How a Neighbor Probably Saved my Puppy's Life with a Thoughtful Suggestion

Diary of Kuzo: The Dog Lord

When you get a dog, you start to meet people in your neighborhood that you never knew existed. Perhaps you crossed paths with them hundreds of times, but there was never anything that would make them pause and take notice.

When you have a puppy. Everybody takes notice!

“What a cute little puppy!”

“What’s his name?”

“Can I pet him!”

“Oh, he’s adorable!”

Sienna and Avril started to notice this phenomenon when we’d take Kuzo for a walk. “It’s like he’s a rock star!” Sienna said.

“Yes,” Avril added, “cars stop so they can say hello to Kuzo!”

Kuzo seemed to delight in all the attention. He’d prance along, paws up high, nose in the air. Whenever a car stopped or a person approached, Kuzo would start wagging his whole body. Sometimes he’d jump up in excitement and we’d say, “Kuzo! No!” But the person would laugh and assure us it was fine.

“He’s a puppy isn’t he? What an adorable little guy!”

Most of the people would come and go, but there was one old guy who kept turning up. He often wore a knee length overcoat that looked like it was issued by the Russian military. The look was completed by white shoes and a white baseball cap. Every time he was out, he had a different dog.

One time he stopped us, “I see you guys all the time. What’s the dog’s name?”

“Kuzo,” we said.

Kuzo started to wag his tail and his whole body.

“Wow, he’s a cute little guy! He’s going to be a great dog! Such a good boy.”

Every time we went out, the guy in the Russian military coat was there. He started to call for us, but he never called us by name, only Kuzo. “Hey Kuzo! You clown!” And Kuzo would wag and bark and pull at the leash to go and visit.

I started to think of this guy as the dog lord. It was obvious he was absolutely crazy about dogs. He didn’t go up and start kissing Kuzo and squealing, it was more like he communicated with Kuzo. He even kind of moved like a dog with short quick steps glancing about in all directions. When he saw a dog from a quarter mile away, his ears would perk up and he’d become fixated, just like any other dog.

Eventually, I found out his name was Isak.

Kuzo kept getting bigger and bigger, and Isak kept running out to meet us. “Hey Kuzo!”

“Hey Isak! Great to see you!” Kuzo said. Sometimes he’d lay down when he saw Isak. Sometimes he’d start bouncing on all four feet at once. Isak was his buddy. He liked Isak. Isak almost always had a piece of chicken in his pocket to give to Kuzo. He asked the first time, of course, because Isak didn’t want to get Kuzo in trouble.

“Can I give Kuzo a piece of chicken?”

“Of course.”

Kuzo got big enough where he started to be a handful. One day we were out for a walk, and, seeing Isak, Kuzo jumped forward. Unfortunately, Avril was holding him and Kuzo jumped with enough force to pull her down. I jumped forward and grabbed Kuzo’s leash to keep him out of traffic. Avril jumped to her feet, embarrassed, but unhurt.

Isak saw it and jogged over. “You’ve got to get that dog a pinch collar,” he said.

I’d heard of such things, but I didn’t know how popular the suggestion would be back at the house.

“I don’t know if my wife and kids are going to go for that,” I said.

Isak looked at me with the grizzled expression of a wise and loyal old dog that’s sat at the foot of his master’s bed for decades. “It’s not a choke collar, it’s a pinch collar,” he said. “True, it causes a little bit of discomfort, but only when the dog pulls on the leash. I think Kuzo is smart enough that he’ll learn not to pull after a couple walks.”

I was still skeptical, but Isak was persistent.

“It’s true that some people think it’s mean,” he said. “But you tell me, which is meaner, using a pinch collar, or not training your dog so that he eventually runs out in the street and gets hit by a car?”

He had a point. I looked at my girls, I looked at Kuzo, and I looked back at Isak. I was surprised to notice that Isak had started to tear up.

“I had a dog that ran right out in the street right in front of my house. We watched her get hit.” He almost couldn’t finish telling the story.

Nobody loved dogs as much as Isak. Heck, probably nobody understood dogs as well as Isak. If Isak recommended the pinch collar, I figured it must be a good idea.

“Okay,” I said, “let’s have the pinch collar.”

Isak jogged off home and got one of his extra pinch collars. I imagined his home pretty much looked like a veterinary clinic with dog products hanging all over the walls.

Isak tried the collar a few times, removing links and making quick measurements with his fingers. Kuzo sat for it patiently. I almost laughed at this. The other day, Kuzo had tried to bite the veterinarian’s fingers off, but Kuzo sat perfectly still for Isak.

“Heck, Kuzo knows who to trust,” I thought.

Isak fitted the collar and we were off for a walk again. Only once did Kuzo try to leap forward. The collar closed and pinched him, but Kuzo let off and he didn’t even yipe. He gave me a look as if to say, “What happened?”

I just shrugged.

When I got home, I was prepared to defend myself to the wife. “The dog lord...” I said, but my wife interrupted.

“Who?”

“Isak,” I clarified. “The guy who is always walking around with different dogs.”

“Oh yeah!” my wife said. “He used to walk a Great Dane all the time. That dog was almost bigger than he was!”

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s the guy. Anyway, he gave me this collar to stop Kuzo from pulling at his leash.” I put off admitting that it was a pinch collar until the end. I took off the collar and showed it to her. “It’s got these prongs, but they aren’t sharp. If he pulls they pinch him. It causes a little discomfort, but only when he pulls. We’ve got train him not to pull before he gets bigger for his own safety as much as ours.”

I looked up. I had further arguments ready in case my wife needed more convincing, but she was just nodding in agreement.

“I think it’s a good idea.”

I found out later Kuzo had just about pulled her down once too.

As the weeks went by, Kuzo never protested the pinch collar. In fact, when he heard it jingle he knew it was time for a walk. First, he’d get excited, then he’d compose himself and run over to the door where he’d sit like a good boy waiting to get his collar put on. Sometimes he’d look up with his big, soulful eyes as if to say, “C’mon man! Hurry up!”

Outside, passing Isak’s house, he always perked up and looked for his human friend. Isak always seemed to sense him and come running out with chicken.

“Hey Kuzo! What a good boy you are? I bet you learned your collar already! No running out into traffic for you. Here, do you want some chicken?”

Kuzo would smile and wag his tail and bounce on all four paws like always. He hasn’t protested the pinch collar and it helped him learn not to pull the girls down or run out into the road.

It was a relief to everyone, but maybe to the dog lord most of all.

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