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I come from a family of dog lovers - my mom, dad and two brothers are all crazy about dogs like me. But while visiting my family last weekend, I realized that nondoglovers put up with a lot from their family members who do love dogs.
Take my grandma, for example, a nondoglover who must tolerate two hyperactive sporting dogs every time she visits her son’s family; three if Ace and I visit! And she does it with no complaints. I would consider my boyfriend Josh a dog lover still in the making, but watching Josh and my grandma interact with the dogs made me think about what nondoglovers have to put up with.
Josh and Grandma tolerated dogs begging for food from from their plates, dogs’ heads in their laps, dogs crying for attention, dogs bumping against their legs, dog hair on their food and clothes, drool flying across the room and lots of talk about dogs from all of us.
By observing from a new perspective, I realized my family and I sometimes cater to our dogs more than we do the humans. More than once, I noticed my dad or mom interrupt Grandma while she was speaking to say something like, “Oh look at Elsie (the golden retriever), she’s so tired,” or, “Aw, Sophie (the Springer spaniel) is so cute right now.” I caught myself doing the same thing a few times to point out something cute my mutt was doing. No matter what the topic of conversation was, sooner or later, it would always drift back to the topic of dogs. That’s just what dog lovers do; we talk about our dogs. Why do you think I write a dog blog?
I also watched as one dog after another wanted inside, then outside, then on the deck, then off the deck, then inside again, and always, someone would give each dog what it wanted. Dogs were jumping in and out of the kiddie pool, bringing us their toys and demanding attention. And I’m not trying to complain about my parents’ dogs here, because my mutt was included in all of this! More than once I put his leash and Gentle Leader on to help him chill out.
I try to be considerate of nondoglovers in the family, as long as they don’t complain about my mutt. I often play ringleader and gather all the dogs on the floor beside me and make them stay. That’s to give the nondoglovers a break. The nondoglovers don’t realize what they are missing, but they will never become dog lovers if they are totally annoyed by dogs.
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July 8th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
My Aunt is not a dog-lover, they just frighten her no matter what the size… but she is also one of my greatest fans when it comes to bringing Chels to family functions…
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July 9th, 2008 at 7:29 am
Thanks for a refreshing perspective! And all of that, above, is if the nondogloving people aren’t frightened of the dog, and if the dog isn’t actually MISbehaving.
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July 9th, 2008 at 9:54 am
It is great that you are aware that you have people in your life who are non-dog lovers and are sensitive to that! I love animals. Period… but I know there are people who don’t! (hard to imagine!) We have a houseful of cats, and there are some people who will just not come visit because of them. That’s OK - if it works for them, that’s fine.
As long as you are aware of other people, and how your animals might affect them, I think things are A-OK!
Great Post!
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July 9th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
There are humans that don’t love dogs?
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July 9th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Before we got Amigo, our golden retriever, we used to entertain friends often on weekends. After we got him, all that changed. It’s hard to realize how not everybody love dogs. But I’m not complaining! We get more love from Amigo than all our ‘friends’ put together! (Of course, I hope they’re not reading this!) LOL
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July 9th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Interesting perspective. Non doglovers don’t seem to stay in my life for very long.
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July 10th, 2008 at 8:56 am
My mother-in-law is not a dog person, and it never fails that my dogs put on their worst manners anytime that she visits.
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July 10th, 2008 at 10:58 am
There are few people who do not like dogs, rather do not like any kind of pets. I find it strange and rather difficult to digest, when I see their reactions. Very annoyingly impatient, and unnecessarily scared! Wish they could have understood the passionate commitments that we do have for our pets.
July 10th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
in highschool, my two best friends worked at the same place, and every time we hung out, conversation always ended up revolving around their work, funny stories or complaints or schedules or just inside jokes
i think it must be kind of like that
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July 12th, 2008 at 12:28 am
This is a real sore subject for me. I am the only dog lover in my family. You have seen my posts so you know what I have to go through.
Major breakthrough.. FIL saw us today and actually reached in through the car window (head and all) just to pet Apollo! hmmm there’s hope yet.
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