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Lie Down and Die Because All Your Dreams Are Coming True

I love others. I love dogs, I love people, I love kids, heck, I even love cats. EVERYONE! I haven’t met a face (or tail) that I didn’t want to know better. Mom took note of this very early on. There’s this process, or maybe a better word would be a display, to how I attempt to greet a new friend. I sort of arch my back, wag my tail profusely, my ears fall flat to my head to the extent that they are lost in a pile of fluff, and sometimes, just sometimes, I shout in excitement. This is my reaction to anyone and mostly everyone, consistently. Whether they want to be my friend or not; I want to be theirs.

Now that I am all healed up from surgery, I am allowed to go on walks around the neighborhood to meet new friends. Mom said daycare was a good idea too. This is mostly because everyone at home works and schools during the day. Even though Scrappy and Lola are home, it doesn’t mean they want to be “pestered” by me. Mom kept telling me I was going to meet a whole slew of new friends both the furry and peoply type when I went to daycare. How exciting! She said I had to take a test. She also said she knew I’d do well, she just knew it.

Then came testing day…

Mom and I were locked in a room with a window. Mom filled out some papers, then lifted me to see what was on the other side of the window. There were all sorts of big dogs running after balls, lying in front of fans, and tugging at each other. This is daycare?!? Why don’t they just call it “Lie Down and Die Because All Your Dreams Are Coming True”? A woman walked in, they talked for a long time (they clearly knew each other). Then the woman grabbed my leash and escorted me through another door. I was hesitant. I put on the breaks and mom tucked my fluffy tail under my body and gave me a push. The lady picked me up and the door closed. Where was I heading? I didn’t like it. The lady carried me the entire way, but once she put me down, I was in a new room with a menagerie of dogs and puppies. They were my size and there were also human friends – two of them.

HOLY COW!!! I was overjoyed! I checked out every dog in the place. Some barked a lot, some were sleeping, some were playing, and a person girl was carrying one. I introduced myself to everyone with a sniff to the face or rear, in my usual “how you doin” posture. I met some interesting individuals. One guy snapped at me, Meany! One guy sniffed me back, another watched me, and then….

I found her. I think she might be my new best friend. Her name is Charlie. She is also five months old, she is black and white all over, and a pittie mix. The only sad part about that is that if she gets too big or too rough she will be sent to the big dog room and we won’t be able to be buddies anymore. Too sad to think about, back to today.

I sniffed her, she sniffed me back, I pranced, she followed, I stopped, she stopped. When Charlie took a break to scratch an itch, I helped her, she didn’t mind the help. This is going to be the beginning of something wonderful. I can feel it!

I gave everyone a chance today. Every. Single. Dog. They were all given the same opportunity to accept or decline my friendship. I certainly wasn’t well received by everyone, remember the guy I told you about? Meany? I learned quite a few lessons today.

  1. Not everyone will like you. That’s OK. I am going to repeat this simply because it needs to be understood. Not everyone will like you and that’s OK! I am authentically me and that might not be everyone’s strip of rawhide. This guy in class not being my friend didn’t affect the fact that I had a great experience. It also didn’t affect the fact that I still made a friend. He didn’t like me, so what?!?
  2. You have to give everyone and I mean everyone a chance. If I stopped at Meany, I wouldn’t have met Charlie or anyone else for that matter.
  3. Once someone shows you who they are, believe them. Meany is clearly a good guy, he passed the same temperament test I did. There was something about me that he just didn’t like. His nip was a warning; if there is something I know, it’s you only get so many warnings before the explosion. So I believed him. I believed that he would be aggressive, he told me, and I listened. He showed me exactly who he was and where I stood with him. Listen to that warning, or red flag, or whatever you call it.

Today, well, it wasn’t a bust. I walked away with a new place to play, a few new friends, some freedom from home, and some pretty incredible lessons. Oh, and after daycare, the naps are amazing. Who could ask for more?!? I can’t wait to go back!

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I Laugh in the Face of Fear

Fear is an illusion! If you have the courage, the drive, the chutzpah to face what you fear, head on, you’ll realize that you were the only thing holding you back. You may also realize that conquering that fear may just open a door to a world you never knew existed.

