suddenly, he hears a bicycle, “enemy’s on their way!” he thought and jumped over the fence, barking. The women on the bicycle got so scared that she fell off her bike and down into the ditch. Jack thought he was the hero! Enemy vanquished!

But his owner had another opinion and grabbed Jack by his ears, pulling him into the house. Jack was crying loudly, “what did I do wrong?”

When I told Jack’s owner about this story she laughed and said; “I can see now how a story can have two sides.”

Jack loved to be on the sofa and watch thrillers on TV, especially if all the kids were home. It was so wonderful to be all on top of each other, and sometimes a biscuit fell out of someone’s hand and into Jack’s mouth. He was so surprised that no one seemed to pay any attention to the biscuit in their hand. Maybe he should become a thief instead?
These were the best days of his life.

Jack loved his male owner, because he works “undercover”. I was so amazed over this dog that had a brain and was actually using it. How could the dog know that his master was working under cover in the police force?

Jack’s owner was now laughing even louder. Jack and I stared at her with our big eyes, wondering if this lady soon would choke herself, it sure looked like it.
When she had calmed down and dried her tears with the tissue I handed over to her, she started to tell Jack’s story.

“I could not have Jack home in the house all day; he made me nervous by walking behind me all the time. Now after your story I think he was playing detective, following me around.
My husband was out on different jobs following drug dealers and other criminals. One day I asked my husband if Jack could come with him on one mission, just to try. Jack was so wildly excited over the idea; he was bouncing up and down, inside the house, outside the house, in the backseat of the car. I guess he was so thrilled to go out on his first ‘assignment’. They picked up my husband’s partner and Jack was all over him licking him and bouncing on top of him too. I guess they did the wrong thing by laughing, which was a sign to Jack that he was a great dog.

“They arrived at a small neighborhood outside Stockholm and were sneaking up behind the bushes; I think this was the place he learned how to hide behind our bushes back home. But all this silence and atmosphere of excitement must have been too much for Jack, he would soon burst if something didn’t come out of this waiting. (“A cat would be just fine, I am not asking for much”, thought Jack.)
But after just some minutes the criminals that my husband and his partner were keeping an eye on walks out of the door and Jack gets so exited that he starts to jump and howl, “There they are, there they are!” Of course after Jack’s show and my husband trying to hold him, the criminals escaped.
My husband was furious and drove Jack home immediately; he felt so ashamed.
Behind him, Jack walked in the house and looked at my husband as if to say “you loser!”.