Puppy Love

I NEVER would have dreamed that I would be living with this dog.  I do not do small dogs, especially inside dogs, but here we are.  This little guy has taught Jubilee more about how to love people than anything else I have tried.  It helps that I also have a cat.  My cat is a great cat as far as living with our family.  He can be drug around by his head without complaint.  He does not scratch the kids.  He will tolerate being dressed up and pulled around in whatever the baby carrier of the day is.  But he is all cat.  If he doesn't want to be played with he disappears.  You can call him whatever you want, he won't come.  He is fairly certain that he runs the house.  And he was livid when Kiki arrived on the scene.

These two pets have taken their time getting used to each other.  Jubilee loves them both, and would like them to be friends.  They have provided numerous examples of how children relate to each other, and to their parents.  Just this evening Jubilee had taken Kiki out to do his business.  It is raining today, so standing outside with him was not very much fun.  He was obviously not going to do what was needed so she called him to come inside.  He did NOT obey right away, all the way with a good attitude.  It didn't take long for Jubilee's attitude to slide down the happy scale.  When I went down to find out where the train wreck had occurred, she told me Kiki wouldn't listen to her and do what she said.  Really?  Huh.  So, I asked her, "do you always come when I call you?"  The smile started to come around the corners of her mouth.  I pointed out that he can't really say "just a minute."  She got the picture.

She has also spent a fair amount of time trying to get the cat and the dog to be friendly to each other.  The cat is not very interested.  Some days he is flat out mean.  Kiki knows better then to mess with the cat so he just tries to avoid him whenever possible.  Jubilee will carry Kiki over and put him in Ferdinand's face.  I asked her one day if she would like me to do that with her and some other girl that had hit her up along side the head a few times.  She looked horrified, "NO!"

"Why would you do that to Kiki and Ferdinand?"  I told her that they needed time to adjust to this new situation, just like she needed time to adjust to our family. She has let them check each other out on their own terms, although she still has days when she would like them to step it up a bit.

These two animals have  provided endless examples of how it feels to be in a different set of shoes.  I have had my moments of wondering, why do I have them, but I know that they are a very non threatening example to her.  Their interaction is very much like her interaction in our home.  It is a way for her to see how it feels to try to manage someone who isn't really manageable.  Sometimes you just have to let nature run its course.  I told her that she would love Kiki even if he never comes when she calls, just like I will always love her.