Survival of the Sit - est

“Now - sit!” The emphasis on “sit” did little to scoot our Corgi’s jogger-pants butt to the floor. Encouraging pats hadn’t either.

A soft shadow slunk from under the table, my cat stretching in the sunlight before creeping over to watch.

“I think you should give up for the day.” I offered. “Just give her the treat and try again tomorrow.”

“She’ll do it.”

“So far the only one sitting is the cat.”

With a frown, the frustrated trainer pointed. “See the cat? Do that.”

My cat looked up, puzzled.

“Do you have treats for her?”

“Yeah, same shelf as the dog’s.”

My partner returned brandishing the bag of cat treats. “Good girl, Sara. Here you go.” To our poor pup’s horror, the cat received a treat.

Sara greedily ate the chicken-flavored morsel and looked up with a quizzical mew, seeing the bag still in hand. She pawed up at it.

“Sit?” She received the same nudge, but unlike the dog, she quickly sat down. “Good girl!” Another chicken morsel dropped.

Not about to be outdone, the Corgi herded the competiton away. Then she turned again and looked up at my partner.

“Sit?”

She wavered, but resisted.

“OK then...Sara - sit?”

Sara quickly sat again. Her reward came swiftly, before the Corgi could interrupt. This time the dog barked in frustration.

“You know what you have to do.” Holding up the dog treat, my partner repeated, “Sit?”

Finally - she sat.

“Yes! Good girl!” Having no tail, her little butt wiggled in excitement as she jumped up.

“Shouldn’t you be thanking the real trainer here?” I pointed to the cat.

A dog person till the bitter end, my lover shrugged. “That’s your job.”

Shaking my head, I reached down to stroke Sara. “Poor girl. Come on, let’s go play fetch.”

“Wait - we haven’t learned that yet!”