Exhibitionist? No. Youâre a show dog and Iâm treating you like one.Â
Each morning your outfit is chosen for you. Picked not for your taste, or the style you thought was yours, but because I want to show off specific features. Chosen because I want to show off the lines and curves of your body. Chosen because thatâs how I want to advertise you to everyone that might see you through the day.
Your coat and nails will be handled by a professional. Theyâll wash you, touching you everywhere you once thought was personal and private. Youâll be spoken over as itâs decided for you what style, what cut, what shade will be the best to frame your face. More importantly, they have to consider whatâs in season. Your look will be kept current, clean, and pristine. If you give them trouble youâll be put in a slip lead, tied off by the collar to the table and kept still by hands used to dealing with nippy dogs. Too much trouble and theyâll muzzle you before continuing.Â
If you embarrass me Iâll drop you off drugged to your next appointment.
Weâll spend hours training the way you walk. With a collar around your throat and a taut leash youâll learn to keep perfect step at my side. Youâll learn to turn and halt with the smallest adjustment, the smallest tug of your leash. Youâll learn to keep your steps even, regardless of the pace or what I might have dressed you in. Youâll be expected to show this same level of respect, obedience, and focus to anyone I hand your leash to. If I decide I want to see you paraded around the ring by someone youâve never met, youâll be expected to follow. Match their pace without ever looking back or pulling. Show me I can trust your training even away from me, that youâll work to present and behave in the manner Iâve come to expect from you regardless of distance.
Youâll be expected to hold perfectly still as strangers examine your body under glaring lights. Theyâll touch along your back, down your tummy, and between your legs. Youâll be overwhelmed with the simple joy a dog has when it knows itâs doing something right. Just hold still. Let them do as they need to. Just hold still and behave.
Youâll see yourself on the TV when I invite our friends over to watch your latest performance.
âSuch a beautiful coat!â
âThe judgeâs hands must have been cold, look at the goosebumps!â
Iâll call you over, the star of the hour. Iâll show them all the tricks Iâve taught you, all the work Iâve put into your socialization.Â
The same way the judgeâs hands roamed and explored your body, our friends will do the same. Theyâll comment loudly over the way your skin twitches and muscles dance. Theyâll giggle to each other as they see how excited you get at the idea of performing once more.Â
Youâll never hesitate to follow along with their poking and prodding. Youâll never consider what these people used to be to you, or the social bonds you once had. Youâll never consider who or what you once were.Â
