Despite being a dog owner for the past 20 years, I’ll never claim to be the Dog Whisperer. Just when I think I've trained my dogs to be well-behaved, I come home from work to find one of my shoes chewed beyond recognition by my 5-month-old puppy, Ernie, or trash from last night’s dinner scattered throughout the living room while my 4-year-old golden retriever, Dixie, looks up at me with her big, brown, guilt-ridden eyes.

Then there’s Bear. I adopted this German shepherd mix in 2006. Although he was only about 6 months old at the time, two different owners previously gave up on him and brought him back to the shelter. But the moment I saw him seemingly smiling at me as he wiggled his entire rear end while wagging his tail, I knew I had to have him.

To this day, I still sometimes stop and try to think of what reasons there possibly could’ve been for someone to get rid of Bear. Although he may not be as smart as Dixie and Ernie, when we had family visiting a few days ago, Bear was the only one of the three not to incessantly bark, lick, jump or otherwise annoy our guests. Of course, there are times when Bear is just as mischievous as the others. So for one day at least, I was proud of his exemplary behavior.

Now, if I get home tonight and find him eating something he’s not supposed to, maybe I’ll finally give up my futile dog training efforts and turn to the List for a professional.