Free My Dog Doesn't Like Me by Elizabeth Fensham

police use water cannons to break up riots. It makes sense that we can use water to train Ugly.’
    We started with ball throwing and fetching. When Ugly ran back with the ball, one of us would squirt him. He really did drop the ball. But that didn’t work forever. After a while, Ugly lost interest in playing ball.
    That’s when we tried the water pistol technique to cat-proof him.
    We chose to walk Ugly to the park when we knew Mrs Manchester’s cat was sunning itself in its favourite place – on her front brick fence. Sure enough, when Ugly saw Penelope, he started yapping, jiggling, and pulling on the leash. Immediately, the three of us squirted him. He stepped back and was quiet for a moment, but then he lunged forward again. I wasn’t holding on quite tight enough, and this time Ugly managed to get closer to the cat, who was still sitting but was now also snarling. Once again, the three of us let loose with our water pistols, but Hugh misjudged and gave the cat a blast of water. She yowled so loudly that Mrs Manchester hurried out her front door. All she could see was one half-drowned cat clawing its way up a gum tree.
    â€˜What have you done to my Penelope?’ she yelled.
    â€˜We were trying to dog-proof her, Mrs Manchester,’ I said.
    â€˜Go away! Just go away!’ said Mrs Manchester.
    As we ran towards the park, Ugly bounded along barking his head off. It sounded very like laughing.
    On Sunday, when Maggie visited, I told her about the water pistols.
    Maggie shook her head in a disapproving way, ‘You can’t carry water pistols around forever,’ she said. ‘Besides, you should stick to positive training methods. Use treats and rewards.’
    Then Maggie taught me this cool trick to get Ugly to bring his ball back. You pick up another of his toys, which makes him forget he has the ball, so he drops it. Then you pick up the ball and chuck it again. Even playing with a dog needs owner training, it seems.
    Maggie’s way of training is pretty smart, but Ugly and I haven’t got forever. I held the ball, and he looked up at me, grinning. I thought to myself, You wouldn’t be grinning like that, poor dog, if you knew how serious the situation was.

Chapter Twenty-three
    After a month of dog training (which feels as slow as a hundred years), Ugly has improved his behaviour – but only when he feels like it. This afternoon, I took Ugly for a walk on the leash in the opposite direction from Mrs Manchester and her cat. We must have walked about six doors down the street. All was fine until we came to a house where a small dog yapped at us from behind a high gate. Ugly charged across to the gate, barking and pulling me with him.
    I was glad Maggie wasn’t there because Ugly just ignored me. I tried to talk calmly, but I kind of lost it and I think I did a bit of human barking. I have to admit, the human barking didn’t get me anywhere. The two dogs were enjoying their hate session. The dog behind the fence was leaping about and jumping up at the gate. Ugly was doing the same thing on our side of the gate.
    I’ve been wondering what I can do about a dog that only behaves itself at home? Will Maggie make us have the big test away from our place? Somewhere that has barking dogs? The only thing I can think to do is always make sure I have treats in my pocket; then I might be able to tempt Ugly into doing what I want.

Chapter Twenty-four
    I’m feeling a bit better about training Ugly. The tough bit has been sticking to all this for six weeks. Milly reckons that’s how Olympic athletes must feel. She says there must be so many times when they want to chuck in the hard work day after day, but the difference between them and the rest of us ordinary people is that they just keep going.
    Ugly seems to know the routine. I’ve started to give him fewer treats so that he doesn’t always expect them, but I’m giving him just as