A solid understanding

I let Larsen roam freely at the park on our evening walk.  The park has a mysterious valley cut behind the soccer field.  The poplars are truly gigantic and the canopy inhibits plant growth on the floor of the valley so that the vale appears almost apse-like, with the trees acting as columns.  A dry creek cuts through the valley, although the creek is running given our wet summer.

In a true act of insubordination, Larsen gave me a look, peed on a plant ("this is you!") and then took off into the brush that covers the steeply sloping sides.  He left me standing there for a solid five minutes.  I went looking for him.  I finally gave the whistle a peep or two and look who re-appears!  Hot, wet, muddy, and covered with burrs and briers.  I was beyond fury.  I grabbed his throat and looked into his eyes, knowing that it was too late for any type of thrashing that he deserved, were I of the sort to indulge in that sort of thing.

We heeled to the car without a lead.  I was almost half-hoping for another break so that I could have justified breaking his neck, but he was as obedient as he could be: heeling with his head at my knee and sitting promptly when I stopped walking.

Larsen was crated him in the car (no front-seat ride home), and this is where the solid understanding came in.  I told Aki about Larsen's escapade, and she completely understood that no hugs or pats were in Larsen's immediate future when I brought him into the house.  We both treated Larsen as though he was invisible.  No eye contact.  No pats.  Dinner was kibble with no cottage cheese or anything else.  No seconds.  No play after dinner.  When I walked upstairs or down I ignored him, even though he was bumping into me as he followed along.  When Aki worked on her computer, she ignored the dog at her feet.

No one looked into Larsen's eyes until right at lights-out at bedtime.

I'm convinced that Larsen knows he done wrong.  I'm hoping that his evening of excommunication lets him think about things.  I was called out of town unexpectedly and won't know until this weekend.