I was thinking about the best way to train a dog. I don't know a whole heck of a lot about a lot of things, but I happen to know my fair share about dogs. I was imagining myself in a lecture hall teaching fearful and aggressive dogs like Suzanne Clothier, and what I would say and how I would word the speech. Then, I started thinking about Maggie.

I remember that when I first shook out a trash bag around her, it made this really loud noise and she barked at it and backed away. And me? Well, I was totally insensitive. I laughed at her and chased her around the kitchen island. Then, when she finally slowed down, I threw the bag on top of her. She gave me a very annoyed looked, but she was never really afraid of trash bags after that.

If I had known what I know now, I might have taken that fear a little slower. Used treats to familiarize her with the trash bag, maybe even teach her to carry it around the house while I collected trash, but I was sixteen, so I just took a short cut to making her okay with a silly old trash bag.

There are so many things to know, it makes me wonder if we're all muddling up the works by pointing fingers and telling each other there is a right and a wrong way of doing things. I mean, there are things that work better and build good relationships and other things that aren't so much, but its all so complicated.

I mean... imagine that one day we develop a robot that can read our emotions and say the right thing every time. I bet a lot of people would buy those, fall in love with those, even, but- it's a false choice. I think I wouldn't want a perfect world, because... well, there would be no place for me in it.

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