troublemakers

Yesterday Perry did something diabolical that I didn't think he would be capable of, but he obviously was. He chased a dog out of the park. Perry came back shortly afterwards, because he won't go out of my sight for long. But the other dog is a known unknown, as it kept running. I have no way of knowing what happened to it, and Laura and I both searched two directions it might have gone (of course, I still had Perry with me, so I dreaded to think how the other dog would react on encountering him again) but it must have gone the third direction. I hope it just went home (that's what most dogs would do) but whatever... I can't know.

Didn't feel I needed this kind of wake up call but that's what it was, so I have arranged for extra obedience training (I arranged this last year but the person cancelled or rather sought to postpone and I thought... look, it's really expensive, and Perry seems to be improving at Keilor obedience class every week so maybe... but obviously I made a mistake with letting that go) and basically the resolution is, he doesn't go off the lead unless he's enclosed by walls, gate and fence, until I am positive he's got complete recall-ability. 

It was an awful thing to happen and the fact that it was a perfect storm is not the point. I should have control of him sufficient to manage any situation. It's the 1% of times that are the bad ones. I know that.* 

So in a moment of clarity, perhaps clarity brought about by that traumatic event, I realised that for some reason I had a copy of The Latham Diaries in my house, and that had to cease forthwith. I could not decide whether to burn it, recycle it, or put it in the Kensington street library; that last thing is what I did. Latham makes me sad every time I think about him, and his present-day followers (of whom he currently has about three, I suppose) are probably even less likely to want a copy of this thing than anyone from the left. But this one is signed. I went on eBay to see whether that made it worth, you know, five dollars (I wouldn't have sold it to anyone who wanted it, btw - those people shouldn't be encouraged). All I found was ML's actually signature on eBay for $1. Oh, and a lot of books about ML from the time when ML was Labor leader. Amazing how much print he generated, not just his own words but others', about him. 

*Also to be very clear it's my responsibility to control him, not his to control himself - he only has instincts until he's shown the value of other behaviours. I'm not saying Perry is like Mark Latham.