The Sad Dog

My poor dog. I feel so bad for her these days. For almost 5 years she was the baby until our son came along. She was the top priority every morning. We couldn’t start our day until she had gone outside and gotten breakfast. She went on just about every car ride with us, slept in our bed and enjoyed many walks.

Now that’s all over for her. She’s by no means neglected, neglected dogs are not overweight and self-entitled. She’s just merely moved down a rung on the ladder. She’s lucky if she gets her breakfast before noon, or goes on a car ride once a week these days. Hell, I’m lucky if I get MY breakfast before noon or get to go on a car ride once a week, so don’t feel too bad for her.

Unfortunately I can see things progressively getting worse for her. Our son has recently learned to grab at things. He grabs at anything within arms reach; toys, hair, noses, mirrors, literally anything. He also has a love for watching our dog…anything she does he loves to watch her and laugh at her. Couple those two skills together and I’m afraid it’s only a matter of time before our dog becomes the target of his grabbing.

Today while both of them were sitting on my lap my son reached over and started rubbing his hands all over the dog’s back. She merely sat there in total fear. I watched her face go from concerned, to worried to complete downright fear in about 10 seconds. She acted as if his hands were searing hot pokers. The look on her face was one you’d expect to see on a cat’s face in a Chinese restaurant. Eventually she just got off my lap and ran to her bed for cover.

I feel awful saying this, but somehow we’re going to have to break it to her, that this will only get worse. Eventually he’s going to start moving, which means not only will he be able to grab at her, he will also be able to follow her and chase her around. And while I have no intention of letting him do anything to harm her, I’m certainly not going to discourage him from interacting with her.

She’s slowly learning that he is not going anywhere but I’m not too sure how readily she will accept the fact that he will be able to touch her, her toys and heaven forbid, her food. I think she’s still holding out hope that one day he’ll go live with Grandma and Grandpa and that we’ll back to the three of us again. I’m guessing that just as she comes to accept his role in the family baby number 2 will come along and she will go through another state of shock as we all move down one more rung on the family ladder.