Pages

Thursday, May 3, 2012

The Allure of the Dog's Butt

First, a photo from yesterday's visit to Sidecut Park.


It has warmed up here very suddenly. Toledo's weather is manic, expressing itself primarily in extreme highs and lows, sometimes in the same day. Dressing appropriately is an exercise in pure guesswork.

_________________________________________________________________________

Our dog, a 90 lbs moose of a black lab/German shepherd mix, took to the boys immediately. He often barked when the boys cried, almost as though he were telling us to attend to them faster. He would “stand guard” by their cribs when they napped, and he seemed especially weary of strangers in or near our home. Even though he was “our baby” prior to their birth, and even though he ended up far down in the household pecking order, he was protective, attentive, and generally happy to have the “pink puppies” around. Once they began crawling, he seemed a little off put by them but still seemed content with their presence.

Then they started walking... And climbing... And seeing him as a fun playmate that goes crazier the more he is played with. I’m pretty sure he anxiously awaits death some days now. Nothing drew this to a head more than the boys discovering…the dog’s butt. Thomas holds his tail up high most of the time, and they seemed to consider that an enticement to poke the poor old guy right in the pooper, whether with fingers or toys. I’ve heard more than one yelp followed by peals of laughter. We take the offending object away and scold them, but the allure of the dog’s butt is too strong.

Actually, the allure of anything that is dangerous, harmful, just plain gross or could possibly kill them seems too great to resist. The draw is directly proportional to the degree of danger, grossness, etc.

Electrical sockets? Best things ever.

Knives? DO WANT!

Heavy glass shelves? Yes, please!

Do these things somehow emit a greater gravitational pull on children than do, say, toys or pillows or the dog’s ears? Does this stop at some point? Is this merely the start of the "Trying (though far from terrible) Twos"? More importantly, will my dog suffer from AAPD (Anal Assault Paranoia Disorder)?

4 comments:

MandyE_TwinTriumphs said...

Oh, my goodness...I haven't visited your blog since your boys were tiny!  I didn't realize you were still writing!  For some reason, your blog hasn't shown up on my blogroll.  Hmmm.  Anyhoo...so nice to see you and wow - those boys of yours are big!

Our fur-baby Sasha has still not warmed up to our girls...after over three years.  She will occasionally come into the same room, but she bolts the moment anyone ambles towards her.  But when the girls go down for a nap or bed, she almost instantly appears for adult conversation.

I'll not let her read this post.  If she were to talk to your dog, I'm quite sure she'd never consider letting the girls pet her.
 

Tammie Halcomb said...

Oh this is too funny! If you haven't called out the fire department consider yourself lucky. When my three were 2 my most mischievous little boy stuck a glow stick in our wall heater. Let me tell you those suckers are flammable. There is a long list of things my children either demolished (big kid beds or lesson in construction?), dissected (Hmmm, shall I eat this bird egg that's fallen on the ground? Yes! Yes I shall!) , or left in a tiny whimpering ball on the floor (their preschool teacher). I will tell you that they do seem to get easier as they get older (or you get older and more numb to the madness) but there will never be a shortage of destruction in their path.

kmberry said...

Hi Mandy! I stopped writing for quite some time there, so perhaps that's why I've not popped up on your feed. I'm trying to do so in a far more regular fashion than I did previously. So far, so good!

Hope your pup warms to your little ones at some point. Thanks so much for stopping by!

kmberry said...

Thanks for stopping by! I guess we haven't had to do that, or visit the emergency room, so I should count my blessings! I imagine I've much mayhem to look forward to.

Random bird egg? Oh my, that's awesome. Did you get a post out of it at least? ;-)