There is no such thing
he says
as a bad dog.
Misunderstood, afraid, aggressive, hard to control, but
none of them wants to be
that way. Codependent,
traumatized, weaned too young,
seeking affection in negative ways
afraid of losing it like a favored blanket.
The cure is partly socialization,
mostly self-soothing,
until old neural pathways
die, unused, and new ones
take their places.