For me, that fear was the steps. I’ve told the story before, but I will tell it again. The steps were terrifying. I’d watch everyone climb up and down effortlessly, while I sat at the bottom crying. I wanted to know what was going on up there…

With a whole lot of patience and a little assistance, I triumphed the treacherous task of scaling the steps (the up part at least). A new world awaited me once I got up there. New toys, new smells, carpet (which I rapidly found a corner to rip apart), new experiences. It was glorious! Now there was this new world, but I was panic-stricken to get back to the old world I was comfortable in, because that meant going back down those steep steps. Down is so much scarier then up. I had to make it back down though, that’s where the food is. Did I mention that food is my favorite thing?

Treats were the magic trick, and time, and a little push from Mom. Treats and courage mostly!

You have to be kind to yourself when you are moving out of your comfort zone. Be patient. Allow others to push you forward. Reward yourself for taking baby steps (pun intended), and keep rewarding yourself with each step you take toward conquering that fear. You deserve to experience the world that exists beyond your fear. You also have the right to say that conquering that fear didn’t get you where you wanted to be, and you can go right back to your comfortable place. Fear is an illusion. We have the capability to move, and play, and work, and explore in all the directions, even the scary forward ones and the scary backward ones.

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The Smiling Dutchman

The Keeshond breed dates back to 16th century Holland. That is a very long time ago, when we were referred to as a Wolfspitz. The name Keeshond, or more accurately, “kayz-hawnd” came later in the 18th century. Our name sake is Dutch patriot Cornelis de Gijzelaar. Kee is the nickname for Cornelis, that makes us Kee’s hond, or Kee’s dog. We have two interesting nicknames and one that is appalling; the smiling Dutchmen, Velcro dogs, and overweight Pomeranian- I am not overweight, and I am not a Pomeranian.

They called my great-great-and many more greats- grandparents “The Smiling Dutchman”, because they were boat dogs. They guarded barges in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were alarm dogs, used to assert their shrill voices as an alarm to the captain and crew if something was amiss or if there were intruders. I don’t do this, Lola and Scrappy alert the captain and crew. I only assert my voice at 3:30 in the morning, and when my belly tells me to. My great-great-and many more greats-grandparents were also companions to the captain and crew. They liked people, they relied on each other for camaraderie, hence Velcro, we stick with our people. They were lively, animated, happy, and extremely intelligent dogs. Keeshonden are so smart that they rank as the 16th smartest dog breed according to Stanley Coren’s book “Intelligence of Dogs”.

Interesting right?!?

We make great companions, and adore being with our people. Say goodbye to private bathroom time, all time is meant to be spent TOGETHER! We are supposed to be noisy. I have that one covered! Mom is fed up with my rock-star lifestyle; party all night and sleep all day! Despite Mom’s best efforts to reprogram this habit, I like to wake everyone up at what I’ve heard referred to as the witching hour. I like to sound the alarm, I just do, and so did my great-great-and many more greats grandparents, it’s in my blood. Today Mom asked me if I had ever heard of an evil sea witch named Ursula. She said Ursula would give me anything I want in exchange for my voice. Because I am a Keeshond, I am pretty stinking smart, and I am not falling for this sea witch nonsense. Being really intelligent also means I get really bored. I have to find ways to entertain myself and work this brain full of smarts. I mean, since Mom broke her ankle, walks don’t happen anymore, and she can’t drive, so no daycare or puppy classes yet. It’s fine by me! I can find lots of things to do. I like barking, I like naps, I like digging holes between the cracks in the patio stones, I like stealing socks, I like stealing things from Mom’s pile of projects (she can’t chase me right now, it’s great!), I like following Scrappy around the house and yard, and I like tussles with Frankie and Lola.

My point….

Sometimes the way we are and the things we do are part of our makeup. The good parts and the bad parts of us are often times parts of us that years and years of DNA and genetics mixing and swirling together, turn us into. Don’t misunderstand, there are absolutely learned habits and coping mechanisms that take some work to reverse, but the thing that makes you, say, more anxious than someone else, that is bred into you. Those parts are a genuine, natural , part of being exactly you. Own them. Accept them. Understand them. Embrace them. Sometimes those same things that seem like a poor quality can actually be seen a different way. Sure, you might be anxious, but your anxious great-great-and many more greats grandparents stayed alive because they were anxious. You can harness that and use it to your benefit. We are a perfectly imperfect version of years of creation in the flesh. That is pretty incredible!