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87

Scout does not think

Koda likes her because he
always avoids her and
runs away from her.
Scout notices that
everything she does
seems to upset her new
brother, Koda.
Beginning
(call to adventure)
Another ordinary day at
an adoption event, until
Scout gets adopted and
meets her two new
brothers, who she can't
wait to play with .
Middle (conflict)
Problem
(tension)
Scout starts out unaware that others do not
always share the same perspective as her.
She ends up learning that her actions affect
others, therefore it is important to consider
others' perspectives.
4 (closure, learning)
(Transformation) X
Visual Portrait of a Story (dillingham,
2001), with transformation (ohler, 2003)
- Draft v. 1.2 (8/5/04) -
copyright @ Jason Ohler 2004
Scout observes the way Cub
interacts with Koda, and she
Solution
(resolution) begins to understand the
importance of perspective
taking – she needs to think
about how her actions affect
others (specifically, Koda).
End
Scout learns that her actions have
an affect on others and that not
everyone has the same feelings
towards things–even though she
might like something, does not
mean that others do, too. Scout
changes her behavior so that she is
able to get along with her
brothers, all while continuing to
be true to her authentic self.
 Story Script

● Beginning/Ordinary Life:

It all started out with another typical day heading to another dog adoption event, but this time
something seemed a bit different – I could feel it in my bones.

After hours of watching hoomans zip by and claim other dogs, I started letting my hopes down
again because it was getting near the end of they day. Then, all’a sudden, this girl hooman who
was walking by stopped straight in her tracks. She came over to pet me, and when she picked
me up, there was a look in her eyes that I had never seen before. While she was holding me,
she walked up to the hoomans who brought me to the park, introduced herself as, “Jackie,”
asked them some questions...and...

...next thing I know, I’m in a car with my new hooman and she is saying to me, “Hi, Scout! I’m
excited that you are joining our family!”

● The Call to Adventure:

When we got out of the car again we were in the backyard. That’s when two other dogs came
running up to us. One dog was black and the other was white. I heard my hooman say, “Down
Koda” to the black dog, and “Down Cub” to the white dog. Then Jackie put me down, and the
dogs sniffed me for a bit. I was excited to have two new brothers who I could play with all the
time!

● Problem:

Things seemed to be going really great at first, but it didn’t take long for me to notice that the
more time I tried to spend with Koda and Cub, the more it seemed like they didn’t want to spend
time with me. And it seemed like they always had a problem with everything that I did. Well, I
shouldn’t say “they,” because honestly, Cub wasn’t always too bad. When Cub was with Koda,
he would kinda ignore me…but when Koda wasn’t around, Cub would be kinda nice. He would
sit by me and play with me a little. Depending on the day, we’d even play a game of tag around
the backyard! Cub and I actually got pretty close as the days went on. We would run around,
chase each other, and then get so tired that we’d just klonk out. I thought that maybe since I
was getting closer to Cub, Koda would start giving me a chance, since they were close, too. But
that didn’t happen.

It got to a point where it seemed like everything I did made Koda annoyed with me. I knew that I
would be staying at this home forever, I mean, Jackie even started calling Koda and Cub my
brothers, I was really happy about all that. I knew living at this house was a great opportunity
for me to have a happy life, but I didn’t want my brothers to be mad at me. So one day, I
decided to try to answer the question: “What was I doing that was making Koda so upset?” So, I
set a goal to get to the bottom of this problem and I challenged myself not to quit until I got
some answers.

● Middle:Tension/Conflict
I tried thinking of all the times that Koda would get upset or annoyed at the things I did:
Whenever I washed my feet with the water that was in our bowl, he’d get upset.

I remember there was one day when water was falling from the sky. I love water, so I went
outside and sat in the rain (that’s what I learned it’s called). Then I went digging in the mud! I
had a really fun time, but when I tried to get Koda and Cub in on the fun, they acted like they
wanted nothing to do with me.

Speaking of water, we have this huge water bowl in the backyard. Jackie calls it a pool.
Sometimes when she would go swimming, I would go in with her too. Other times, I ended up
falling into the pool, while I tried to fetch things that were floating on the water. Falling in never
bothered me either, though, ‘cause I’d just swim to the steps, get out of the water and shake off.
Koda always used to get mad at me when I would go in the water. I would try to tell him that it
was ok, and that I didn’t mind if he wanted to play in the water, too. But when I would run up to
talk to him, he would just run away from me.

Koda also used to get mad at me when Jackie would take us to the other side of the fence. She
would attach a big rope to our collar and then pull on the rope. Since she was pulling on the
rope, I would pull back and we’d start a game of tug o’war! Sometimes, Jackie would really put
up a fight, and the game would last for a while, which was tons of fun! Koda and Cub weren’t
too good at tug o’war, though, ‘cause when Jackie tugged on their ropes, they just gave up and
started walking...they didn’t even try to tug back! Cub didn’t really care that I was good at tug
o’war, but Koda would always get annoyed when I played. Maybe he thought I was better at tug
o'war than him, so that made him upset?

