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.
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Oak in my journal, or email me one of your own stories.
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