Okay, so up till now all you’ve heard about is how absolutely “wonderful” the boys are – right? Well they too have their moments, and in all fairness I should share the good, the bad AND the ugly with you.

The other day, my friend came over to the house to visit for a spell. Knowing I had to run an errand, I asked her to ride along. Here’s a question for you…Have you ever wanted your child or your dog to be on their best behavior because someone else was there? If you’re home alone, they’re a perfect “10”, but give them an audience and it all goes down the drain.

Now that Leo is 14 months old, I’ve been working (very hard I might add) training both boys to obey a command without having to repeat myself three or four times. For example: I’m trying to leash them up for a morning walk, and the ritual begins… “sit, Sit, SIT, SIT!” My ultimate goal and desire is to get to a point where I can speak like a regular person, you know – normal tones, and only once for pete’s sake (who is pete? – does anyone know?). So since the arrival of the new ride (with the remote hatch back), I’ve been patiently and consistently working with them to go from the front door to the driveway, and leap right into the already opened rear door. As my mother would say: “Am I asking for too much?” When it’s just the three of us, “no problem.” Like a symphony, I grab their leashes, the keys, my purse, and open the door.

The first command is associated with opening the hatch remotely from behind the glass storm door (visual effects), and I tell them “we’re going to the car”, and guess what? They go to the car! This has been progressing well for a few weeks now, so when my friend tries to leash Harley, I say with great confidence “there’s no need to do that, they’ll go straight to the car.” She looks at me as if she wants to say something, and I quickly reassure her that “I got this!”

As we get ready to exit, I activate the hatch, give the command and fling open the door. They dash out, and down the driveway they fly as if they are qualifying for the Penn State Relays. I smile, close the door, and as I step off the porch, I hear my friend bust out laughing. These jokers are moving out – past the car – all the way down the cul-de-sac.

With egg on my face, I toss my belongings into the car, and watch them run as if they were tasting freedom for the very first time in their lives. Yes, I call,  I holler, even yell, and no they don’t come back. My friend – enjoying this scene I might add – is now singing “Bad boys bad boys whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when she comes for you.”

I roll my eyes at her as we climb in the car believing I could start the engine and they will come back – nope! I then roll down the driveway, thinking they will come back – no way! I actually pull into the street as if I’m leaving and surely they will come back – not happening! Do you know I had to drive in reverse all the way down the street and not until I reached my neighbors driveway, did they acknowledge my presence and jump in the car.

As I scolded, Leo buried his face in his car cushion, while Harley gave me his million dollar “can’t you just love me anyway?” face.  And my friend? Well she just continued to sing and hum her annoying little song over and over again. I will continue with my training, determined to accomplish my goal, and as soon as they are worthy I shall video for all to see.

Thanks for reading –