Another thing that seemed to make Koda mad was when I came around when Jackie would say
the word “treat.” I learned really quickly that “treat,” meant that we’re gonna be getting
something very very tasty! So, whenever Jackie would say “treat,” me, Koda and Cub would all
go running to her, it was like a race! When we would get to her, Koda and Cub would just sit
down, but I always wanted her to know how excited and thankful I was for getting a treat, so I
would jump up and down to show my appreciation. She would acknowledge my gratitude, and
then I would sit down next to Koda and Cub and get my treat. For some reason, Koda always
seemed to get annoyed when I would show Jackie that I was thankful for the treats.
Sometimes, we would even play a game with our treats. Jackie would toss a treat to us, and if
we wanted it, we would catch it in our mouth! You bet I always wanted my treat! But,
sometimes, when Jackie would toss the treat to Cub or Koda, they would just let the treat drop,
and not catch it. I figured since they didn’t catch the treats, they probably didn’t want them, and
so I would eat it. He really didn’t like it when I did that.
 ● Middle: Growth/Transformation
One day, Jackie took Koda alone in the car. They were gone for a while, but when they finally
came back home, I saw that Koda had stuff wrapped around his head. It kinda looked like
something was wrong, so I wanted to sprint to him and jump on him and play with him to make
him feel better. (Playing always makes me feel better.) I was just about to get my feet moving,
when I noticed that Cub was walking to Koda, too. But Cub wasn’t sprinting, he was just calmly
walking. And I saw that once Cub got to Koda, he didn’t jump and try to play, he just laid down
next to Koda. I was worried that if I didn’t run and jump on Koda, he would think I was mad at
him, but after seeing how Koda reacted to Cub, I did something that was kinda new for me: I
took my time to think about the situation, instead of going with the first thing that popped into my
head. After thinking for a few seconds, I realized that maybe my plan was not the best one, so,
I decided to do what Cub did – instead of running and jumping, I walked over to them, slowly
and then just laid down next to them. And guess what?! Koda didn’t get up and move – he
didn’t even turn his head away from me! So all three of us just stayed like that for a while – just
laying there.

● Middle: Resolution
I took some time to recall what happened that day, to help me understand why Koda didn’t move
away from me or avoid me. Instead of running and jumping on Koda to try to make him feel
better, I took my time to assess the situation, and by observing how Cub interacted with Koda, I
was able to see the way Koda responded to Cub. Cub calmly walked up to Koda and just lied
down, so Koda did not move away. Then, when I tried doing the same thing, it worked for me,
too! Koda didn’t try to move away from me, he just stayed where he was. I realized that at that
moment, Koda did not want a lot of energy around him, he just wanted things to be calm. Even
though I always get cheered up by tons of energetic playing, that wasn’t the way to make Koda
feel better.

After that, I thought back to the different times that Koda got upset or annoyed at me, once
again. But this time, instead of thinking of my actions during those instances, I thought of what
my brothers were doing. I also tried viewing those scenarios from a different perspective:
Koda’s.

I also came to the realization that the time I got muddy from digging and all the times I splashed
around in the pool were never really an issue for my brothers...well, not until I would try to have
them join in on the fun - that’s when they would run away from me. So even though those
things are fun for me, it didn’t seem like those things were fun for my brothers.

I learned that when Jackie would put a rope on our collar, it wasn’t to play tug o’war, it was so
that we could go to the other side of the fence to do something called a “walk.” It turns out that
Koda wasn’t upset that I was better than him at tug o’war...he was upset that when I’d spend a
lot of time playing, our walking time would get shortened, since Jackie had to leave for work.

And lastly, when Jackie gives us treats, Koda and Cub don’t jump up and down, they just sit
there and wait patiently to get their treat, because when Jackie puts her hand up, it’s a sign that
means she wants us to sit down. So it turns out that when I’d jump up and down to say thanks,
it would take us longer to get our treats, since Jackie has to get me to calm down and then sit. I
guess just giving her puppy kisses after we get our treats is good enough.

Oh, also, I figured out that when my brothers don’t catch their treats, it isn’t because they don’t
want the treat, it’s because sometimes Jackie does not have the best tosses.

● End: Closure/Learning
After I came to all of these realizations, I tried doing what I did that one day when Koda didn’t
run away from me. I observed the way my brothers did all of those things, and then I copied
them the best I could. And tell ya what – it didn’t take too long before I noticed Koda started
acting different to me. Not only did he stop ignoring, avoiding, and running away from me, he
actually began coming up to me every now and then.

So that’s the story of how I did some self-reflecting, so that I could learn how to fit in and get
along better with my brothers. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I changed who I was as a dog,
deep down...it’s just that I had to learn that not every dog out there has the same views that I
have about things. And I’m still the same Scout that I’ve always been – I still have tons of fun
jumping in the pool and playing in the mud, but now I don’t try to get my brothers to jump in the
pool with me anymore, because I know they don’t like water. And I definitely don’t wash my
muddy paws in our water bowl anymore either, ‘cause that’s not being respectful to my brothers.
Well, all that happened more than five years ago now, and I’ll tell ya what...I’m sure glad it did!
‘Cause there’s no doubt about it – I’ve got the best brothers in the world and the three of us
couldn’t be happier!