The Weird Kid
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Here I talk about my dog.
Now my husband treats our stout homely dog like a stout homely girl from the office he regrets sleeping with.
His head pats are a dutiful courtesy. He is uncomfortable with her meek but desperate overtures for affection, he is annoyed by her following him. Her neediness really turns him off.
It was his idea to divert her passage from my family to the needle at the dog pound. They disapproved of her behavior that they taught her. He said we would take her, and she would live in our yard, her quivering desperation for human affection and constant submissive urination to her owners would be easily ignored out back.
Within two weeks she had mostly stopped the peeing, obeyed simple commands, and I had made her an indoor dog for the first time in her life, sleeping on a color-coordinated doggie-bed in our living room. I found her to be a good dog. This is an example why.
Yesterday the baby stomped her tail, and she calmly pushed the baby off of it with a single paw. Kid didn't even lose her balance. She also waited patiently the interminable time it took Smudge to arrange a Cleopatra head-dress just so on her flat doggy head. She chased off a dog twice her size that wandered onto our lawn last week, and has thrown herself, growling, on 3 separate occasions between the baby (the baby that chases her with a plastic battle ax, whacking at her) and a 'stranger' who got too close.
Frankly, every day that dog doesn't eat that kid she earns two drops more loyalty and love from me, cuz that kid deserves to be eaten.
Meanwhile Sean has become a cat person, because the cat doesn't demand much of anything and is self sufficient. He says his affection is all poured into Smudge now, his former days of empathy with worms struggling in mud puddles all used up.
I'm confused by his insisting he has a limited supply. I know him well, I don't think he does. He loves underdogs, as a rule. Just not this underdog.
His head pats are a dutiful courtesy. He is uncomfortable with her meek but desperate overtures for affection, he is annoyed by her following him. Her neediness really turns him off.
It was his idea to divert her passage from my family to the needle at the dog pound. They disapproved of her behavior that they taught her. He said we would take her, and she would live in our yard, her quivering desperation for human affection and constant submissive urination to her owners would be easily ignored out back.
Within two weeks she had mostly stopped the peeing, obeyed simple commands, and I had made her an indoor dog for the first time in her life, sleeping on a color-coordinated doggie-bed in our living room. I found her to be a good dog. This is an example why.
Yesterday the baby stomped her tail, and she calmly pushed the baby off of it with a single paw. Kid didn't even lose her balance. She also waited patiently the interminable time it took Smudge to arrange a Cleopatra head-dress just so on her flat doggy head. She chased off a dog twice her size that wandered onto our lawn last week, and has thrown herself, growling, on 3 separate occasions between the baby (the baby that chases her with a plastic battle ax, whacking at her) and a 'stranger' who got too close.
Frankly, every day that dog doesn't eat that kid she earns two drops more loyalty and love from me, cuz that kid deserves to be eaten.
Meanwhile Sean has become a cat person, because the cat doesn't demand much of anything and is self sufficient. He says his affection is all poured into Smudge now, his former days of empathy with worms struggling in mud puddles all used up.
I'm confused by his insisting he has a limited supply. I know him well, I don't think he does. He loves underdogs, as a rule. Just not this underdog.
posted by Imez at 2:17 PM
6 Comments:
Oh, that's so sad. She sounds like a wonderful dog. What's up with the hubs?
Maybe he feels he is pouring all his positive emotions into Smudge and he needs a place to pour his negative emotions and the dog happens to be there too.
I don't know.
Dogs are needy, and usually ask for more seemingly never getting enough. There is no challenge. The dog will love, though Not necessarily obey anyone who will throw them a bone. Cats are work, you have to win them over, its a challenge.
Plus their fur is so soft, and when they rub against your leg, it feels good. ;)
Dogs are needy, and usually ask for more seemingly never getting enough. There is no challenge. The dog will love, though Not necessarily obey anyone who will throw them a bone. Cats are work, you have to win them over, its a challenge.
Plus their fur is so soft, and when they rub against your leg, it feels good. ;)
I can relate to Sean when it comes to pets. I resent their demands. I do have them, though, because I know kids need pets, and my kids LOVE Cooper and Gus. I just know my limits. My mom had nine kids; I knew I had to stop at two, because I just didn't want to spread myself any thinner. Glad you have Smudge AND that great dog!
Smudge and the dog will just be buddies and maybe that's the point. Smudge will like animals, or at least not be fearful of them, because the dog is good to her. That's a good thing.
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