the other kids

did i mention i have two other kids besides gobbles? well, not human kids, but those of the canine persuasion. most people wouldn't go as far as calling their dogs kids, especially after having a baby. but, i think over the past 3 1/2 years i've humanized them so much that i kind of ruined them. well, one of them anyway. our guy cannoli is so spoiled, that he made himself sick over having to wear a special leash for our walk yesterday. first, a little background.

when we were newly married, we decided to start our little family right away by getting a puppy. i had seen welsh corgis before and thought they were just about the cutest things ever, like little stuffed animals. we wanted to rescue, so onto petfinder we went. now, unless you're looking for a more common breed, purebred puppies are hard to find in a rescue. so, we settled on a teeny little corgi / beagle mix. he was born at a rescue and was the only puppy of his litter that did not die of parvo. he was our new baby, and boy was he smart. we crate trained him, got all the commands down, and even taught him to ring a bell when he needed to go outside. i picked him up and hugged him and cuddled with him all. the. time.

then, his little personality started developing. the bell became his temper tantrum - whenever he would do something wrong and we'd yell at him, he'd run into the kitchen and knock the bell across the floor. he'd lick us to death trying to get a treat because we used to say "good boy licks" to get him to stop biting. i had made such a fuss over him and given him praise for sitting, shaking, etc, that he now assumes everyone who comes in the front door is his best friend and should give him attention accordingly. he also stamps his feet when you make him stay and wait on his mat for dinnertime. then, we got him a playmate.

spoons (aka the bear), is our dog dog, a beautiful german shepherd / corgi mix (her poor poor mother). a "true rescue" i call her, we got her from a rescue that pulled her from a kill shelter. she was picked up in the woods with one of her pups and given an expiration date. before my husband even opened the listing i emailed him with this information, it was already unavailable. thankfully, a few hours later she reappeared listed under a rescue, so we applied right away. she's gentle, submissive, sadly pretty afraid too (if only i could get my hands on her previous owners those jerks).

the first night we had spoons she broke out of her crate while we were out, because you just cannot cage the bear. thankfully, she's never made any kind of mess, except the time she managed to get into a ceramic turkey full of nuts on the dining room table. that doesn't count as a mess anyway though because she placed both the bowl and the lid neatly on the couch when she was done eating!

so, cannoli's first reaction to this second dog was to pee on her bed, then pee in his crate for a week to prove his point.... so far, i haven't seen anyone pee on gobbles but gobbles. anyway, after cannoli got used to spoons things were ok unless you were paying more attention to her than him. then cannoli would run over and kind of shove her out of the way with his hips.

the reaction to the baby has been a little more muted since the dogs seem to be afraid of him of now. but they are much worse in their attention seeking - so a general warning we give visitors - be prepared to be attacked with ass wags (cannoli doesn't have a tail so he wiggles his whole butt) and puppy kisses. and they now sleep on top of us in the bed instead of down at the foot. after all, the only alone time they get with mommy and daddy is when the strange little man is in his cage (crib, people, jeez) in the other room. even the dog training we enlisted when i was pregnant kind of went out the window because of all the baby attention. mental note to get back to it.

ok - coming back to yesterday. it's hard enough to walk two well behaved dogs while pushing a stroller, so two "pay attention to me", bark at anything crazy dogs is even more of a challenge. because of this, i use a walking tool called the gentle leader (a leash that goes around the dog's muzzle) to help me have more control over cannoli. when he behave spoons will follow suit. cannoli HATES this thing, because he cannot pull in any direction he wants. when i put it on him, he lays down and pouts, then tries to rub his face in the grass to get it off.

this particular walk, he worked himself into such a frenzy that towards the end of the walk he actually threw up. twice. i know he was not really sick because as soon as the leader came off, he was fine. that is my dog, cannoli the drama queen. will resort to anything to get what he wants.

i am terrified. the way cannoli behaves is a direct result of my parenting. (i can't even pin part of it on hubs, he's the disciplinarian). i know he's just a dog - dogs are dogs and people are people says my mother - but he's so spoiled. i love him to pieces and i think that's what did it. in less than 4 years, these dogs completely dominate me, and they know it. i'm sure cannoli assumes that since he threw up wearing the gentle leader i won't put it on him. i've got to buck up and get a little tougher before mr. gobbles picks up on this! what if he ends up being a brat? ... nah, it'll never happen... right?