I always mention that “Obedience Training” is my dog story. It’s a weird one, sure, but how many of us haven’t wished something akin to my opening line at one time or another:
It had been twelve years since they tinkered with genetics and upped the average age for dogs to fifty-six years.
Okay, I’m sure this isn’t the first of my stories that I’ve said this about, but this is one of my personal favorites. It was a lot of fun to write, from beginning to end, initial spark of idea right through edit after edit.
I finished this story late December 2022—I say finished, and at that time I thought finished, but I tinkered here and there with it over the next twenty-three months. It had a frustrating path to publication because it kept drawing encouraging words, specific compliments, and even making shortlists and finalist folders. It was rejected over three dozen times.
Finally, “Obedience Training” was accepted by Cloaked Press for inclusion in their annual anthology Spring Into SciFi: 2025 Edition, the eighth in series started in 2018.
Spring Into SciFi: 2025 is currently enrolled in Kindle Unlimited, so Amazon KU members can read it free of charge. Otherwise, you can grab the Kindle download for $4.99, or pick it up in paperback for $15.99 at Amazon (prices as of this post). I’m expecting a contributor’s copy to arrive any day now, maybe I’ll update this post with an image once it arrives.
I’ll leave you with a few more lines from the open under this image of the Spring Into SciFi cover:
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It had been twelve years since they tinkered with genetics and upped the average age for dogs to fifty-six years. There were rumors even then that an eighty-year-old model had already been engineered in China. Most legacy dogs—do you remember the legacy dogs, Marcia?
Marcia shook her head.
No, of course you don’t. So young. I’m talking about those Fidos and Ladys I grew up with, the ones who lived a good twelve to fifteen years. By that time you couldn’t get one anymore, they were almost all gone. I missed them, dogs in general, but was troubled by the idea of adopting a pet who would likely outlive me.
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You can read the rest in Spring Into SciFi: 2025 Edition, available on Amazon. And thank you for doing so!
