Terry was a scared little monkey. Yes, Terry was so timid that she spent most of each day hiding under a bed or under
a couch or behind a door. Poor little, frail, and diminutive Terry was one of those poor creatures that had the misfortune
of being born with an extreme personality complex, and anytime another living, breathing being – be it man or beast --
was nearby, Terry would ensconce herself away, and refuse to show herself for days at a time or until the threat of
danger had passed.
Terry was among the forgotten and forlorn, having been abandoned as a pup; but she was to find herself among the
fortunate few. Terry was adopted by a loving and protective and patient human being, who understood the needs of a
homeless and otherwise unwanted wastrel. Her new owner took her in and decided to give her a home as best he could.
But upon immediate arrival at her new home Terry scurried to the nearest bed, and there she hid underneath safely out
of site. Whenever Terry’s new owner would leave for work he would place food and water on the floor near where Terry
could reach it, and then head out the door. Her new owner hoped that within time Terry would get over her extreme
shyness enough to at least come out from under the bed, and he hoped that in time she would get accustomed to being
around him when he was home.
Terry’s fears extended beyond just the fear of fear itself. Apparently Terry had been abused before finding her new
owner. Terry was afraid of anything that made a loud noise. The vacuum cleaner, the basement furnace, loud talking
and the stamping of feet on the floor: all these things would send Terry scurrying for the bed and underneath where
she would hide for hours and days at a time. Whenever guests would appear for a visit, Terry would make herself
scarce, and it was only by force that Terry’s new owner would introduce her to the guests and any others who happen to
be present.
Terry was especially afraid of people. Once, when being forced to entertain a group of people with her presence, Terry
got stepped on, and the force was so great that her foot was broken. Terry was equally terrified of other animals.
Luckily for Terry her new owner had a lot of patience and experience with small animals like Terry, and he had the
perserverence to work with Terry and to help her over her shyness.
Terry’s new owner would spend time each day with Terry, coaxing her out from under the bed or from behind the couch,
currying favor with her with little treats and pats on the head and hugs and kisses. Her new owner even went so far as
to work with Terry, teaching her some tricks, cute little tricks like barking and begging and rolling over.
One day Terry’s new owner decided to take her to work with him. There her owner’s coworkers had a chance to meet
Terry, and they just fawned over her. “Oh, how cute!” they would say. Can’t you teach her any tricks? “Well, she’s
learned a few,” her owner would tell them. Terry’s new owner had indeed been working with Terry to teach her a trick or
two, and although she was extremely shy, Terry had responded to the patience and persistence of her new owner
enough to learn several cute tricks.
Terry was making progress, and although she would never completely get over her shyness, she would gain enough
trust for her new owner to perform in public and in front of his friends some of the tricks he had taught her. Her owner
had taught Terry to take direction from him by the use of simple hand signals and whistles and noises he would make.
Among the cute little tricks Terry learned to do was to hide inside a small basket. Her owner would set a very small
basket on the floor or on a table, and with a simple hand signal, Terry would run to the basket, lift the lid, and there she
would stay until her owner gave her another signal, whereupon she would stick her head out of the basket, and wait for
another signal, which would tell Terry to jump out of the basket. This seemed to be a trick that Terry enjoyed doing.
Terry remained a scared little monkey her whole life, but she did manage to summon enough courage to remain loyal to
her new owner’s demands when she found herself spending more and more time with him at work. At work her new
owner was giving Terry commands to do some of her tricks. She had learned several more, including barking on
command. Terry's owner had taught her how to run and stop on command; how to bark on command; how to run and
hide in the basket, and several other cute things. Every day Terry would accompany her owner to work where she
would perform her repertoire of tricks before the large scary horde of people that always seem to be around.
At her owner's place of work, there would always be a large contingent of people who would be moving around and
making a lot of noise. There were large machines that made unnerving noises, and there were fearsome creatures that
resembled large and ferocious animals, and these always made Terry very scared. It was quite a challenge for Terry's
owner to keep Terry on task, performing her little tricks, which she had learned to do and which she seemed so much to
enjoy.
Despite all the work that the others were required to do, and despite all the serious business in which everyone else
appeared to be involved, most of the others did enjoy the pleasant distraction of watching Terry do her little tricks.
Terry's owner had other work to do also, but he always seemed to have time to engage Terry in doing those things she
seemed to enjoy, even if she remained very frightened and had to be encouraged often to perform her tricks.
Although it was always difficult for Terry to do so, and even though she was constantly shaking from fright and running
and hiding, and even though her owner would have to retrieve her from under a bed or from under a desk or from
behind a door, she would still be good enough to obey her owner’s commands and remain in the presence of other
people long enough to perform her little tricks – even in the presence of the frightful creatures, which scared her the
most. But for all the anxiety the poor little pup had to endure, Terry would prove to be a most loyal and to all the world a
most precocious little pup. But precocious she was not. Terry was a scared little monkey and would so remain all her
life. Were it not for her owner and the patience and persistence he showed toward Terry, we would never have heard of
her.
Were it not for her owner, we would never have had the opportunity to witness for ourselves those amazing tricks she
learned …, those wonderful and funny little things she did, running and hiding, and jumping in and out of baskets. Had
it not been for the amazing patience of her owner, the world might never have had the opportunity to be amazed at the
colorful and spritely little terrier, who was ever vigilant, displaying enormous feats of courage in the face of terrifying
danger. Had it not been for her owner -- Hollywood animal trainer Carl Spitz -- had it not been for him the world would
never have had the extreme joy and satisfying pleasure of observing one little abandoned and otherwise unwanted
vagabond cur as she herself terrified the mighty, and fought against the injustice of bullies, and who herself was the
terror all those monsters -- the lions and the tigers and the bears! Oh My! And wicked witches -- let’s us not forget
about the wicked witches! And oh yes! Let us not forget how she outwitted the wickedest of them all, that old mean and
ugly and nasty …, Wicked Witch of the West!
Hello, there, little Toto.