Master Frisky/Chapter 5
About a week after his stealing Mrs. Maloney's meat, Master Frisky's education began; for no dog, it matters not how well behaved he may be naturally, but is improved by a few lessons in good behavior.
The first step in the training of a dog is to teach him to mind the whistle. This is very important, for one can handle him so much easier if he will come when he is called.
I got a long, light cord, and tied one end in Master Frisky's collar, and the other I let him drag upon the ground, and together we went for a walk across the fields. He was all eagerness and excitement, for he thought I had come out to see him hunt grasshoppers; but that was not my intention.
When he had gotten real interested in following up a grasshopper, I whistled to him, at the same time taking hold of the loose end of the cord. He looked up, wagged his tail, and plainly said in dog language, "I had rather stay here," and began to look for the grasshopper again.
I gave a sharp pull at the cord. Frisky looked up very much astonished when it twitched on his collar; he had not imagined that my arm was so long. I whistled and pulled sharply again. This time there was no mistaking my meaning. I had a long arm indeed, and he at once ran to me and lay down in the grass.
A few repetitions of this object lesson and the point was gained. When master whistled, it meant "Come here;" and he would run quickly and stand very still while I patted his head and told him he was a good dog. The next morning I taught him to heel, which is almost as important an accomplishment for a dog about town as mind the whistle. This time I put a short cord on him; and instead of letting him drag it on the ground, I held the loose end in my hand.
When we started for the post-office, he bounded about me like a crazy dog, and wound the rope around my legs in a very unpleasant manner; but this was what I had expected. So I untangled the cord, and carrying a little stick in my hand, made him walk behind me, and whenever he got in front I hit him gently on the nose. At first this was a great hardship to have to walk behind, and not go racing about, looking into all the corners and getting into mischief. But he soon learned what I wanted; and then he would walk behind, looking as prompt and dignified as a dog could well look, and he seemed to say, "What a well behaved dog I am!" and he would look scornfully at the puppies that were racing about bothering their masters.
After these two lessons I let his education go for a time, as I did not want to get too many things into his head at once. In due time I taught him, "Charge," which means lie down, and also "Bring," which is to carry things for his master. It was while I was teaching him "Bring," that a very queer thing happened.
I had been using the long cord and a stick in teaching him this. It was midsummer and very hot, and the lessons were rather hard; and I do not think that Master Frisky enjoyed them, for one morning when I went to get the cord, I found it gnawed in several places, and the stick was nowhere to be seen.
"The little rascal," I said, "it is his work;" and then I remembered that I had seen him burying something in the garden the day before, and so I got a hoe and went to look. I soon found a place where the dirt was fresh, and a few strokes of the hoe uncovered the Bring-stick.
I do not dare to say whether it was a puppy's instinct to carry things off and bury them that prompted Master Frisky to do this, or whether he had recognized the hateful Bring-stick, and thought that he would get rid of it by burying it. Of this I leave the reader to judge.