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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The Boy and the Dog.

When it comes to babies and dogs no one ever says, "Awwww, your Doberman will be SO GOOD when the baby arrives!" but the world raves about the Golden Retriever - baby combo. The boy and the dog have turned into quite a twosome and I would like to publicly thank our gold-hearted Golden for being the best, ok the only, babysitter I have.

I may have publicly proclaimed to hate the dog and it's not entirely untrue. I still want to punch him in the face at least twice a day, especially when he's using his giant nose to prod in places he shouldn't be prodding or leveraging his 110 pound frame to pull me and the stroller over to a delicious smelling pile of poo. But, good help is hard to find and as long as he is good to the boy, I can find it in my heart of stone to thank him.

He was the last of our household goods to arrive after spending the summer at camp, also known as my parents' house. When the boy and the dog last met, the boy was not as mobile or aggressive about getting to high interest, non-toy items like dustballs, shoes, and power cords.

After a cramped drive from NY, the dog had mixed emotions about finding himself in the number one position on this list. On one massive, ungroomed meathook of a paw, the boy he was bred to love only wants to be near him. On the other, said boy is 19 fierce pounds of pulling, chewing, biting, crawling, clambering, sweet destruction that 110 pounds of Golden Retriever was not bred to handle.

So T, even though I frequently tell you I am going to kill you, I want to hug you when I see the boy crawl your way with purpose and you don't move a whisker.  Maybe this is a survival instinct so I don't actually kill you or maybe you just crave some attention these days but, either way, keep this up and I'll keep feeding you.

Thank you for letting our inquisitive little boy have his sticky way with you while I get a moment to pour more coffee or shove string cheese in my mouth. Those 30 second snippets are a glorious eternity for me and, quite possibly, a painful one for you.

a day in the life of the boy and the dog

Thank you for sharing your dinner, being a patient first french kiss partner, not moving an inch when the boy grabs your upper lip and wonders why your teeth are so darn big, and enduring knobby little knees to the eyeballs and nose when he decides he's through and plows over you.

Even though we now love the boy more, we loved you first and you are paying it forward.  Thanks for loving and protecting, instead of mauling and eating, the boy who took your spot.

Don't go and get all self-important.  It's only shots like this that keep your room and board current:

the boy and the dog.  love.

                                                                                                                                                                               


Mama’s Losin’ It

15 comments:

  1. I love this post!!! I swore black & blue my love for my dogs wouldn't change and it's been sorely tested this week....but those pictures are what I want albeit with two toy poodles instead!

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    1. To feel like less of a witch, I've convinced myself that my love for the dog hasn't changed. I just love the boy at least a million times more. This comforts me when I'm telling the dog I might kill him.

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  2. Here from Mama Kat. :) We've been searching for the perfect dog for our kids for over a year now--and the search continues. . . they're rare

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    1. They don't exist! Goldens are wonderful with kids. I'm not exaggerating when I say the boy mauls the dog and the dog lays perfectly still. It's amazing. The downside is that the dog is a hairy beast who leaves golden tumbleweeds in his wake. Life is a series of trade-offs!

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  3. Your dog sounds like such a great companion for a little boy!! What a beautiful relationship they have. We have three mutts and none of them are too keen on Alidia at the moment but they mostly just ignore her or run away from her when she starts to 'attack'. I hope at least one of them becomes more of a 'buddy' to her as she gets older.

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    1. THREE?!? You are crazier than I thought. The little boy just figured out that the dog will eat anything he drops on the floor. This has helped their relationship immensely. I suggest the same if you're looking to create a buddy!

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  4. Ok, you nearly convinced me that swimming through dog hair on a daily basis might have an upside. But no, upon reflection, it's still not worth it. Thanks for the quality writing though.

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    1. Also required with a Golden: a Dyson pet hair vacuum. And even then this place doesn't look so great. Goo decision.

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  5. That's so sweet that the dog loves (or at least tolerates) the boy.

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  6. We have a Yorkie Poo but he is a wonderful addition to our family. He is a horse for my youngest, a plate cleaner to my picky eater and so much more!

    I love this post, thanks for sharing and stopping by my blog!

    Lisa

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  7. Love this post! Georgia is just now wanting to interact with the "buppies" and it's so cute to watch. Until now, D said every day he comes home, he is scared I've given them away on Craigslist. Once the baby got here, I didn't have time to clean up after dogs all the time and they seem to get into EVERYTHING!

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  8. My sister keeps trying to talk me into a dog. I'm not a dog person. At all. But my boy loves dogs (all animals in fact), and my girl is kind of scared, kind of fascinated by them, so a dog would do them both a world of good. I'm just not sure the dog would survive me....

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    1. My best piece of advice is get a small to medium dog that doesn't shed. Our house looks like the set of a western movie thanks to all the tumbleweeds.

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