It’s often said in a jokey way, “Oh, ha ha, your dogs are like your children,” and yes, that’s pretty much how I feel about them. People sometimes say that dogs are a gateway to having human children, but I have to say at this point that my dogs are enough.
I feel so much guilt and I’m depressed about my inability to meet their needs right now. How can I possibly go away and leave them for eight hours a day, when they need playtime and training? (And they can’t play with each other!) I’m a terrible mother, they’d be better off in more skilled hands, I should give them away…
Seriously, I had that thought the other day. It’s like postpartum psychosis, when women drown their children because they become so distraught over their inability to care for them.
Isis, for some reason, has not warmed up to Leo yet. I’m so ashamed of this that I don’t even status about it on Facebook. I started her on Prozac today – something else you won’t read about on Facebook. Clearly, she is very anxious, and I hope that the drugs help her at least relax enough that she can enjoy her little brother.
The clock is ticking, my trainer says. Leo is 6 months old. If they don’t acclimate by 10 months, it may never happen. She said this a day after saying Isis wasn’t ready for a baby brother and that she would have taken Leo back after that first meeting that didn’t go so well.
Excuse me, what the fuck?
I distinctly remember her saying at Isis’ graduation from level one of aggressive dog rehab that a puppy would be therapeutic for Isis, but I must be very careful about temperament. That was last December. Three days after we got Leo and that first unfortunate meeting with Isis, she said Leo had such a good temperament that eventually he will be very therapeutic for her.
So I felt a little blindsided when she said the above. She apologized for it later, kind of, and I believe that she’s just trying to reconcile with herself why it is that after three months of her method, we haven’t seemed to make progress. So that’s hindsight talking: Isis wasn’t ready.
I love these dogs. Leo started to frustrate me with biting and jumping on our walks, but I am going to make sure he gets more playtime with other dogs. (Hooray dog parks and day care!) Isis is being medicated. We have a plan of action. We’re going to see it through.
Everything is going to be fine.
Kari Neumeyer 