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THAT SOUNDS LIKE THE VERY BASICS OF DOG TRAINING.

Yes. It’s training the owner to train the dog. They need a gentle, compassionate touch, but they do need training. There’s a balance. Usually, it’s that they have to expect more of the dog. Dogs get attention for being bad, and that’s predictable attention. It’s really important to not give attention for bad behavior. You redirect to good behavior and praise them for that. I fix it so the dog can understand, and the people can understand, and the dog becomes more cooperative. There should be no yelling and no grabbing.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST MISTAKE PEOPLE MAKEWITHTHEIR DOGS?

The biggest mistake is thinking that dogs are easy at all. People have a hard time because they’re coming home and taking care of children, and driving to soccer practice and making dinner and all sorts of things. But they have to take time for the dog, too. If you’re doing it right, it should be inconvenient. Dogs are, in a way, like children. They need direction and attention. You have to teach them to live in your home because they don’t know that innately. They how we do things.” SoI trained some of the dogs I was pet sitting. Dogs are happier when they think they are doing the right thing and getting attention. I didn’t mean to be the dog trainer, but people wanted it, and my clients started recommending me. It became too much to do both dog sitting and training, so eventually, I eased out of the pet sitting and started building on the dog behavior.

CAN YOU GIVE US ANY OTHERTIPS FOR DOG TRAINING?

don’t know it’s OK to get on the sofa in this room but not on the other sofa that’s nicer. People always say, “Well, he’s doing this, and he should know better.” Well, no, he doesn’t know better, or he wouldn’t do it. You have to teach, repeat and be patient. It’s hard to be the teacher, and dogs are harder than you think.

HOW DID YOU GET INTOTHIS BUSINESS?

I started a pet-sitting business, and some of my clients had dogs with bad manners. And I said, “No, you’re not going to jump on me. That’s not

Try taking an obedience course. That’s always a big help. Regular routines are huge. Dogs will count on that in a big way. Don’t use a retractable lead. People think it gives the dog more freedom, but it’s actually more dangerous because you have less control. I make it my mission in life to teach people it’s all about teamwork. Sometimes I see my former clients walking with [a retractable leash], and I will pull over and say something to them: “Uh, uh, uh! You shouldn’t be using that retractable leash.” I’m horrible. I’m obnoxious. I care too much.

Retail On Wheels

While food trucks, those incubators of independent restaurants, are all the rage in some cities, here in our neighborhood is another kind of truck. The Vintagemobile is the brainchild and fledgling business of 25-year-old Jeremy Turner and his wife, Kelsey, who live in the Lower Greenville area. The Turners wanted to open a vintage clothing store in their neighborhood with some friends. But rents on Greenville or Henderson were too much for them to swallow. “And then, one day, I just told them, ‘Why not make this store mobile because we’d have more opportunity, and your costs would be way lower?’ ” His friends thought he was crazy. So they kept trying to work out plans for a brickand-mortar store. But then a friend sent Jeremy a link to a double-decker bus in Portland, Ore., that is a vintage store. “Once I saw that, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m doing it.’ I already had the idea, and if someone else can do it, I can do it,” Jeremy says. He and Kelsey, 27, found a 1980 Chevy school bus on Craigslist (it is older than they are) and drove to Edmond, Okla., to get it. It took about six hours to drive the bus home, as it travels only about 50 mph before it starts making an unsettling noise. First, they took the seats out of the bus and had it painted green, and then Kelsey’s dad helped jeremy install shelves and clothing racks. Kelsey, who is a graphic designer, painted their logo and stripes in white. Then it was a matter of filling it up with vintage clothes, which was kind of the easy part. jeremy started perusing thrift stores and estate sales with his brother as a teenager, and he has an eye for picking out cool old T-shirts, such as a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers concert tee, and other throwback clothing. The Vintagemobile is parked at the Belmont Hotel, 901 Fort Worth ave., every Saturday and Sunday, but you never know where it might pop up. The best way to keep up with it is through facebook.com/vintagemobile or twitter.com/vintagemobile. —Rachel

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