"Talk to your dog, build up his vocab,"
Says the online trainer brightly.
"Help him become articulate.
Always expressing himself rightly."
Doing exactly that, I spoke
Constantly to that mass of muscle,
The terrier of the family
Born of Jack and Jane Russell.
Manners and social science and law,
Subjects to make him sound like a gent,
These I harped on--to no avail--
Now he talks with my Brooklyn accent.
