Rewarding bad behavior

Yesterday, my little popo was on the receiving end of some Trini disciplinary action. Hear what happen....
He ate and I decided to let him out of the house so he could run around in the backyard. He has developed a knack for torturing lizards and any other critter in our backyard including the birds. Last i saw, my mom was feeding them (the birds) channa! Anyway, Popo is smart. he likes to dig holes in the yard and no one noticed that he was digging one close to the fence.
I was inside talking to my parents when i noticed him jumping in some shrubs really close to the fence but he wasn't hitting the fence so i saw him back back and jump one more time and then lo and behold, popo was running a marathon in the neighbor's unfenced yard!
Now we live on a really busy street and if you ever notice when your dog get out of your bounds, like they does go deaf too! So popo scoot across the street and all the traffic and ran up to this lady who shooed him away or scared him...either one. One minute I was inside talking to my parents and the other, i heard myslef say, " papo in the neighbor yard!" and i was out the door. i realized what i was doing after i broke through the hedge that separates our house from the neighbor's and was standing barefoot in the middle of the road directing traffic so that no one would bounce down my dog.
Popo was running to people's yard and marking territory like his bladder was a ten gallon tank! Jeez! Finally, he ran into this yard and right up to the people's door and heard what sounded like two very big dogs barking inside and the owner cussing like crazy. I think that's when popo got scared and he sat down right after he lay claim to the people tree and all! i grabbed my popo and the first thing that came out of my mouth while i was hitting him...and out of the yard...
me: "you dotish? what does wrong wit you? you does get crazy ah what?"
so i'm hitting him and he feel he bad, he start to bite and scratch me! so my mom said something that made me almost drop popo and start laughing.
my mom: "doh hit him on the road...yuh want people to call animal cruelty on we? wait til he come inside!"
as soon as we entered the yard, from nowhere, popo got a trini style cuta$$ from my mom. well after the first lash, i brakes for him and tell her to stop. popo stop biting and scratching forthwith! he slept for the rest of the evening until furgie came home and poor fella, when she came home, she took him to the hole he dug and hit him too. needless to say, he fought back. so later on in the night, i went to walmart and bought him a toy because really, my popo doesn't get lix for anything. I make sure about that and he looked so sad in his cage. Lo and behold, tonight, like christmas for popo still because furgie went and get another toy for him...and cookies! If i was popo, i would think that the more i run out of the yard, the more toys for me! but at the same time, i don't think anyone will forget a cuttail from my mom either!
i guess i realized that snowflake means a lot more to us that what we could imagine. the first thought that went through my head yesterday was not for my safety but all through, even when the two big dogs were barking, i was thinking about his well being. it's amazing how this one life can mean so much. part of the reason he got so much lix was simply because we wanted him to remember that he cannot run out on the road and believe me, he will get the same if i ever catch him playing with a frog!