Dog People

The thing I find the most funny about the dividing line between people who do have kids and people who don't, are the people who don't have kids but are dog people. I know several dog people and they aren't the same as dog owners. Dog people are parents only instead of kids, they have dogs. They are the ones who chime into parenting discussions with their dog anecdotes.... you know:

"Oh, I know what you mean about Gavin keeping you up all night. Chandler started barking at 2:00 am and didn't stop until after 5:00".

or

"I wouldn't put a gate around my Christmas tree. I'm just going to spank Sparky with a rolled up newspaper if he starts to mess with the lights or ornaments. Can't you train Gavin to stay away?"

I talked to another dog person on my walk with Gavin and Mia last night. I'm a parent and a dog owner. I am very, very far from being dog people. Even before Gavin, I was never dog people. I had enough experience with kids before Gavin to know that comparing something that eats my toenail clippings to another person's offspring is oh so very wrong. Anyhoo, this dog people noticed I was preggers again and stopped to chat with me about my growing belly. He then proceeded to tell me about how is dog had puppies a few months ago and about 8 weeks into motherhood, he could tell his dog was getting depressed with the constant nursing and nagging of the her 5 offspring. I never knew dogs got post partum depression but as a mother who got depressed with the nursing and nagging of 1 offspring, I totally felt like I could relate enough to not block out this obvious intro into a dog people/kid people anecdote.

So the story goes, one afternoon, dog people left his front door open and within a few minutes he was unable to locate the dog and three puppies. He looked and looked and finally saw his dog skipping along the road quite happily, coming back towards the house from a wooded ravine. Apparently, momma dog had had enough and took advantage of Adam's law (although I believe Adam's law requires one to drop their unwanted offspring off at a hospital not a ravine) and dropped her puppies off in the ravine and then returned home in high spirits. Dog people felt so badly for her that he got rid of the rest of the puppies and he is amazed at the improvement in his dog's demeanor and spirits.

It turns out the point of dog people's story was that if that happened to his dog, what did I think my son was going to do when we brought his new sister home. I just told him, "I don't think he is big enough to carry her off to the wooded ravine, if that's what you mean".