Chaos Critter Tails: The Case of the First Class Magic School

When Dante came home from his first dog class, of course he had to share his adventures with Beleth. His big brother Maine Coon Cat explained to the Mini American puppy what really happened in class.

Introduction to Dog Class

Dante and Crokell love other dogs, cats, people, small children, and pretty much anything and everything fluffy and alive. This makes training at home easier, but training in a class harder, and training next to a dog park extremely challenging. We found a Saturday class to polish up Crokell and give Dante a good foundation by providing structure and distractions.

Crokell wore non-slip booties to class - when a Newfie takes a sharp corner, he needs traction. Dante didn’t notice his brother’s new accessory but then I am not sure he noticed anything but that there were new friends to meet.

Overall, the class is wonderful, but I think I'll leave Dante to tell his own version. Enjoy your Sunday and I hope you love this look into the mind of our canine friends.

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Beleth and the Case of the First Class Magic School

Dante sat in the garage, his body vibrating with excitement as he patiently watched the smaller of the two monkeys.

Finally, she said, "Okay. Go."

Instantly, he dashed into the house, his entire body a quiver. Without the stub of a tail, his whole rear wagged back and forth in endless motion.

He had one mission — he had to find Beleth. "Beleth! There you are! You'll never guess — I was 'first class' today!"

Beleth stared at Dante, his expression unreadable. "You were 'first class'? Oh, you had your first class today. Is that what you meant?"

Dante stopped and tilted his head in confusion. "I'm not sure."

Beleth blinked slowly at the little puppy. "Why don't you tell me about it?"

"Okay." Dante's words spilled out enthusiastically. "We went to a new building I hadn't been to before. The female monkey put the silver chain of command on me, then we went inside. There was a tall, dark man there."

Beleth interrupted. "Was that — did this man talk to everybody? Did he talk for a bit and then have everyone move around, doing mostly the same thing?"

Dante sniffed the air, deep in thought, though the surrounding smells didn't help. "Yes! Yes, we did. Mostly, we walked around in a square, over and over again."

Beleth nodded knowingly. "Did the dark man have long hair?"

"How did you know?" Dante's eyes widened. "He had dreads — long ones. They went down to his waist before he put them up."

"Ah," said Beleth. "The longer the hair, the more powerful the wizard. You were at wizard school."

Dante wiggled back and forth, his entire body vibrating with newfound excitement. "Really? I didn't know that's what I was doing, but it explains so much! When we got there, the male monkey and big brother sat off to one side. Me and a bunch of other dogs sat on the floor right next to our owners, and they made us look up at them."

He paused, straining to remember every detail, as Beleth groomed him. The older cat licked his paw, brushing one ear into place.

Beleth sniffed. "Yes, that's what I heard from Crokell. Speaking of whom — hey, Crokers!"

The big black Newfie slowly wandered by and laid down next to them, content to simply listen.

Beleth continued, "Yes, all the dogs go in, and they have to stare at their owners, walk next to them, and do exactly what they're supposed to do."

Dante's face lit up. "Did you ever do that, Beleth?"

Beleth laughed heartily. "I may act like a dog at home, but I'm not a dog. Tell me more about your class."

Dante wagged his rear energetically. "Okay! Now that I know it's a wizard school, it makes so much more sense. First, the magic made us sit there staring up at our owners. Then, it made us walk, and we walked right next to them in a square."

He continued, his voice excited. "Sometimes we slowed down if we got too close to the dog in front of us and had to go really slow, but other times we'd speed up. And sometimes the dark man would shout something, and everybody would turn around and go the other direction. Sometimes they turned one way, sometimes the other. It was very confusing!"

There was a chuckle from Crokell, though everyone ignored it for now.

Dante pawed at Beleth, prompting the cat to lie down and pull the puppy's ear close for a grooming session. Around the ear, Beleth encouraged, "Go on with your story."

Dante stretched, letting Beleth fall away from him, and shook all over. "Well, I think that's all of what happened in my class. Oh wait — no, there was one more thing. Do you know about 'stay'?"

Another chuckle from Crokell earned a wary look from Beleth. "Please, go on."

"Well, she made me sit — I can sit, see?" Dante demonstrated, though his butt twitched with restless energy. Every now and then, he shifted left or right or pointed in a random direction.

"But I'm sitting! Anyway, in class, they made me sit, and then the female monkey started to walk off. I hopped up to go with her, but she made me sit back down."

Dante frowned, puzzled. "It was so weird! Sometimes I think she's not good at communicating. But finally, I think I got it — sometimes she wants me to stay seated while she walks away. I'm not sure why. Then she walked in a circle around me. I think she was trying to cast a spell. Do you think it worked?"

