Obedience Training Marcia Chang Vogl   © Copyright 2025 by Marcia Chang Vogl

Photo by Olga Andreyanova at Unsplash.

I was the proud owner of a golden retriever named Goldie.  He came to us as a five-month-old puppy.  As he grew into an adult dog, taking him for walks was a challenge.  An eighty-five-pound woman is no match for an eighty-five-pound golden retriever who decides he wants to take her for a walk.  It does not matter which end of the leash you are on. 

My solution to the problem was to take him to dog obedience school.  The parks and recreation department had a six-week course at the local park, every Wednesday evening.  This was perfect for cool summer evenings.  In the first week, we were given the rudiments of leash holding, voice modulating when giving commands, and homework to spend at least twenty minutes every day going over the commands and routines we would learn every week.   

During the first week, I faithfully spent at least twenty minutes a day getting Goldie accustomed to the leash with me in command.  The second week I worked on the “sit” and “heel” commands.  The third week the ”sit”, “down” and “stay” commands only got twenty minutes for four days that week.  During the fourth week, Goldie got only fifteen minutes of practice for three days.  However, at every class session, he performed perfectly.  I was so proud of my dog.  Even the instructor said golden retrievers were smart dogs. 

The fifth week saw only two practice sessions at home and the sixth week would be the graduation test.  I was sure my dog would pass as he always did everything right during the class sessions. 

On the big day of graduation, all the owners and their dogs formed a large circle and did a practice run of all the commands.  We then commanded our dogs to lie down and stay while each owner and dog individually performed the commands we had learned the past six weeks.  I waited our turn with full confidence that my golden would step up and show his stuff. 

Our turn came and I commanded him to heel.  He just stayed on the ground and looked at me.  I commanded with authority as we were taught, and pulled on the leash.  He did not budge.  What’s with this dog?  He performs so well when we are doing the class exercises.  I finally got him up but he just moved a few feet and went into the “down” position again. After the time limit, the instructor moved on to the next dog.  We had failed the test. 

On the way home, I thought about the whole experience and wondered why Goldie didn’t follow my commands.  Then I realized, he was following what the other dogs were doing and not the commands of his master.  He did not practice obeying his master’s voice. 

When the test comes, are you doing what others are doing, or are you obeying your Master’s voice?