Do you ever run into those people that just know all because they've been around? I see this a lot with people, especially during our PR events. My Mama Nikki will be talking to some family with a dog completely out of control telling them all about how much she could help them, I mean, can they not see me lying quiet and behaving like a good little assistant? Anyway, the mother always seems interested because she's tired of her Sunday best being ruined, the food being pulled off the counters, the front door with paw prints at eye level and this is all coming from their Jack Russell Terrier. All the while the father is standing there holding the little dog on a leash that's way too long, wrapped around his hand about twenty times forcing the dog to bounce around in the only spot the leash allows and scanning the remainder of the booths looking for a hot dog to fill his belly since the wife didn't make him breakfast because they wanted to beat the crowd. He then stops his searching, turns to Mama Nikki and says, "We don't need any help, the dog minds me just fine. I've had dogs all my life..." When I hear that last line I usually have to pop up my head just to see the face of the poor sucker that said it. I then glance at Mama Nikki as she puts on her fake "I'm really saying this in a joking manner way" smile and says, "I've had a toilet all my life but that don't make me a plumber." By then the sucker has checked out thinking about mustard and relish and the poor wife is there saying her apologies, taking a business card and saying goodbye.
This leads me into the real reason for this post. Look people, just because you grew up with dogs all your life doesn't mean you know jack about them. We're complicated animals that require many things, things that the average Joe doesn't even know about. For example, did you know that we need to socialize with other dogs? A lot! Yes, get us around your friends, around strange men in hats, around granny in her wheelchair but please, please, get us around our own kind so we can practice the skill of being a dog! Yes, we're dogs! And being around our sibling, the older dog of the household, isn't enough. We need dogs with different personalities, different play styles, different sizes and different attitudes. And another thing, we have fur, do you know what fur is? It's a very thick, heavy, HOT type of hair that covers our entire body! Not just our legs, our arms, our armpits and our head, but our entire body. This makes us comfortable in the winter and hot in the summer so please, please, stop dressing us up in your clothes. It may seem cute to you but it's suffocating to us. And last but surely not least, if there's a dog that is shying away from you, snarling his lip at you, or peeing just at the sight of you, DON'T bend over patting your legs making Kissie sounds, this does not make us want to come closer to you, tt actually makes us want to bite you even more. Not all dogs like you, not all dogs want to be petted by you and not all dogs want you to find the one spot that makes them kick their leg uncontrollably.
Good Day and God Bless!
TBAA
