Chapter Thirty-Four: Issues Easily Overlooked

After securing the tether on Zhang Congwen’s end, he finally had a moment to ask Xie Caizhe, “Caizhe, would you like to try a physics problem on force analysis?”

As soon as Xie Caizhe heard Zhang Congwen call his name, he turned his head to look over, but just as quickly pretended nothing had happened and looked away, feigning ignorance of being called.

At this moment, Boss Xie was still holding onto the iron chain, but not as tightly as before; he was panting from exertion. The exercise just now probably equaled his usual activity for two days.

Meanwhile, the big tiger was still barking incessantly—not at Boss Xie or Zhang Congwen, but at the group of workers. In its mind, the current predicament was entirely caused by those strangers suddenly intruding. It was simply defending its territory; it had done nothing wrong.

However, given the tiger’s current state, further training was out of the question; what was needed now was to help it calm down. Without delay, Zhang Congwen circled behind it, placed both hands on its neck, and climbed onto its back, forcing the tiger to lie flat on the ground.

This forceful restraint proved highly effective—within less than a minute, the big tiger gradually quieted down.

The principle behind this isn’t complicated; anyone who has watched videos of two dogs fighting would understand. When dogs fight, it isn’t always about biting. Especially when a higher-ranking dog fights a lower-ranking one, it often happens that the dominant dog will pin the subordinate beneath it.

In canine body language, pinning another dog beneath oneself says: my strength far exceeds yours, I am more powerful, therefore you must obey me. When the big tiger straddled Xie Caizhe earlier, it was expressing this very message. Now, Zhang Congwen was conveying the same meaning to the tiger in its own language.

The logic behind this behavior is easy to grasp. The dog pinned below is passive, while the one on top can more easily inflict fatal harm, so the one beneath usually dares not act rashly.

Similarly, lower-ranking dogs, when submitting to higher-ranking ones, will often lie on the ground and expose their vulnerable parts, a gesture of complete surrender.

When the big tiger finally calmed down, Zhang Congwen carefully got up, and only when he was about to let go did he quickly step back to a safe distance.

This was absolutely necessary.

A dog forced to the ground doesn’t necessarily mean complete submission; sometimes, the dog beneath simply didn’t perform well and is lying low for the moment. As soon as the restraint is lifted, there’s a real chance of a sudden attack.

Fortunately, the big tiger did not attack Zhang Congwen—he simply got up slowly, noticeably quieter.

But this peace didn’t last long. Something the workers did agitated the big tiger again, and it started barking once more. This time, without waiting for Zhang Congwen to prompt him, Boss Xie tried to restrain the tiger by tugging the chain, but it had no effect. So Zhang Congwen had to subdue the animal again by force.

After repeating this process about twenty times, Boss Xie was drenched in sweat.

“I really never imagined keeping a dog could be this exhausting,” Boss Xie said, wiping his forehead with a wry smile.

Zhang Congwen squatted down, watching the big tiger for a while before saying, “There is one benefit to keeping a dog like this—it helps you lose weight.”

Boss Xie laughed heartily and patted his belly. “That’s true. I’ve always wanted to shed this belly fat, just never had the chance. Looks like now I do.”

Then he asked, “How long will this training need to continue?”

Zhang Congwen studied the big tiger again, and, seeing that it had finally settled down and was ignoring the workers busy on the other side of the courtyard, replied, “This isn’t the ideal training result yet. Right now, it might be calm because it’s tired, or maybe it’s scared. Either way, though, it’s enough to move on to leash training.”

Taking the big tiger from the courtyard out onto the street went smoothly. Although the tiger still glanced warily at the workers building its kennel, it never acted out. Boss Xie carefully followed Zhang Congwen’s instructions, always trying to block the tiger’s line of sight toward the workers.

Once outside, however, the big tiger became excited again, constantly trying to lunge forward. Boss Xie, now experienced, held the chain firmly no matter how the tiger pulled, never letting it drag him around.

But simply not letting the dog walk you is only half the battle. Zhang Congwen took the leash and gave it a sharp tug. Then he explained, “When you’re walking the dog and the tiger lunges ahead, stop and do as I showed you. Don’t move forward until it returns to your side. The point is to show it that you’re in charge, and it needs to listen to you. You decide where to go, not the dog.”

Boss Xie nodded, taking it all in.

When Zhang Congwen handed the leash back, Boss Xie imitated him well, and the tiger’s attempts to surge forward quickly lessened.

Still, Zhang Congwen noticed that the tiger was highly alert to anything moving nearby. Once, without warning, it bolted after a passing car. Thankfully, Boss Xie reacted in time, holding fast to the leash, though the tiger still made it from the sidewalk to the edge of the road.

After thinking it over, Zhang Congwen summarized the problem: “The leash is too long. Next time, you’ll need a much shorter one—ideally half this length. What happened just now was dangerous. Luckily, it only chased a car. If its target had been a child passing by, or an elderly person moving slowly, even with a muzzle, the tiger could have caused serious harm.”

A cold sweat broke out on Boss Xie’s back. When the tiger lunged, he had sensed danger, but his concerns differed from Zhang Congwen’s.

He was worried that if he lost focus, the tiger might pull him down or the leash might slip, endangering bystanders, or that the tiger would dart into traffic and get hit by a car.

He hadn’t considered the risks Zhang Congwen mentioned.

This wasn’t because Boss Xie was irresponsible—by Zhang Congwen’s standards, he was a conscientious owner. It’s just that people often overlook potential problems.

For example, while following Zhang Congwen’s training, Boss Xie had completely forgotten that Song Jiawei and his daughter Julie had been out for quite some time and hadn’t returned yet.