After we all came to the conclusion that our family could responsibly care for a dog, my husband and I started our search at a local animal shelter.
We discovered a medium-sized male dog named Duke. This dog was approximately only two years old and seemed to have the sweetest character. He looked at us through intelligent eyes and already knew how to fetch a ball. My husband and I immediately adopted him Duke quickly fit into our family's lifestyle. And he quickly leamed the tricks like "sit", "stay", and "come".
But there was one skill that Duke could not seem to grasp—that of a watchdog, My husband was trying to teach him to remind us by giving a single warning bark when someone came into the yard. Duke would listen carefully to my husband's commands, but would cock （竖起） his head to one side in confusion and disappointment as if to tell his master that he just didn't understand what my husband was asking him to do. My husband would give his "watch" command. Duke would stand up--muscles tightened in readiness, but would not have a clue as to what he was in readiness for.
One morning we heard the garbage collectors come up the driveway to get our garbage. My husband went to the open bedroom window so Duke could hear and see the men through the screen.
"Watch!" my husband commanded. Duke rose up in readiness, looked at my husband as sudden comprehension dawned on him, gave a quick tail wave, and leaped through the window screen, jumping happily out to greet the garbage men.
Seeing that, I couldn't help laughing. My laughter did nothing for my husband's mood when he found what was happening and he just went away to repair the screen with no expression on his face.
Duke brought our family so much fun. We never scolded or beat him. He was one of our family members.