Crokell rolled over, letting out a lazy yawn and fixing Beleth with a knowing look.

Dante went on, oblivious, "Anyway, then it was big brother Crokers' turn. They walked around the magic square for a while, and then the dark man shouted something weird. The smaller monkey moved in front of Crokers, made him sit, then made him lay down."

Dante cocked his head. "Then, she walked away from him and just stood there, just looking at him. The dark man came up behind Crokers and used his staff to play with his tail for a while. Then, he asked the smaller monkey, 'Is this even attached to the other end?'"

Beleth nodded, his expression wise. "Ah, he was casting a stronger spell on Crokell to make him stay laying down even more."

Dante eyed Crokell, who lay sprawled on his back, legs splayed. "I'm not sure that was strictly necessary."

Beleth sighed. "Dante, aren't you a little young for that much sarcasm?"

Dante hadn't heard. "Anyway, during the dark man's class, he used his staff. He'd tap the floor sometimes, but most of the dogs ignored it. I didn't know what he wanted me to do."

Beleth thought for a second, licking his nose in contemplation. "Hmm... I think he was helping the smaller monkey cast her spell."

Dante shook his head furiously, ears flapping. "Okay, that makes sense. Now back to Crokers' story!"

Taking back over, Dante described what he'd seen. "After that spell, they walked the magic square some more. Then the dark man said something again, and everybody stopped. The smaller monkey made my big brother look up at her, then told him to lay down. He lay down, and she walked to the end of the leash again. She turned, looked at Crokers, and then the dark man came up to play with Crokers' tail again."

Dante leaned closer, voice conspiratorial. "The dark man stood over Crokers, pulled his thick brows up, and stared into his eyes. The dark man then exclaimed, 'Ah, that's what I wanted to see.'"

Beleth took a deep breath, nodding sagely. "He was making eye contact to cast the spell even more strongly on Crokers."

Crokell rolled over, letting out a minor chortle.

At least Dante thought he heard one, though it was hard to tell over the bigger dog's snoring. "Anyway, class went on like that for a while. Am I supposed to be learning magic from this, or is it just the smaller monkey?"

Beleth pondered. "I don't know. I don't think Crokell has learned any magic from it. But he's a Newfie, and Newfies learn different things than little dogs do sometimes."

"Okay," Dante agreed. Then, his face brightened with an idea. "Do you think if I bring a treat for the dark man, he'll teach me some magic?"

At this, Crokell stirred, rolling over to face his brothers. "No treats."

With ears perked, Dante shot back, "No treats? Why not?"

Crokell flopped back to the ground. "I heard the smaller monkey talking to the dark man. This class, they don't use any treats — I think that's my fault."

Dante ran over, biting his big brother's ear. "Why's it your fault?"

Crokell sighed deeply. "Well, last time we had a competition, we walked around the room. Halfway across, I got bored, so I stopped and looked around. She left me behind. I think they decided because there weren't any treats, I wasn't doing what I was supposed to. That's when we started coming to this class."

The big dog paused for a moment, reflecting. "They were right, by the way."

The Maine Coon and Mini American cocked their heads in perfect unison.

Dante admitted, "I guess that makes sense."

Beleth laughed softly. "Some of the time, I'm glad I'm not actually a dog. I like getting kibble for coming when I'm called — people are so happy when I do that. They don't expect much more."

Dante squirmed at the thought of extra kibble. "Well, I hear next week I get to see the dark man again!"

Dante and Beleth fell into excited discussions about what might happen in the next class. As they talked, Aki walked up beside the sprawled Crokell, looking down at him curiously. "What is Beleth telling Dante this time?"

Crokell raised one eyebrow, glancing up at her. "Oh, training class is actually magic school. The head instructor is a head magic user teaching the small monkey how to do magic."

Aki snorted softly, giving the two brothers a dismissive glance. "Sometimes I don't know about those two. Everybody knows you can't do magic without a cat."

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Behind the Scenes Transcription Notes

Tod dictated the first draft of this story in about 15 minutes. Then he used ProseWrite to transcribe the recording into text. (An important note for people using ProseWrite for fiction - use the Minimalist editor persona. This keeps it from changing voice and unique verbiage into something more general.)

Chaos Tip of the Week

One of the best training tricks is the Reverse Psychology Recall. When first teaching your dog to come, run away from them. It's like playing hard to get, a game almost every dog loves. As an added bonus, it adds a little more cardio while getting you confused looks from passersby. It is something I still do with Crokell and Dante in the backyard. It works best with high energy dogs, but even Crokell enjoys it.

Critter’s Weekly Question

If your dog or cat could choose a magical familiar (like an owl, dragon, demon, or even a person), which creature would it pick and why?